REBEL8 Discord
For years I've been challenged with how to grow the REBEL8 community. Even before all this Covid shit it was difficult for me too. REBEL8 has never had a physical location to bring all of us together. When we'd randomly put on events they usually cracked but seemed to be more about partying for only a few hours.
As the entire world continues to move digital, we have relied heavily on social media to be our link. Unfortunately that hasn't worked out that great either. None of us really fuck with Facebook anymore. We all use Instagram but it's very much one-sided brand out marketing. When we text or email you, it's similar.
Around the time when I first discovered the Internet and used a 14.4kbps dial-up modem (Google it) to connect to AOL (maybe Google that too), I discovered chat rooms. And within those hundreds of public chat rooms, I found the graffiti chat room. I think it was literally called "graffiti". I'd virtually sit in that chat room for hours every single day, adding to the conversation when I could or making friends through instant messages. These AOL chat rooms, didn't have voice or images. Just words. The craziest thing about the AOL graffiti chat room is that there were some legit ass writers in that bitch. Like some big name folks.
In 1998, after AOL, I started HiFiArt; a website dedicated to San Francisco graffiti. I did build out a forum/message board and it was dope. It was like the Hypebeast forums, if you ever were on that, but for graff kids.
The reason I bring this up is that I have done an awful job at creating something similar for REBEL8. I think I built a REBEL8 community, but have not found a way to consistently bring us all together. I think, until now.
What is Discord? Discord is the easiest way to talk over voice, video, and text. It's not just if you like graffiti. I have created a bunch of different channels for us. Even one for suggestions! Because as a real community, we need to communicate both ways.
It's kinda gnarly to learn any new platform, but please give it a shot. You have to verify you aren't a robot to gain access so go through all the captcha shit. After that all the channels I made for us will be unlocked: including one I named aol-graffiti-chat-room.
I'm living in there now and would love to meet. This one's for the REBEL8 community.
See you there.
Josh D
Founder & CEO