Lumberjack is on Discord now

You'll get live updates, fireside chats, and free no-code build requests.

I launched this blog almost 3 months ago and since then my posts have gotten over 60,000 views! I never imagined people would enjoy reading my stuff this much! 🥳🍾

In order to keep getting better at this, I chat regularly with a few Lumberjack readers. One thing that comes back again and again is the need for two-way communication.

Over 6000 people read my posts every week but mostly in your inboxes, while I’m having deep, insightful conversations with only a handful of people, unaware who else might want to participate.

So now I’m inviting you to join the conversation.

I started the Lumberjack Discord server.

Click here to join the Lumberjack Discord (or click the button below).

As with everything on the Lumberjack, this is a free, open-source community. Everything you find here, you’re free to use anywhere for any commercial and/or non-commercial purposes. All I’m asking is you credit the Lumberjack.

I have no plans to monetize this community or the blog.

I learned in the past that managing one takes a lot of effort, but yesterday

Nico Appel

and I realized that we can just keep it as an organic playground for no-code builders and see what happens. I’m also planning to share some of the recordings of my chats with Charles Bohannan and Rolf Groenewold (if they’ll let me).

There’s a place for everyone in Lumberjack.

Upon joining you will enter the Mudroom.

Here’s how to gain full access:

1. Verify your email address

2. Choose a role based on why you’re joining.

Once you’ve selected a role, you’ll have full access to the server.
Don’t forget to introduce yourself in #introductions

What are these characters?

As I keep talking to people, I keep meeting these four personas. Some want to consult, and some are more technical and want to build. Some are just here for the brainfood and some are actively trying to launch their company.

I’m planning to save and categorize the resources I find online and share them with all of you. By having a role, you’ll help me decide what resources might be valuable for you.

Why Discord?

It’s free and I can plug in any custom-built bot I want. The very first thing I ever built with GPT-3.5 was a Discord bot in 2022. This way I can plug in Alfred or any other AI agent I build and enrich our little server with the stuff I build…and you can use them.

🌳DISCUSSION

News: This is a placeholder for a new project that I want to launch next week. I’ll collect all relevant AI news, process them with my agent, and post the news digest into this channel. All members will have free access to it. I’ll want to refine it to the point it’s valuable so please give feedback.

Requests: I started doing free no-code automation build requests. This week I built a repository for real estate auctions in Hungary with Make.com for someone. You can ask me to build stuff for you for free as long as I can then share whatever I build with the world.

Introductions: Tell the rest of us who you are and what you’re up to, don’t be a stranger!

General: This will be the main discussion channel where anything goes as long as the rules are followed.

💾 PROJECTS

Currently has Enki, Alfred and CGM. You can find more info on these projects here:

Can AI evolve?

Building my own butler

Storytelling at scale

I will share more frequent updates and log the challenges I’m encountering. My goal is to document what I do as much as possible. You can see when I’m struggling or if I’m making a breakthrough. Kind of like a human-friendly changelog.

It’s pretty empty now, but I’m building stuff as I go along.

Moderation

While the server is free, I want to be very strict with moderation. Apart from general rules for respect and civility, there are two things that I will take very seriously:

1. Promotion. There is a #billboard channel for everyone to promote what they’re up to. No solicitation of any kind is allowed anywhere else on the server. I believe that among those ~9000 people who are subscribed to the Lumberjack, there are people who are looking for each other, so I want to give you a space for that.

2. No AI brain rot. This is not a server to try to join a discussion by copying/pasting AI-generated content. ChatGPT can be a great tool to augment your thinking but it can also be a Big Mac of thoughts. Looks tasty, contains zero value, and will make you dumb.

Three Strikes. Violation of the rules will be moderated by a three-strike policy. Warn → Kick → Ban.

Why I’m doing this

I always believed that knowledge is free, and time is money. I also learned while I was running Promptmaster that managing a community is incredibly tasking and I do not want to rebuild what I left behind.

I grew up with the “old internet”, where life happened on discussion boards. People shared stories freely and helped each other.

My go-to place was a forum named “Hardwired”.

Found the logo using the Wayback Machine

My Hungarian readers might remember this, it was basically The Discussion Board for techies in Hungary 20 years ago.

This forum was mainly dedicated to tech-related topics, but you could talk about anything. The community was open and welcoming.

I joined when I was 11(!) years old and college students helped me figure out difficult missions in video games, how to set up my first computer network, or mentor me on why girls wouldn’t talk to me. It was a different time.

I’m a sentimental guy but I’d love to recreate this. A free, open community that self-governs, where people share stuff, help each other, build stuff, and have fun.

Have questions or a comment?

If you got this far and are still with me, I just have one thing to say: if you decide not to join the server, please hit the “reply” button and tell me why. I want to learn and make this whole thing a better fit for you.