It's basically a live chatting platform, something like old school AOL or IRC with a few new age bells and whistles. Its nothing new, but its great to get instant replies to questions or an instant discussion. .. kinda, depending how active. I still prefer a forum or email, or at least the pace of it. Places such as discord are also owned and centralized by big corp, like a twitter. While forums have more soul IMO because the owner has more control. Discord channels are not owned by the creator, rather dicord as a whole.