Is it OK to use "informal" systems such as TeamSpeak or Discord to support classes? Like many of you, in the last weeks, I've been forced to move to distance teaching/learning. While our university has always suggested us to use Zoom, from the first moment, several students said that we should have gone with Discord (which I've never even heard of until then). Among other things, they liked Discord (and not Zoom) because the "chat" didn't disappear after each session and it is much easier to share images and other files. They've also mentioned that Discord was a good choice because they were already there, and so, they didn't need to install another app and create another account. They were also looking for an away to stay closer to the teacher.

So, I decided to give it a try. I've created a "server" and invited them to that server. After a session with them, I've sure realized that for the classes Discord is not as good as Zoom, however, for a more informal way of contact with the students it may be a good choice. Interestingly, several students mentioned that they don't consider a good idea to "mix business with pleasure". 

I understand some pros and cons. Any thoughts on this?
We've been using Discord as a central place for all class discussion, and Zoom only for live lessons (rare) and small group meetings, and unpublished YouTube links for most lectures.  So far this has been working quite well.  If I'm totally honest, Discord may be the best part of our workflow.

Discord gives a nice sense of community and comity. Its informal nature is a real boon to keeping class spirit alive, with reactions and animated gifs easily accessible.

You can "pin" important announcements so that they stay at the top.

It also allows for code formatting for short code excerpts just like here on StackExchange, with ` around text to get this effect:

You're using x in your function, but shouldn't you just call getRemaining() instead?

And you can format code to any language using three backticks and a language nane

```scheme
(define nekst (cadr (last lyst)))
(perform-func nekst)
```


That will create syntax highlighting in a Discord comment, and you can replace scheme with the language of your choosing.