🤯Setting Up A Discord

A step by step guide on setting up a discord, things to lookout for, and how to properly manage your moderators and team members.

Step 1 - Creating Your Server

Creating your discord is easy, it takes 3 clicks to be done.

Firstly, press the; "Add a Server" button.

Then, find the; "Create My Own", and press it.

Pick whichever use case this will be for.

Pick a server icon and name (both can be changed later on)

Congratulations, you've created your first discord server.

Step 2 - Initial Configuration

Now, some basic configuration must be done in the server.

Firstly, click on the top bar that displays the server's name, and press; "Server Settings".

Then, find the roles category and press; "Default Permissions".

Now, once you're here, there's a few things to do depending on how you want your discord setup.

Though, the most important thing you must do is disabling the; "Mention @ everyone, @ here, and All Roles" permission. This will make it so members cannot mass tag users.

Make sure that the toggle is grey, and not green.

Step 3 - Member Role

Now, what I recommend you do is create a; "Member" role that your users will receive once they verify they are humans. You can follow the same setup if you wish your discord to be holder only, though, instead of verifying them through a simple catpcha, you'll want to verify their NFT holdings, which you can do through our bot, Protus.

Head back to the role category and press the; "Create Role" button.

Now, user the prompts to name your role and set a color/icon for it. Alongside this, for a more aesthetic display, I recommend you enable; "Display role members separately from online members".

There are three ways that you'll be able to hand out the; "Member" role.

1. Auto-role - New users will automatically be given the member role (HIGHLY DISCOURAGED).

2. Captcha Verification - New users will have to complete a captcha to verify they're human.

3. NFT Asset Verification - New users will have to verify that they own an asset in your collection(s) to receive the member role.

The setup for the above 3 methods is different depending on what method you use. Captcha Verification and NFT Asset Verification is available in two of our products; Plutus and Soteria.

Step 4 - Initial Channel Setup

The channel setup tends to be the more messy aspect for most people who setup discords. Common mistakes are;

1. Denying channel specific permissions when role permissions are already denied.

2. Denying permissions that are not useful in the specific channel.

3. Mass allowing permissions that are already granted in the role permissions category.

Now, the channel that ends up having the most confusing channel setup is; the verification channel. The way this works is;

• Allowing the @ everyone role to see the channel.

• Denying the @ member role from seeing the channel.

  

  

What this does is:

1. Every new member that joins the discord will see the verification channel, while every member that is already verified won't see it.

Step 4 - All Channel Setups

Once you have setup the verification channel, there's going to be a pattern to all your channels, and it goes as follows:

• The "Member" role will be allowed to see every channel apart from your verification channel.

• Non-verified members (members without the member role) will ONLY be able to see the verification channel.

To do this, you must follow the following permission setup for your channels/categories.

Take a moment to notice that I don't deny @ everyone the; "View Channel" permission since it's already denied in the roles category, in the server settings.

A few recommendations from us to you:

1. In announcement/information channels we recommend you disable the: "Add Reactions" permission. This makes it so your announcenments/information posts only have reactions that you wish to have, and keep it clean.

2. In the @everyone role permissions, disable; "Create Public Threads" & "Create Private Threads" permissions disabled. This makes it so regular members cannot make threads in your channels, which keeps the discord clean and organized.

Step 5 - Moderator Role / Roles Setup

We guided you in regards to creating a Member role, and how to toggle certain permissions. We know that projects like to have moderators to moderate their chats, and to stop scams.

Common Permissions to grand moderators:

1. Ban/Kick Members

2. Timeout members

3. Mute/Deafen Members

The biggest mistakes we see in the space;

1. Giving too many permissions to moderators.

2. Having too many moderators.

3. Handling bans, kicks, roles, and timeouts through native discord.

4. Allowing moderators to @ everyone, @ here, and @ roles.

All of the above mistakes introduce many security issues throughout your discord. We recommend you to use a secure, safe, and trusted discord bot to handle all moderative actions in your discord, like our product; Soteria. Using a bot allows a regulated, logged form of using moderative actions.

NEVER GIVE OUT "ADMINISTRATOR" PERMISSIONS TO ANYONE BUT LEAD TEAM MEMBERS IF NEEDED.

Step 6 - Channel and Role Structure

Now, your channels and roles should have a structure.

1. @ everyone should have; "Read Channels" permission disabled on all channels apart from your verification channel.

2. @ everyone should have; "Tag @ everyone, @ here, and @ All Roles" disabled.

3. @ everyone / members roles should have; "Add Reactions" disabled in your announcement channels.

4. @ everyone / member roles should have; "Create Public Threads" / "Create Private Threads" disabled in all channels.

5. Moderator roles should only have special permissions through a trusted bot like Cronus, or Soteria.

Step 7 - Safety Setup

Enabling the moderative settings in your discord server is a must. It adds an automated way handled by discord that makes your discord a safer place for your users.

Head over to server settings, find the; "Safety Setup" category, and copy the settings as shown in the screenshot.

Tip - High is the best setting to have for your Safety Setup. Requiring verified phone numbers for your discord server cuts around 40% of your discord users.

Alongside the above setup, make sure that you enable the; "2FA Requirement" for your moderators.

Step 8 - Enable Community

A recommended step for you is to enable the discord; "Community" feature. This allows your discord to be discovered by new users through the discord discovery feature. To do this, follow the steps below.

Firstly, click on the top bar that displays the server's name, and press; "Server Settings".

Find the; "Enable Community" category and press; "Get Started".

Press both of the checkboxes, and press next.

Agree to the rules, and then press; "Finish Setup".

Congratulations, your discord is now discoverable through the discord discovery tab.

Step 9 - Bots & Automation

A big part of running discord servers in an easier way is using bots and automation, though, a lot of times, that ends up being a discord servers downfall.

Mistakes that people make;

1. Using untrusted bots for tasks they want automated.

2. Giving too many permissions to bots.

3. Configuring bots incorrectly allowing entry level moderations/regular users to exploit it.

The best practice to use for bots are;

1. Hiring a developer/team to create a custom bot for you.

2. Using a well trusted bot/service for automating tasks in your discord.

3. Only giving permissions required to bots.

   1. For example: A bot that plays music in your discord should NOT require permissions such as; "Administrator" & "Ban Members", but instead should require; "Join Voice Channels", "Read Channels", "Send Messages in Channels".

Step 10 - Webhooks

Webhooks are highly discouraged in discords. We actually recommend you to use bots such as Soteria that automatically delete webhooks that are created.

Webhooks allow harmful actors to automatically spam send messages in certain channels in a discord promoting scam links. Completely disallowing webhooks creates yet another barrier for attackers to have to go through to harm your community.

Conclusion

Congratulations, you should have a basic and secure discord server made. You'll now need to figure out how you want to theme your discord, alongside the system you want for your moderators, and which bots you'll want to use. We offer other guides in regards to specific discord topics, feel free to read through them to continue learning more.