TLDR for starting your own "discord server" on matrix

• Login into a server using matrix
• Create a space (Invite users to the space when wanted, this is equivalent to “Servers” in Discord.)
• Create rooms inside the above space (these are “Channels” in Discord).

And that's it. You can create as many spaces as you wish.

Matrix is a little similar to Discord, but can be more secure. The overall key terms are this:

• Homeserver - The main server you connect to. It's how you connect to the service.

• Room - This is like a “Channel” in discord. However, it's generally not restricted to a specific server. So for instance, a discord server can contain chat rooms from other servers.
• Space - It's a grouping of rooms. This can be thought of as as the “servers” shown in discord on the left hand side of the program.

• End to End Encryption (E2EE) - Rooms can be figured to use encryption. This makes sure only people inside the room can read the messages.