The Vocal 0.1%

Introduction

Vocal set up their Discord Channel with what I thought was a temporary measure while they set up their own Vocal hosted Channel and it is here.

My Problems With Discord

The concept of Discord is OK but it only has less than 0.1% of Vocal Creators on there. Now this is fine for gathering ideas and shout-outs and suggestions but there are sometimes incidents that every Vocal Creator needs to know about.

Especially when there is an issue with the Vocal site and model.

I am thinking of the recent Editor issues and denial of service attack. The picture below was stopping me using my own images to lead my story. I corresponded with Vocal about this on Discord but saw nothing about it posted anywhere else.

Then while I was creating this, I got this error.

The only announcements were on Discord.

No announcements were made on other channels such as "X", Threads, Facebook and, of course, the Vocal home page. If the site is down the Vocal Home Page is not an option but all the other Social Media options are, and these cover a lot more than the 0.1% that Discord does.

Whenever Vocal are after investment or money pop-ups appear on the main page, so why can't these be used for system status and information when these faults occur?

We don't need to know that the system is OK, we can see that, but if there is an issue a lot of people don't know what to do.

The Vocal Platform is excellent, but it is big and complex and we know every so often things will go wrong. It is essential that active Vocal Creators are made aware of any situation that may affect their ability to create and publish their work.

I personally use Google Docs to give me a backup of my work, and then transfer it to the Vocal Editor for final publication.

The Vocal & Medium Cafe is often used to raise issues on Facebook because most Creators would rather ask other Creators than Vocal directly (they maybe don't know how).

We can raise tickets either by emailing [email protected] or directly here

The Vocal Support Page is Here.

But that creates more work for Vocal admins, you don't want hundreds of emails or tickets for the same item when a home page announcement could tell creators that Vocal are aware of an issue and they are dealing with it and, where possible an estimated time of completion.

Conclusion

Discord is very much a niche part of Vocal. You can use it to share your stories and recommend Top Stories if you are a Discord Member, but the BiWeekly "Raise Your Voice" post allows all Vocal Creators to do it. I am glad that most of my recommendations end up as Top Stories, so I know that Vocal read these, if not my suggestions for improvements (unless I harass them, but I do not have the time to do that).

When important information is only posted on Discord it makes it feel like a clique. Not everyone wants Discord, but it should not be the only point for important system announcements.

I am only a member so that I can raise issues without waiting for a ticket to be resolved, but my Discord posts can only be seen by 0.1% of Vocal Creators, whereas this can be seen by every Vocal Creator and even non-Vocal Creators.

I'll leave you with my list of Vocal Tips and Suggestions which I shared on Discord as well, but is linked on my Vocal Home Page also.