It started to become a concern where we realized that seeding the server with deafened members was not a good idea, because it does not make the voice chat easy to approach, especially for new members. Basically, if a new member wanted to join the cozy lounge to ask a question or get people to play a game, they would be talking to a literal wall of deafened people and that would be a pretty big bummer them. We also started to see people questioning why there was a wall of deaf in the vc when they first joined, because it is one of the first things they will see.
Keeping both voice and text chats is probably one of the most important things when it comes to new member retention. Overall you guys have been doing an amazing job being welcoming and helpful to everyone who has joined the community. Idling is still important to seeding the server, and we hope you guys continue to do it, just be mindful that if you are in the vc, you should be prepared for members to join looking to talk to someone. It simply comes down to the fact that if there are five people idling in vc, what looks better, 5 completely deafened, or 1 deafened, 2 mute and 2 unmuted? The latter is more approachable, because the member knows they will probably get someone's attention easier.
This being said, there is no rule against deafening, you are completely allowed to, especially if you need to focus on something like work or a video. Just be mindful to try and undeafen when you are done focusing. If you are at your computer and not doing something that requires your focus, like being a gamer, I would recommend not being deafened so you can easily respond to members who join vc, both new and returning. As for muting, if you have open mic and don't want to have people hearing you while you are idling that is completely okay. If you have push to talk however, I don't really see the point of muting in the first place since you are already technically muted. (muting is less important anyways, the more important thing is being able to hear and listen)
Overall, this is a small nitpick in an otherwise flourishing community. Some of us just became concerned that idling deafened was becoming a community habit. We also did nothing to discourage this habit before now, as a matter of fact we encouraged it, so do not feel bad if you have been deafen idling alot.
