There are many reasons why you would want to create a Discord server. Maybe you’re starting your own community and need one, or maybe you just want to add more features to your existing one. Either way, there are plenty of reasons why you would need to learn how to do it—whether you’re using the desktop app or the mobile app on Android or iOS devices, here are some steps that will help guide you in creating your own Discord server from scratch without having any major issues with it. 7 Steps to Create a Private or Public Discord Server
1) Select your privacy settings
Once you’ve created your server, it’s time to make it private or public. Underneath your title and description are three privacy options: Public, Friends of Friends and Invite Only. You can also enable custom permissions if you prefer. These settings will limit who has access to your server based on their relationship with you—and you can change them at any time.
2) Add roles and privileges
It’s important to add roles and privileges within your server so users can talk only in certain channels. This will help keep unnecessary chatter out of public chats while ensuring everyone on your team is on point when it comes time for discussions. To create roles, hover over Roles from your profile menu (it looks like three horizontal lines at the top-left corner of your screen). Then click on Roles and select Manage Roles. You’ll have access to Administrator, Moderator, and User.
3) Invite the users you want
You can invite users by manually inputting their email address, but there are two other ways that you can get more people to join your server. You can use an invite link for either registered accounts (those who have a verified email on their account) or unregistered accounts (those who do not). Invite links give people 24 hours in which they’ll be sent an invitation if they click on it.
4) Whitelist external IP addresses
Before you create your server, there are a few things you should do beforehand. You don’t want strangers joining without invitation so it’s best to lock down access as much as possible by only allowing external IP addresses that you know. Head over to your email and find out what IP address was used when you signed up for Discord; if that person has any friends who have recently downloaded Discord, then they’ll be able to join even if they aren’t on your whitelist.
5) Set up chatbots
If you have many users, consider using bots to answer general questions. Answering questions manually is tedious and time-consuming; using chatbots saves time and frees your staff up for more important tasks. Adding an FAQ section can be useful as well. For example, if many users are asking how they can change their color name, make a page titled How do I change my username? with an explanation of how to do so and leave it at that.
6) Set up webhooks (optional)
Webhooks connect your server with an external app, allowing it to broadcast events without relying on polling. For example, if you wanted to know whenever someone joined your server, you could set up a webhook that calls your app every time someone joins. Webhooks are typically more secure than polling because they require fewer permissions.
7) Secure your data
With more than 145 million users, there’s no denying that Discord is an attractive platform for gamers and game developers alike. Many online communities use it as their primary means of communication. That said, there are some important things you should do—and consider—before making your server public. To make sure you’re ready for what’s ahead, we’ve put together these steps for securing your data before going live.