Question 1

What is Discord and do I need to join it?

Accepted Answer

Discord is a free, forum based app comprised of Servers which are made up of Channels organized by Category.

MAKE Roanoke has a Discord Server that anyone 18 and older can join. It is not required, but is the most effective way to communicate with other makers in our area, find out about new classes and orientations, and more!

Question 2

Do I need to be a MAKE Roanoke Member to join the Discord?

Accepted Answer

Absolutely not!

As of February 2026 our Discord server has over 425 people in it. Makers from across the Roanoke Valley. We know that a lot of people already have their own equipment, and might not need a membership to our makerspace, but we have been Community First from the beginning, and want MAKE Roanoke and our Discord server to also serve as a place for all makers to collaborate together.

Question 3

How do I know I'm up to date on what's been posted?

Accepted Answer

Servers and Channels will have a little white dot next to them to indicate that a new message has been shared there. (Muted channels, categories, and servers will not show white dots while muted).

If you have a red number, that means you've been tagged in something to get your attention. This can be a personal tag or tagging a role that you have to tag that whole group.

Question 4

This is way too many channels for me to keep track of! Can I remove some of them?

Accepted Answer

Absolutely!
If you go to Channels & Roles at the top of the Channel list, you can click Browse Channels and select which channels and categories you want to see.

Unchecking a channel will entirely remove them from your list, but they should still pop up if someone tags you in them. You can always go back and add them to your list again.

Alternatively you can "Mute" a channel, category, or even the whole server. You do this by right clicking (or long pressing on mobile) the channel/category/server you wish to mute, selecting "Mute" and then how long you want to mute it for. This is a great option if you just want fewer distractions for the day.

These only affect your experience of the Discord server, no one else's!

Question 5

How do I manage Notifications?

Accepted Answer

Discord enables you to be pretty granular with your notifications, and they can be set by channel, by category, or for the entire server.

To set up notifications to your preference:
Right click (Long press on mobile) on the Channel, Category, or Server you want to edit 
Choose Notification Settings
Select which is right for you:
All messages: sends a notification each time a new message is posted
Only @mentions: sends a notification only when you or one of your roles is tagged
Nothing: No notifications will be sent
Other settings:
Suppress @everyone and @here will turn of notifications for those two roles. These are very rarely used on the MAKE Roanoke Discord
Suppress All Role @mentions will turn off all notifications for your roles, but keep the notifications on for your individual username
Mobile Push Notifications will send a notification to your phone.

You can also choose to mute a channel, category, or server, which silences all notification and the white dots for a set amount of time or until you turn it back on. This is a great option when you need fewer distractions for the day.

Question 6

How is the Discord server organized?

Accepted Answer

There are 4 main categories in the MAKE Roanoke Discord server:
Official MAKE Roanoke
These channels are where organization-wide announcements are made and other things pertaining to the makerspace 
Community
These channels are for anyone to share in building our community for Members and Non-Members alike. 
The Introductions channel is a great place to tell us about yourself
The Project-Sharing channel is a really awesome place to share the project you're working on and see all the awesome stuff makers from across Roanoke are doing
Shop Areas
Here we have one channel for each of our 6 shops and the crafts they cater to. 
Shop captains will post shop-specific announcements here
It's a great place to troubleshoot a relevant project with other makers!
Hobby Talk
Many of us have hobbies outside of our shop areas, and they have channels here!
Our hobby-incubator channel is where anyone can start a forum post about a specific hobby that's not already covered.

Question 7

What roles are there and what do they do?

Accepted Answer

Discord roles are customizable labels assigned to server members to manage permissions, define hierarchy, and organize users by function or color.

These are the Roles you can opt in to, using the Channels & Roles channel of the Server
Crafty Roles
fiber-artist 
For people with skills in sewing, crocheting, knitting, etc 
Announcements for the fiber arts studio
metal-crafter 
For people with skills in metal working 
Announcements for the metal shop
wood-crafter 
For people with skills in woodworking 
Announcements for the wood shop
spark-inducer 
For people with skills in electronics work 
Announcements for the electronics lab
laser-master
For people with skills in laser cutting/etching 
Announcements for the laser cutters
3d-printer 
For people with skills in 3D printing/modeling 
Announcements for the 3D Printing Lab

The other role you can opt into is volunteer which we use to notify people when we have a need for volunteers. This can be for anything from staffing a booth to helping with a class!

Main Roles that are assigned
Member 
Assigned to people who are full MAKE Roanoke members
We use it to notify membership on official membership business, like upcoming votes or really important announcements
If you’re a Member and don’t have this role, let us know!
Board 
Assigned to people who are on the MAKE Roanoke Board. 
If you need to reach the board, this is a good way to do so.
Shop-captain 
Assigned to the people appointed to be in charge of MAKE Roanoke's shops. 
We also have shop specific captain roles:
Fiber-arts-captain
Metal-shop-captain
Wood-shop-captain
Electronics-Captain
Laser-Captain
3D-printing-captain
Committee-chair 
Assigned to people who are in charge of a committee at MAKE Roanoke (ie classes, website, marketing, etc)
Planning-committee 
Assigned to people who serve on the planning committee (we are always accepting more volunteers!)
Classes-committee
Assigned to people who help out with classes at MAKE Roanoke, even one class! 
It opens up a private area for planning the class

To tag a role, pinging people with that role assigned, use the @ symbol before any of these!

Question 8

Tell me more about the Official MAKE Roanoke Category

Accepted Answer

In the Official MAKE Roanoke Category we have these channels:
Information 
Important links
A snapshot of who's who in leadership
Announcements 
Upcoming events 
Other announcements
Classes 
Specifics of upcoming classes
Event-planning
Where we coordinate upcoming public events, like staffing a booth at a comic con or building a puppet for the Daisy Art Parade.
The Event Suggestions Post under Event-planning is the best place to tell us about upcoming events you think would be a great fit for us!
Questions 
Where you can ask us any kind of question about MAKE Roanoke you may have
Volunteer-opportunities 
Posts about any upcoming volunteer opportunities, such as need for staff at a table, or extra hands needed for a space improvement project. 
You can opt in to the "volunteer" role in ⁠Channels & Roles to get notified
Server-feedback 
A place for you to suggest changes or improvements to how we run the discord. Feedback is always welcome!
Social-media-posts 
Updates automatically whenever we post an instagram post. 
Sometimes we'll post other social media posts in there as well

Question 9

Tell me more about the Community Category

Accepted Answer

Our Community Channels are
General
Don't know where else to post something? post it here!
⁠Introductions 
Introduce yourself and tell us about what you like to make!
⁠Project-sharing 
Let us see what cool projects you're working on! We love to see progress pictures too!
Freebies-and-for-sale 
For stuff that needs a new home
⁠Hacksburg 
This is a channel about Blacksburg's makerspace: Hacksburg!
Posts put in here will automatically be shared in Hacksburg’s forum
Posts made by Hacksbridge in here are automatically shared from Hacksburg’s forum
Memes 
See a funny maker meme? Share it with us here!
⁠Job-requests 
Request a job to be done by a member of our community (ie can someone 3D Print this for me). 
MAKE Roanoke is not responsible for product quality or payment received.
Community-events 
Are you in a play at a local theatre? Is your band playing at a bar this weekend? 
MAKE Roanoke Members can share their upcoming community events here!

Question 10

Tell me more about the Shop Areas Category

Accepted Answer

The Shop Areas category has one channel for each of our shops:
⁠3d-printing 
A place for talking about MAKE Roanoke's 3D Printers or 3D printing in general
⁠Electronics 
A place for talking about circuit boards and soldering and the like or our Electronics Lab
⁠Fiber-arts 
A place for talking about sewing, knitting, crocheting, etc or our Fiber Arts Studio
Laser-cutter 
A place for talking about MAKE Roanoke's laser cutters or laser cutting in general
⁠Metal-shop 
A place for talking about metal working or our Metal Shop
⁠Wood-shop 
A place for talking about wood working or our Wood Shop

Question 11

Tell me more about the Hobby Talk category

Accepted Answer

The Hobby Talk category is for hobbies not covered by our main shop areas, or hobbies that are better served having their own space to discuss. The Channels are:
Hobby-incubator 
A place to talk about any hobby you'd like that's not covered by our shop areas or other hobby channels
Anyone is welcome to start a new forum post here!
Coding 
A place to troubleshoot your code or talk about coding concepts
⁠Gardening 
A place for those with green thumbs to gather and share what they're growing
⁠Visual-arts 
Painters, drawers, and other artists unite and discuss here!
⁠Music
A place for people to discuss making music

Frequently Asked Questions