Discord Contra WhatsApp: A Study in Order Versus Chaos (Tales of Siriusbiznia Chronicle #001)

Last month I rolled out a WhatsApp group named Sasing Serious Business™ (“Sasing” being an abbreviation of Sastra Inggris, that is, English Literature, my major in Universitas Terbuka (Indonesia Open University), and “Serious Business™”, to denote (and declare) both gravity *AND* frivolity (hence, the supposedly ironic trademark symbol) within. The final name is Tales of Siriusbiznia ™©®, for reasons lost in oblivion.

The members of the WhatsApp group may discuss freely about anything (read: everything) they care to share there; observe or disregard political correctness at their own risk; shitpost with memes and share quizzes and word games; talk about competitive debating rules peppered with drama here and there; talk about fujoshi and harrumphing about other taboos (or the lack thereof); talk about social distancing in the time of Covid-19, talk about the need to put on different hats/personae for different occasions, talk about the conundrum of expressing oneself freely amid the pressure and shackles imposed upon by society intoxicated by the cancel culture, talk about wearing bikini or daster (Indonesian for “nightgown”) to the graduation ceremony — you name it, they got it.

Then it dawned upon some of us that the convos there are way too unstructured and messy, and was (is?) rather hard to track or make sense of.

That’s when the Discord initiative (laying low in dormant and/or vegetative state since early 2018) commenced (again). Discord done. Discord launched.

The WhatsApp group is where the members take turn to wank their ego (i.e, circlejerk/circlebackpat) with each other and have little to no expectation of reciprocity on the part of fellow interlocutors. It’s Tortuga minus the booze and adultery; a no man’s land where chaos reigns and shitposts abound — and all’s right with the world. Or left, whatever. It’s where common sense and sanity spend their nights cavorting with the tag team of creativity and boredom, spurting splotches of inspirations and WTF chats all over the walls — simultaneously pretentious, wholesome, wonderful, and shitty.

The Discord is where the clearly-defined rules of engagements in the #rules channel and the compartmentalized natures of the channels (i.e., themed chatrooms) make for a great exercise in upholding law and order, maintaining stability (by allowing X-rated/non-PG-13 talk only on a single NSFW channel, and prohibiting it elsewhere in the Discord), and, to that extent, promoting and fostering a relatively good space to learn about new things (such as competitive debating, English grammar and vocabulary learning, daily life trivia to be shared in #TodayILearned/TIL channel, etc.), while the noticeable downside, however, is its seemingly forced and contrived nature, what with the lack of familiarity to certain non-gaming users and the hassle it would take to install yet another messaging chat application.

“If you build it, they will come,” they say (Mandela effect be damned).

I say bollocks.

The moral of the tales of two chat apps?

“If you build it, and you give enough incentive, either financial and/or emotional and/or educational, they will come together with you — and the pillow talk would be stellar.”

The findings from this blasphemous social experiment would never be conclusive (if, admittedly, a tad reaching) without the help and support (unwitting or otherwise) of the members (active or inactive) of both the WhatsApp Group and the Discord. For that, I offer my deepest and most sincere gratitude, may you all be healthy and happy and chatty always.