PROJECT OVERVIEW AND RESULTS
Discord is a popular communication platform that provides voice, video, and text chat features for communities to join a server and interact with each other.
However, servers are vulnerable to attacks from bad actors creating a hostile environment to hurt Discord communities.
Moderation Tickets is a system designed for community members to report bad actors or problems in the Discord server. Once the tickets are sent out, the moderation team can review complaints and reports in order to resolve them.
Results
User Satisfaction: 83% increase.
Users Feedback: 100% reported a much easier learning curve compared to other solutions.
CLIENT
Discord
TEAM SIZE
Individual
TIMELINE
Sept - Oct 23' (6 Weeks)
DELIVERABLES
Prototype
DISCLAIMER! I am not affiliated with Discord. This is only a conceptual case study.
Deliverables
Watch in 4k + 60 FPS on YouTube's website for the best quality!
PROBLEM DISCOVERY
One day, my friend woke up and saw a message from Discord that would make anyone’s heart stop. Bad actors had posted illegal content then buried the post with spam. After that, they reported the server for hosting illegal content and the server was deleted.
The community, moderators, and bots failed to detect the post. This got me thinking: Is the current server moderation tools REALLY good enough?
USER RESEARCH
I conducted a user research with five Discord moderators who previously had issues with server moderation. I wanted to identify the current problems with moderation.
The vast majority of interviewees were dissatisfied with the current moderation tools.
Participants shared stories where the current moderation tools provided a negative experience. User stories uncovered the shortcomings of user tools.
Analyzing the user stories categorized server moderation tools into two categories: bots and ticketing systems. I sorted the users' pain points into the two categories in order to build the solution later. The most common pain points involved paywalled features and complicated setup.
Bots
Ticketing System
Interviewees cited a big frustration was lack of a singular tool; Moderators sometimes use bots and ticketing system at the same time.
I used a user journey map to determine "locations" to solve the problem. The chart also acted as guide to developing the UX of the user interface.
I noticed while analyzing the data, that users did not complain about other moderation features such as: word filters, verification levels, and activity alerts. I discovered that most of the complaints pertained to post moderation problems; NOT server moderation.
PROBLEM STATEMENT
User interviews show that there is a strong demand for an integrated post moderation tool.
IDEATION
I ideated on ways on how to develop a solution that can help Discord users moderate posts much easier.
I performed a competitive analysis on the tools used to determine the most liked aspects of a particular tool.
I drafted on a few ideas that might work. However, they were ultimately scrapped as they were not deemed an effective solution.
Ultimately, there are not many ways to incorporate a post moderation tool and settled on reworking the ticketing system at this point.
Because this is a personal project; I do not have the resources to conduct in-depth research and was limited to making an assumption on the solution.
Familiarity is Good
I committed to the idea on creating a native Ticket System. I took inspiration from IT ticketing systems and reframed it to my idea.
SOLUTION
Looking back at the cons of the ticketing system; I realized that majority of the problems are capable of being fixed.
I created a MoSCoW Matrix to determine the Minimum Viable Product.
DESIGN
The design phase focused on ideating on ways to deliver the solution and building off the mistakes of current solutions.
I settled on using the Events panel as a frame of reference, based on the following attributes.
Swift Development. Using an existing element helps developers release the solution more quickly.
Working Space. Plenty of empty space to fit elements and future features.
I used Figma to design the Wireframes.
While designing the user flow, I referenced the user journey in order to avoid missing critical UX steps.
Having context on a ticket makes moderation much faster; as I later saw during Usability Testing.
DELIVERY
After creating the prototype; I wanted to see what users thought about the product and to take their feedback into account.
UI Kit Credits: Muhsin Ataul, bawwub, figr.design.
I tested the feature with a new set of six Discord moderators.
Results
Participant Feedback
I recorded a few notable quotes from my participants for positive and negative feedback to improve the product in the future.
Validating my Assumptions
From the limited studies I conducted, I was able to validate my assumption that users want and enjoy a no-frills and built-in ticket moderation system for Discord.
Familiarity is Good! (CONFIRMED!)
Finally, I drafted a few KPIs on how the product might benefit the user and business.
User Focused KPIs
Validates the satisfaction of users on a scale of 1 to 10.
Business Focused KPIs
LEARNINGS AND TAKEAWAYS
Thank you for reading! Here are the insights and takeaways I gathered from the project.
My main learnings through this case study involved developing a better mindset for detecting problems.
Don’t focus on the ending. In my first iterations I did not have a “Past Tickets” or breadcrumbs element. It’s not part of the MVP, but it is good practice to have.
Narrowing the problem. Categorizing problems is important. Initially, I thought there was a moderation issue in general. However, I discovered the real problem was post moderation; it was not regarding filters, verification, ect.
Use the tools interviewees complain. Experience the issues yourself; You’ll remember the problems quickly and avoid it during design.
Inspiration can come from unexpected places. Sometimes, it’s important to look outside the box for solutions.
Account for outside issues. API breaks leads to bots being unusable. I now think about outside factors in a given solution.
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