As promised, here's a roundup of Discord channels that I've found genuinely help one get more support for one's Steemit efforts.
I'm going to break them into different categories, since there are different ideas of what "success" means, especially to different people. But one way or the other, I have found that success here on Steemit really comes down to community.
Some people find that on Steemchat, some Telegram, me on Discord, but until there is a native groups/communities feature, we will all have to find it on some service like those. Don't let the extra effort lead you to believe it isn't essential to platform success. We all rise together, never alone, and it's so much harder to do that relying solely on the comments sections on various people's posts.
That said, I do want to encourage you to use the comments sections on my posts to get to know one another. Much of my early relationship building on here came through meeting people in the comments on other people's posts. Do you read comments left by others before commenting on someone's post? If not, give it a try, and consider replying to and/or even upvoting someone besides the poster.
But on to the main subject of this post, Discord channels....
Good for an Upvote
There is relationship building that you know will eventually turn into upvotes, and then there is just asking for the upvote. There are a couple channels I've found where you just leave your link and get an upvote automatically.
Yehey, who is a witness has this channel where you just write $upvote followed by a link to your post on Steemit and receive an upvote within a few minutes typically, as well as notification within the server that you were upvoted and a comment on your post to that effect: https://discord.gg/nzrFmnd
(Note that you first have to register in the registration channel of the Yehey server, so that it is clear you are a human not a bot.)Peace, Abundance & Liberty (PAL) from the Minnowsupport team (thanks for the correction
) also gives an upvote every 48 hours. A lot of the time it is sleeping on the weekends, so best to plan on Mon, Wed, Fri. You have to start in the welcome channel of the server, then register, and then you can leave your links for upvote in the "upvote" channel. Please be sure to read the pinned posts as you go so you don't get booted before you even start: https://discord.gg/dEMz9CQ
More Social Path to Upvotes & Resteems
I have just one entry for this one, because it is unique in its own right. It is the Sunday night "Promote Your Post Live Show" in Whaleshares with host @Kotturinn at 7PM EST/11PM UTC (organized by 
The way it works is that you have one of your posts ready to submit that you think is a particularly good example of your work. Then get there early, since they tend to go roughly by the order in which people joined the event. when you are called on you share your link then get 2-3 minutes to talk about your post. Lots of people navigate to upvote and resteem it. (You should of course be doing the same upvoting/resteeming on the posts presented by others.)
It's pretty conversational, and people will ask you questions or give you feedback. The more you do the same with posts you find really interesting (which you basically speed read while folks are talking about it) the more attention you'll get when it is your turn.
Just make sure your microphone is working on Discord! When I was called on mine didn't work (because I was in the browser, not the app, as it turned out). Someone did troubleshooting with me in private message, and then I got a second turn, but it didn't work again, so they invited me to come back the following week after I got that sorted. The woman who helped me felt bad for me though, so sent me some BTS and gave me a large upvote herself.
Really Social Path to Relationships that Include Likely Upvotes
It's nice just getting upvotes, but what's better is building relationships that involve mutual support in all kinds of ways. These Discord servers support that, with each having its own unique "niche." Just realize that with this sort, you will get out of it what you put into it and nothing more.
@ecoTrain is an incredible community! If you care about the environment, and topics like sustainability, spirituality, nature, ecobuilding, art, food and more, this is the server to hang out on. When you post here people are likely to navigate to your posts and comment or upvote. Not everyone. It won't be a hoard. Typically I expect for one or two people to notice my posts usually. At the same time, I also go through the server's various channels and find other people's posts then comment and upvote on them. Doing this enough may get you invited to be an official member of the ecoTrain curation trail, which means lots of upvotes. You may also be included in their weekly digests of recommended posts.
Now honestly, the topic based channels of this server have been sliding due to lack of moderation lately. It used to be you found posts on topic in each channel, but now you'll find something on crypto in the ecobuilding channel. Sad, but there is still the "question of the week" channel, where you can write a post on the week's topic and use the ecotrain tag, plus QotW in the title, then put a link to the post there. This increases the chances of your being included in a weekly curation roundup.
And for building relationships, not leaving links at all, there is the main "Grand Central" channel, which is where you should spend most of your time. Take the time to read through the last couple days of the conversation (should only take maybe 30 mins.) and then join the conversation with responses of your own. It may seem like everyone knows each other (mostly they do), but that's only because they've been chatting here for months. Each one came one day and left their first comment though, just like you. This is a very welcoming, kind group of people, led by.
He writes: "If you write great posts on the theme of THINGS THAT MAKE THE WORLD A BETTER PLACE, and want to have a chance of receiving our up-vote, please use the #ecotrain tag in your post."Global Homestead Collective (GHS Collective) is great if you are a part of the homesteading movement. I'm in the process of building my own off-grid homestead, though I just changed my mind about building on the land I actually own, so have written a number of posts on the subject. If I was actively building right now, I'd probably be much more active in this server. Again, these are super nice people who are very supportive and welcoming of new people. You can join the server here: https://discord.gg/YftAmt3
(Just note that you should only join if you are in fact a homesteader.)
The chat channels are the best part of this server, though there are also channels for link dropping by topic. This is one of the few such servers that doesn't focus exclusively on Steemit promotions, so if you're using dSound or other STEEM dapps, this is a great benefit.
Random Assortment
Here are some others that I'm a member of, but where I'm not quite certain whether there is any effect.
In theory posting to Curie server would also mean those curators there would be more likely to see and consider your posts for possible inclusion in their curation roundups. I'm just not sure how reliable that is.
Adsactly is really clear that it's a crapshoot whether you'll get any upvote from them. Note that you have to use one of your precious 5 tags on your post to even try. I've stopped really doing anything with with this one, but there is plenty of activity, so perhaps they really are working for others.
Anyway, here are these and some other links:
- Adsactly https://discord.gg/m86q9Mb Read all the General section channel info before beginning
- Curie https://discord.gg/CqdgCnB Has a link drop section that may get you noticed by key people
- Promo Mentors https://discordapp.com/invite/49z469d and https://promo-mentors.com/ This is one I've never really understood, which is why I'm giving you both the server invite and the website. It sounds good though.
- Minnowbooster https://discord.gg/6ywNeQG This one has a post promotion section where you can leave links and a general section where you can chat, but all chat seems to be about the server, not broader topics that build relationships.
- And here is one I'm not a member of that I just heard of in this post, and which sounds great: https://steemit.com/steemjet/@paulag/steemjet-communities-are-lifting-off-steem-business-intelligence
- On a different but related note, I think I got an OCD upvote and resteem once from posting with their tag, as I did in this post. (I don't know that they have a discord channel.)
Membership Required Servers
If you are a member of @Qurator or @SteemBasicIncome, there are servers for each where you can share links and chat with other members and leaders. They will share the invite with you once you join. I can't create an invite myself.
It's good to be noticed by actually showing up from time to time in these, not just sending in your enrollment fee and then ignoring it while just collecting upvotes. I'm not sure, but I suspect leaders within the communities find posts to upvote manually within the post-promotions channel. At the very least, you can stay abreast of what is happening with the communities you're a part of here.
I also just got included in a curation post from 
From All of You
Thanks to 
And thanks to 
In Summary
Are you noticing that you're expected to do a lot of curation yourself here?
Yes, that's the key. Bottom line, community is a two-way street. You obviously can't give as much to all of these channels as you might enjoy receiving back from them, so you're going to have to pick and choose, then prioritize.
It is better to build deeper relationships in just one or two places than to be scattered, dropping in once a month on a dozen. Plan to participate in some way with whichever couple of communities you pick at least once each and every day. This will get people used to you.
Note that if you haven't already joined Discord, when you join create your handle to be the exact same as your Steemit handle. This will make it easiest for people to find you on here when they like something you say on there. Some people will still ask what your steemit handle is, but a lot will check first to see if they can find you by your Discord handle. So make sure they can. (Even if you're already on Discord, you can change your handle at any time in Settings.)
Because the dust threshold is what it is, you really should think about investing in a little STEEM if you possibly can. If you are going to be upvoting people more, you're going to need to decrease your voting percentages to not run out of VP. But if you're upvote is only worth .01 now, then upvoting less than 100% is probably not going to be doing that much relationship building for you, not in and of itself anyway.
The reality is, people notice when you give them money. And they like it. And that makes them like you.
As of this writing, STEEM is about $0.75. This is the best time since I've been on the platform to invest a little and get one's upvote up to where you can give someone money they can actually collect when you upvote them.
This is less important when upvoting posts, which should have numerous people pooling their upvotes to guarantee even fractional upvotes still payout in combination with the others. I personally still find it unpalatable when I see someone gave me 5% of a $0.00 upvote though. Definitely not doing any relationship building there. I personally think it is better to concentrate on building just 10 relationships each day by using your full upvote just 10 times, if you can't afford to get your upvote to a level where you can give a penny with your fractional votes. Even if someone only gives me $0.00, if I can see that that is 100% for them, I value it just as much as a larger upvote from someone with more SP. But people see this in various ways.
This is more important when upvoting comments on your own posts, where you may be the only one to upvote at all. But either way, increasing your voting power pays off for you in the form of more of the reward pool going to you even without your self-voting. You pay it forward, and if you're also connecting with people regularly in Discord chat channels, that definitely comes back to you.
Well, did I leave anything out? Please share in the comments!
Resteems always appreciated