I'm an academic mathematician who has used Discord professionally, in at least two contexts:
1. Once the pandemic set in, some Discord groups popped up, associated to branches of math. For example I'm a member of "The Algebraic Geometry Syndicate" and "Modern Number Theory and Algebraic Geometry".
The activity includes: technical math chat; people giving each other advice (e.g. on the job market or online teaching); advertisements of online conferences; some other stuff.
2. I've also been on Discord forums attached to weekend online conferences. These were sort of similar, but short-lived -- and we also encouraged everyone to introduce themselves. We had a "math memes contest" and organized a board games night for all who were interested. Basically, it was an attempt to replicate some of the social aspects of conferences.
It seems like Slack is designed for groups of people who all work at the same company. Discord worked well for us -- where participants work/study all over, and where it's super easy to join.
1. Once the pandemic set in, some Discord groups popped up, associated to branches of math. For example I'm a member of "The Algebraic Geometry Syndicate" and "Modern Number Theory and Algebraic Geometry".
The activity includes: technical math chat; people giving each other advice (e.g. on the job market or online teaching); advertisements of online conferences; some other stuff.
2. I've also been on Discord forums attached to weekend online conferences. These were sort of similar, but short-lived -- and we also encouraged everyone to introduce themselves. We had a "math memes contest" and organized a board games night for all who were interested. Basically, it was an attempt to replicate some of the social aspects of conferences.
It seems like Slack is designed for groups of people who all work at the same company. Discord worked well for us -- where participants work/study all over, and where it's super easy to join.