While the many Discord servers out there have many different configurations, I'll give a few suggestions based on similar servers and my experience with Discord server moderation:
- In terms of how channels should be grouped, taking into consideration how this forum is currently structured, I would suggest having:
- A Server Information or Welcome section that would include server "infrastructure" channels, such as those for server rules and general announcements.
- A TinyCircuits section that would include discussion and support channels for TinyCircuits as a whole.
- Sections dedicated to each currently-supported product, such as Thumby and TinyTV, with each having a general discussion channel, and additional channels such as "support" or "development" for the sections that have sufficient levels of community participation to warrant channel "specialization".
- Language-specific and voice channels could also be channels to consider at some point after the initial creation of the Discord server should there be a purpose and sufficient moderation capabilities for them.
- In terms of roles, I would imagine that as this would be an official TinyCircuits Discord server, the top role would be something along the lines of "TinyCircuits Staff", or something. A way to let people know who is and isn't part of your team. Next down the totem pole, as you mentioned that the responsibility of moderating a Discord server would be a big one for your small team, perhaps consider inviting community members to serve as volunteer moderators, as many communities have. In terms of regular members, while some form of Kickstarter-Discord integration for having roles for backers might be something to look into, as this wouldn't apply to backers of your prior campaigns, I might suggest something both simpler and open to everyone, such as letting users pick a rank based on which color Thumby they have, with custom emojis added for each color to complement the ranks.
- Otherwise, it could be used in many ways like any other social media platform, such as having events to improve community engagement, with the difference being the greater opportunity for interaction and collaboration with and among members.
