[Jtsummers]

Discord would be unpleasant for something like this with so many participants. It's a similar reason to skipping out on Hangouts, Zoom, etc. It forces synchronization, if you're not online during the discussion you're effectively barred from it. It can be very hard to catch up and very hard to respond to any particular thread of discussion. Discord is also, by design, essentially single-threaded. You can reply to specific comments but it's still presented in an interleaved format which makes tracking difficult when multiple threads of discussion are occurring at once.

If the discussion is light, it's a non-issue, but with 300-800 (per eatonphil's comment) it's likely that it will not be light.

[tbbfjotllf]

Your criticism of discord for this use case is valid. I didn't mean it has to be discord, it could be any platform as long as it allows having proper discussions without being a pain. I believe something like a flarum forum would be way better for this use case.

[jpablo]

What's wrong with email?

[eatonphil]

Only a minority actively participates. But it's for all the other reasons you mention yes.

And, unrelatedly, even though few actively participate that isn't the point. It is a motivational vehicle. And I repeatedly hear about this from folks who join and don't participate. That's perfectly fine with me.

[miguelbemartin]

It's hard to keep people active for this kind of initiatives. I am also running an engineering book club and found the same challenges, especially with timezones. However, as soon as you find a group that can join every week at the same time over Zoom, it's the best way to build community and enjoy the discussions.

[fuzztester]

>Zoom:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoom_(software)

See the Reception section.

They had many security and privacy issues.

Some of them were in the news a lot, a few years earlier.

[eatonphil]

I'm happy with how what I've got works for us. Of course anyone can and should join or start the version that suits their taste!