TIL "@here" only notifies online users on Discord and Slack

I'm in a few Discord servers of friends and we get together in-person regularly. Whenever I was the one organizing an event I would attempt to ping everyone details in the Discord using .

After the initial ping I would usually follow-up with folks over text, which is fine and expected part of organizing. More often than not, invitees would be way more responsive over text than over Discord. I created an SMS BCC tool because of how effective texting is for organizing events.

Turns out that is functionally different from or on Slack and Discord. only sends notifications to users that are currently online 🟢, not offline ⚫ or "away" 🟡. This makes useful for when you're trying to play an online multiplayer game or chat synchronously... but not for planning a hang-out in advance. So none of my usually-offline friends on Discord would get my initial notification, only the follow-ups. I'll be using for this purpose from now on.

I learned this from a friend and three people including me were not aware of this distinction, so I figure I have to share this on the blog. Maybe this will help you increase the turn-out for the next event you host for Discord friends. What other Discord or Slack hacks am I probably unaware of? Send them to me via email or on social media.