Murderbot Discord Servers (2)
So, currently there are two large Murderbot discord servers with 1,000+ members: The Murderbot Diaries 2.0 (2.0) and New Tideland (NT).
When you are new to the fandom and maybe also new to Discord servers, at a glance they look pretty similar. They both have on-topic (i.e., Murderbot related) and off-topic (i.e., non-Murderbot) categories with multiple channels. Both servers have channels to chat about daily things, discuss and post images of food, animals, plants, etc., discuss real-life issues, etc. Both have channels where people share their creative works. They also run various events.
But they are quite distinct from each other based on very different running/moderation principles. While many people can enjoy both of them, it's also possible that your particular preferences are better met by one of them.
But before getting into the differences, your initial experience upon entering the servers is the same. Upon arrival, you will automatically receive a set of welcoming message and information on rules, etc. Your entry is not announced to the general members, so you can quietly lurk and observe for a while until you get your bearings.
In my personal opinions based on observations, here are the differences:
Suitable for those who want to be able to curate their experience without having to remove yourselves from ongoing conversation.
Potentially triggering topics, such as health, food, politics have designated areas. When people accidentally go off the topics for the channel, usually moderators, "greeters", and long-term members gently move the conversation to a more appropriate designation. People gladly move without any resentment.
You don't see shipping in main channels, as the server has many aspec (and adjacent) members who are not interested in shipping.
Shipping does exist and people discuss them in a designated area that uses multiple threads. Shippers and non-shippers peacefully coexist in main areas and (as far as I can see) there is no conflict as the actual shipping-talk does not take place in any of the main channels.
The server uses threads A LOT. People are used to using threads, and the greeters regularly draw attention to threads in each channel by making them visible.
Expression of negative views are allowed, and for things where both positive and negative opinions exist in abundance, like the tv adaptation, threads are created so that people can express themselves without upsetting those with different views.
Many events are organised by the members of the 2.0 server, but you may not always notice this as they don't advertise in order to make it as inclusive as they can. But "Bingo" and "New Year Gift Exchange" are some of their events.
Suitable for those who are happy with the attitude of "agree to disagree" in general, and rarely perturbed by seeing topics you don't like being discussed potentially anywhere and can just ignore and scroll on.
You need to be aware that it is up to you to avoid seeing the topics you don't want to see. Their rule is a lot more relaxed than the 2.0, and people are rarely discouraged from discussing something that appears to be outside of the scope of the channel. (Obviously, nsfw topics are not allowed in sfw areas, though)
There are lots of channels for both sfw and nsfw shipping (including those involving Murderbot itself). Many of the popular pairings have dedicated channels, but you can also talk about other characters in them, especially if the said-character doesn't have a dedicated channel.
They strongly encourage positive discussion of the series (both the book series and the tv show), and expressions of negative views are not recommended. (It's against their "do not yuck other people's yum" principle.)
They have lots of events including regular creative (for both art and fiction) workshops, book-reading, and film viewing events. You may see "New Tideland" tags on works on Archives of Our Own (Ao3).
In sum, if you want to feel safe, knowing whatever topic you want to avoid only happens in the designated area, are happy to comply with the rules of sticking to the topics for each channel, adding image descriptions (or ALT) to the images when you post them (for those who rely on text readers), 2.0 is a good fit for you. It is carefully and skillfully moderated.
If you prefer to be able to talk more freely, without having to remember "I'm not supposed to talk about this here" or dislike being asked to move to a different channel, then NT will be a better place for you.
But as I said, this is based on my observation. You can always see for yourself by joining them.
