Where does this go?
I have something to say — which one do I use?
Find the sentence that sounds like you. The useful half of each card is the bottom line — the one next to it that people reach for by mistake, and why it's the wrong one here.
Help request
Up to 7 days
on your ship
I need something specific, and I need it soon.
Three kinds: testers wanted, feedback wanted, stuck on something. It goes up on the Help wanted page and the home page.
Not a comment on your own ship — A comment waits for someone to visit. A help request goes and finds them.
The bench
This week
on the home page
I just want to say where I'm at this week.
Pick a state — building, stuck, about to ship, sketching — and write one line. Ten seconds, on the home page.
Not a help request — A help request asks for something. The bench is a roll call: you're here, asking nothing.
Discussions
Stays up
I have a question that isn't about one ship.
Start a thread. No deadline, no owner, and it's still there next month.
Not a help request — Help requests hang off a single ship and expire — right for an ask, wrong for a question.
An update
Goes out
on your ship
Something happened and I want my crew to know.
Your crew gets a notification, at most once a day. The update itself stays on the ship and your profile.
Not the board — The board is the plan; an update is the news.
The board
No replies
on your ship
I want to show what's coming next.
Roadmap items and polls, on the ship's own page. People check it to see whether you're going somewhere they care about.
Not a conversation — Nobody replies here. Want reactions? Ask your crew a question, or people use “Ask about this”.
Messages
25 a day
I want to talk to one person.
DMs carry a topic, so the person can see what it's about before they open it.
Not opening twenty of them — Only new conversations are capped; replies never are. That stops the harbor being farmed.
What trips people up
Limits on purpose, not rough edges.
One open help request per ship, then a week's wait
Spend it on the ask you actually need. Unlimited help requests would just be a broadcast channel, and everyone learns to scroll past those.
None of this replaces just replying
These six are for STARTING something. If a thread, a ship or a help request already fits what you want to say, say it there — a reply costs nobody a new page to read.