random thought:

• you should have forums for your hobby / subculture / open source thing / etc., that are not discord, and that are openly accessible in HTML online. you should try to make those appear on google and be like the place to discuss the thing, if that's at all doable.

• many online subcultures used to have a politeness norm of "don't ask questions without first googling it". this rule is obsolete. googling it doesn't work anymore. stackexchange is dead. it is very difficult already to find reliable information. you need to make it as easy and inviting as possible for curious people and newcomers to get used to asking human beings about the thing. this means tolerating common questions rather than replying to them like "read the FAQ/TFM/search the forum" etc.

• in fact, actively establish spaces specifically meant for people who are too intimidated to ask questions. in a reddit-type forum, do "weekly quick q&a thread—all questions welcome" kinda thing (it's less intimidating to post a brief comment than making a question post). do "weekly casual chat thread" and "beginner's corner" and "off-topic fridays" and stuff like that, too.

• and on the converse, actively discourage people from posting chatbot answers, through both forum rules and fostering forum culture. don't be aggressive about it but also don't be lenient.

@elilla "many online subcultures used to have a politeness norm of 'don't ask questions without first googling it'. this rule is obsolete."

Damn it, you are right! :O