Discord is a really good way to connect with other Steemians.

The relationships you build there can be a lot like the one you create in the real world, go figure. You are, most of the time, talking to real people.

Let's call Discord a big ol' public party. If that's the case, direct messages would be like little quite corners or rooms where two or more people can have a private conversation, without worrying about the rest of the party eavesdropping on their conversation. Still following me?

If you were at a giant house party in your hometown, would you approach a complete stranger in one of those private corners or side rooms, walk up to them, say "Hi", and wait for them to respond? Would you approach them holding a sign displaying your latest painting, or promoting your newest book, without giving that person any sort of context? I'm pretty confident the answer is no, or at least I'd hope.

---

It should go without saying that you should approach people on Discord much like you would in real life.

Again, these are real people who you're contacting. If a person you're standing in front of isn't always going to approve of being approached in such a manner, what about that person being online is going to change the way they react?

If you're looking for anything other than being ignored, please at the very least start off with some context as to why I would know of you, or why I should care about what you really want to ask me, which in my experience, is more often an upvote than anything else. If you start the conversation by DMing me a link, and give no reason why you've put a sign in my face when I was enjoying the party, depending on my mood, I'm either going to continue to ignore the sign, or I'm going to rip it up to the best of my ability...

When approaching strangers at a party, always remember;

real people are unpredictable, and not all of them are as nice as you'd wish everyone would be. Sometimes, when you piss off a stranger by wasting their time, that stranger may have already had 15 people approach him that day with their BS, and you're the unsolicited straw that breaks his back. He snaps, flags the post you thought you were entitled to an upvote on, and walks away, still not responding to you... If you expect couth, show some. If you've got a point, get to it. If you're simply approaching strangers hoping that if you put your post in front of them they may upvote it, you may find that your plan backfires.

---