The Meditation Mind Discord server is home to a diverse and inclusive community of almost 10,000 people of all ages and backgrounds. Because of this, the server offers a wide variety of content and many different ways to participate. However, this also means that much of the content may not be relevant to you or your practice—trying to keep up with everything can be overwhelming.
Luckily, Discord makes it relatively easy to customize your experience. After watching the following quick overview, presented by community member Sarah B., keep reading to find out how to configure notifications and personalize your server experience, to help ensure that your time spent in the community is both comfortable and rewarding.
Before we dive in, if you’re brand-new to Discord, you may want to take a moment to check out these articles from Discord: Beginner’s Guide to Discord, Getting Started on Mobile, and Sending Messages. If you prefer video, this introductory video from Tech Audit TV is a bit dated, but still one of the better videos out there: How to Use Discord in 2022: The Ultimate Beginner Walkthrough.
Okay… Are you ready? Let’s get started!
Before we dive into the specifics of personalizing your experience in the Meditation Mind community, let’s take a quick look at how to reduce or even eliminate notifications in general. Properly configuring notifications and privacy settings for all of your servers is a great way to improve your overall Discord experience.
To begin, the quickest and easiest way to eliminate notifications for all servers and DMs (direct messages) is to change your status to Do Not Disturb, as shown below. This will prevent all desktop and push notifications. However, depending on your phone settings, you may still receive notifications in your mobile notification center.
Setting Status to "Do Not Disturb"
Of course, you may not want to mute all notifications, and even if you do, it’s still a good idea to configure server-specific notifications and privacy settings. Right-click on a server icon to access these settings. On mobile, you can long-hold the server icon or tap the server banner at the top of the channel list, and then tap Notifications. (See also: Notifications Settings 101)
Server Notification Settings
The top section determines which messages you will receive notifications for. All Messages only works on servers with less than 2,500 members. Only @mentions means you will only receive notifications for messages that mention you directly. We recommend using this setting.
The middle section allows you to disable notifications at a more granular level. If you prefer less noise, start by checking Suppress Highlights. (More about Highlights.) If you don’t want to be notified about events, check Mute New Events. Most people will want to receive role mentions, but if you’re getting too many pings, you can suppress those. Most servers avoid mentioning @everyone and @here frequently, but you can suppress those too, if you like. To disable mobile notifications, uncheck Mobile Push Notifications.
If this seems like too much to think about and you just want to get rid of all notifications, you can easily mute the whole server. Right-click on the server icon, go to Mute Server, and choose a length of time. On mobile, long-hold the server icon or tap on the server banner at the top of the channel list, tap Notification Settings, and then tap Mute [Server Name]. This will suppress all notifications, including push notifications, with the exception of @everyone mentions.
Mute Server
Next, you will want to check your server-specific privacy settings. On desktop, right-click the server icon and select Privacy Settings. On mobile, long-hold the icon and tap More Options or just tap the server banner at the top of the channel list.
Server Privacy Settings
If you would like to completely eliminate direct messages from other server members, disable Direct Messages here. If you enable DMs, it may be a good idea to enable Message Requests, especially on large servers. Learn more about Message Requests, Blocking & Privacy Settings.
To prevent others from seeing your activity status or joining your activities, disable the final two options. To disable activity status on mobile, you will need to go to your app settings, and then tap Privacy & Safety. Learn more about Activity Status.
Properly configuring your notification and privacy settings will help ensure that you are not overwhelmed by notifications. However, with over 60 publicly available channels in the Meditation Mind server, it’s still easy to become overwhelmed by the sheer amount of content, much of which may not be relevant to you and your practice. Luckily, we can easily personalize the server experience to limit the type of content you see. (After we explain how to personalize your experience, we will offer general recommendations for choosing channels.)
Personalization actually begins the moment you join the server, with community onboarding. You probably remember going through the process shown below.
Community Onboarding
Community Onboarding: Customization Question #1
| Choice | Channel(s) Assigned | Role(s) Assigned |
|---|---|---|
Accountability | #accountability | @Accountability |
Resources | #resources1 | |
Practice Reports | #practice-reports | |
Insights | #insights1 | |
Courses | @Courses |
1Non-discussion or minimal-discussion channel
Keep in mind that any role added is a potential ping/mention, depending on how you configured your notifications. Channels can be individually disabled, which we will cover below. However, roles can only be added here, so if you would like a role, be sure to select the option that gives that role.
Community Onboarding: Customization Question #2
| Choice | Channel(s) Assigned | Role(s) Assigned |
|---|---|---|
Physical Wellness | #physical-wellness | |
Cooking | #cooking | |
Gardening | #gardening | |
Being in Nature | #being-in-nature1 | |
Affirmations | #affirmations1 | |
Intentions | #intentions | |
Self-Care | #self-care1 | |
Gratitude | #gratitude1 | |
Generosity | #generosity1 | |
Loving-Kindness | #loving-kindness1 | |
Victories | #victories1 |
1Non-discussion or minimal-discussion channel
Community Onboarding: Customization Question #3
| Choice | Channel(s) Assigned | Role(s) Assigned |
|---|---|---|
Monthly Meditation Challenges | @Challenger | |
Meditate with Me | #🧘 meditate with me1, #🧘🏻 meditate with me1 | @meditate with me |
Study Group | #study-group, #event-schedule, #Event Stage A2 | @Study Group |
Book Club | #book-club, #event-schedule, #Event Stage B2 | @Book Club |
Guided Meditations | #group-meditation, #event-schedule, #👪 group meditation1, #Event Stage A2 | @Group Meditation |
Monthly Intensives | #intensives3 | @Intensives |
Weekly Discussion | #weekly-discussion | @Discussion Group |
1Voice chat channel
2Stage channel
3Role-locked channel; must have role to access channel
Community Onboarding: Customization Question #4
| Choice | Channel(s) Assigned | Role(s) Assigned |
|---|---|---|
Entertainment | #entertainment | @Gaming Guild ⛏ |
Wholesome Fun | #wholesome-fun1 | |
Creativity | #creativity1 | |
Music | #music1 | |
Science Geekery | #science-geekery | |
Languages & Cultures | #languages-and-cultures | |
Watch Together | #📺 watch together2 | @Watch Together |
Hang Out in Voice Chat | #🍵 general voice2 | @hang out in voice chat |
Venting | #venting | |
Venting Void | #venting-void3 | @Venting Void |
1Minimal-discussion channel
2Voice chat channel
3Role-locked channel; must have role to access channel (also removes #venting)
Questions #1-4 (shown above) are presented to every user during the initial onboarding process. Since initial onboarding only allows a maximum of four customization questions, the following questions (#5-10) can only be accessed after completing onboarding. You will find them in #Channels & Roles, near the top of the channel list.
Community Onboarding: Customization Question #5
| Choice | Channel(s) Assigned | Role(s) Assigned |
|---|---|---|
Interpersonal | #interpersonal | |
Compassionate Communication | #compassionate-communication | @Nonviolent Communication 🦒 |
Secular | #secular | |
Eastern | #eastern | |
Western | #western | |
Somatics | #somatics | |
Yoga | #yoga | @Yoga |
Alternative Methods | #alternative |
Community Onboarding: Customization Question #6
| Choice | Channel(s) Assigned | Role(s) Assigned |
|---|---|---|
Starboard | #⭐starboard | |
Bot Commands | #bot-commands | |
Server Suggestions | #server-suggestions | |
Key to the Archives | #weekly-discussion-old, #questions-old, 📁SCAVENGER HUNT1 | |
Welcome Team | @👋 Welcome Team | |
DM-Friendly | @DM-friendly | |
Ping-Friendly | @Ping-friendly | |
No pings, please. | @No pings please | |
🌈lgbtq2sia+🦄 | #🌈lgbtq2sia🦄2 | @🌈lgbtq2sia🦄 |
Habita Clan | @Habitica Clan | |
Potato | #potato-love3 | @potato |
1Category; includes multiple channels
2Role-locked channel; must have role to access channel
3Gallery-view forum channel; top posts must include an image
Community Onboarding: Customization Questions #7-8
Each choice in questions #7 and #8 (shown above) assigns a role named the same as the choice name. For example, choosing she/her assigns the @she/her role. These are purely informational roles. None of the choices are linked to channels.
Community Onboarding: Customization Questions #9-10
Similarly, each choice in questions #9 and #10 (shown above) assigns a role named the same as the choice name. There are a few exceptions in which the role name is shortened slightly by using an acronym, etc. Again, these are purely informational roles and none of the choices are linked to channels.
You may have noticed that only three channels are role-locked: #intensives, #🌈lgbtq2sia🦄, and #venting-void. This means that these are the only choices that you are required to select in order to access the linked channels. All other channels can be toggled in the Browse Channels section of #Channels & Roles, which we will now introduce.
Channels & Roles: Browse Channels
In Browse Channels, you will see a list of all channels that you have access to. Below each channel, you can read the channel description and see when the channel was last active. Only channels with a check mark to the right will show up in your channel list. Hover over a channel and click View to preview that channel. If the channel seems interesting, you can add it to your list. Click Follow Category to add all channels within that category, as well as any channels added to that category in the future.
Note that you can enable or disable any channel that you have access to, which means that as long as you have the roles required for the three role-locked channels mentioned above, you can enable or disable the linked channels freely. You can also disable the default channels which are added to everyone’s channel list initially.
Channel Suggestions
If you are mentioned (directly or via one of your roles) in a channel that is not in your channel list, or if a new channel is added, that channel will show up as a SUGGESTED channel, near the top of your channel list, as shown above. You can click on the channel to view it and then click Add to Channel List if you would like to add it to your list. You will see the same button if someone links to a channel not on your list and you visit that channel.
You now know how to meticulously curate your channel list, to ensure that you only see the channels you’re interested in. Before we wrap this up, we have one final trick to share. You may want to check a channel only occasionally, without needing to go through the trouble of enabling and disabling it every time. You can achieve this by adding the channel to your list and muting the channel.
Mute Channel
Right-click any channel in your channel list, go to Mute Channel, and select how long you would like to mute the channel. You may also want to temporarily mute a channel—for example, when it becomes too active—but to achieve what we mentioned above, you will want to choose Until I turn it back on.
When a channel is muted, the channel name will be dimmed and will not be highlighted when new messages are sent to the channel. However, an unread dot will still be displayed when you are mentioned in the channel. Learn more: How do I mute and disable notifications for specific channels?
You now know how to configure notifications and personalize your server experience, but you still might not be sure how to choose which channels to put in your list. It’s always good to start by reading channel descriptions, and you can usually get a feel for the type of discussion you’re likely to encounter in a channel by browsing through a bit of the channel history. However, to speed up the process, we will offer some general recommendations below.
Note that the above lists are non-exhaustive, so we encourage you to explore all available channels.
Hopefully, you now know everything you need to make your experience in the community both comfortable and rewarding. However, if you ever have any questions, server staff is always happy to help, so don’t hesitate to reach out.
Thank you for being a part of the community!