Counting

Counting refers to a channel on the Columbia University Discord server whose sole purpose was to count to 1000 and beyond by sending numbers as successive messages. When the count was broken, meaning a message has been sent that violates the positive natural integer order, counting had to start over from 1. The number 1,000 was reached on December 29th, 2023 and the channel was locked at a value of 1,003.

Origin

On December 10th, 2021, Columbia University Discord member Legion requested the addition of a game to "fill the void". User spooky then expressed interest in counting to 1000, wondering if Columbia students could do so without "ruining the count". Although Legion clarified that he meant a bot game and even called spooky's idea "masochism deluxe", the first ever count was started by lindsxcr in the #general-chat channel. This count remained uninterrupted for over 24 hours and reached the number 74 before it was broken by someone using the channel for its intended purpose and asked for help recovering his lost AirPods. After it ended, the idea of a channel dedicated to counting was brought up by an admin but was not put into practice right away. A few months later, on March 18th, 2022, Legion once again asked about the Discord games he had requested. This led to the start of a new count in the #off-topic-chat channel that lasted for 10 days and reached the number 327 before it was broken by a double-count (the person that sent 327 also sent an image representing the number 328 right after). After this second failed count, a proper #counting channel with clear rules was introduced.

Rules

Rules were laid out by the server's admins at the channel's creation on March 28th, 2022. They are:

• Pictures, GIFs and other non-numeric messages like popular references may be used as part of the count as long as the number they depict can clearly be identified
• If a number is sent twice, the count is broken
• Sending a message that does not represent a number breaks the count
• One person may not send two or more messages in a row (no-double-count policy)
• Deleting or editing messages to resolve a miscount is prohibited and will cause the count to start over

Members repeatedly breaking the count on purpose may be blocked from accessing the counting channel by the server's admins. Some members have even requested to be blocked voluntarily after breaking the count by accident and/or to avoid stress related to its progress.

Common practices (unwritten rules of counting)

• It is common practice to start every new chain with a GIF depicting the fictional "Doctor Strange" character played by Benedict Cumberbatch lifting his index finger to form a one with his hand. Low counts have even been restarted because they did not start with that GIF
• Discussions about counting, including explanations of references used as part of the count, should be held in the #off-topic-chat channel
• If 1000 is reached by only a small number of participants rapidly sending messages in alternating order (a practice known as "boosting"), the count is considered illegitimate even if it does not violate the rules. On October 12th, 2022 the number 999 was reached through boosting, but was then intentionally broken to prevent it from getting to 1000.
• Numbers considered amusing in meme culture, namely 69 and 420, are commonly referred to as "nice" and "blaze it" respectively

Counting-Meta

On April 4, 2022, the decision was made to establish a counting chat, titled #counting-meta, within the #off-topic-text channel. This was to facilitate discussions about counting channel activities without disrupting the ongoing count. The thread saw activity for six days before becoming inactive. It was reactivated on September 9, 2023, with a new count that evolved separately from the original #counting channel. This new count, following a set of its own unwritten rules, reached 1,000 one hundred and nine days later on December 27, 2023 without the count breaking once. The count is still continuing and active as of December 29, 2023.

Counting Meta Unwritten Rules

• You do not talk about #counting-meta.
• You do not talk about #counting-meta.
• Numbers must be clearly and explicitly typed, avoiding ambiguous values, images, or GIFs.
• Messages can follow the numbers.