ds_c6d_bigbang | Discord Server Update: Sprinting!

We've added a sprint bot to the Big Bang discord server! With dSSS and Yuletide coming up, this seemed like a good time to roll this out, so please feel free to use it for those and/or any other upcoming events and exchanges you're participating in! In fact, you're welcome to use it for any and all projects that you want—it doesn't necessarily have to be for the Big Bang, or for something due South related, or even for something C6D. Some people even use sprint bots for RL tasks such as cleaning! While doing sprints as a group activity is definitely popular, you shouldn't feel like you have to assemble a group of folks before you can use it.

To use the sprint bot, please follow the link above to our discord server and then scroll down to the "sprints" channel. If you're unfamiliar with sprint bots and want to learn a little more before diving in, keep reading!

What is a sprint bot?

As many of you already know, sprints are an activity/tool often used in things such as NaNoWriMo and big bangs, which challenge writers to write as many words as they can within a set (relatively short) period of time. Many writers like to do this as a group activity for social support, and some even turn it into a game of seeing who can write the most words per minute! Although it's most often associated with writing, artists, vidders, and even people just doing chores around their house can also find sprints helpful.
A sprint bot is an automated tool built by discord users for other discord users who want to do sprints within the social context of a server. It times the sprint for you, and will also record how many words each person participating writes!
The sprint bot we're using is called Sprinto. While some discord bots can be a little difficult to figure out, Sprinto appears to be built to be as user-friendly as possible, which is one of the big reasons we decided to use it over other sprint bot options!

How do I use it?

First, make sure you're in the appropriate channel! In the sidebar on the server, scroll down to the "other" section and click on "sprints".
To start a new sprint, type in _sprint.
- If you don't specify anything else, the sprint will be 15 minutes and start 1 minute from when you sent the command.
- If you want to set different times, all you need to do is type _sprint 20 or _sprint for 20 in 5 to tell the bot that you want the sprint to be 20 minutes long, or to tell it that you want the sprint to last for 20 minutes and begin in 5 minutes, respectively (or whatever times you want, although sprints are limited to a maximum length of 1 hour).
To join a sprint, type in _join. If you'd like the bot to record how many words you write during the sprint, you can include your starting word count as a number after the command, like so: _join 5
To find out how much time is left in a sprint, type in _time.
At the end of a sprint, to find out your word count and compare to other folks participating in the sprint, type in _wc [your ending word count]. If you just tell it your starting and ending numbers, the bot will calculate for you how many words you wrote during the sprint. Example: _wc 300
For help, you can type in _help. If the bot's help isn't helping, you can also always get in touch with Mission or Ferox by tagging @ admin, although our help will probably be less immediate than the bot's.
To cancel a sprint, type in _cancel. Please be respectful of other folks in the server and don't cancel a sprint other people are participating in.
While there are many other commands you could potentially use, these should get you started! Sprinto has been trained to understand what its creators describe as "most reasonable input", so if there's something you'd like it to do it's worth giving just telling it a shot! Make sure you start any commands for Sprinto with an underscore (_) so it knows that you're talking to it.