- Paper, Velocity or Folia problem: the PaperMC Discord. Plugin problem: that plugin's Discord or its SpigotMC discussion thread. Hosting problem: your host's ticket system.
- Before asking anywhere: exact versions, the full
latest.logon mclo.gs, and for lag a/spark profilerlink. - Anyone who DMs you offering free development, a sponsorship or a featured spot and then asks for panel access or sends a jar is running a scam.
The fastest Minecraft server help is not a general Minecraft Discord or a big subreddit; it is the community of the exact software that is failing. Paper, Velocity and Folia questions get answered in the PaperMC Discord, often within minutes, by people who wrote the code. A plugin question goes to that plugin's Discord or its discussion thread on SpigotMC, where the author reads. A "my server won't start on my host" question goes to the host, who can see your container. Post in the right place with the right attachments and you get a fix; post "server lagging pls help" in a general channel and you get silence.
This guide lists the places that answer, matches common problems to the right one, shows how to ask so you are not sent back for logs, and describes the "help" that is really a scam, because new owners get targeted the week they open.
The places that actually answer
The official home for Paper, Velocity, Folia and Waterfall. PaperMC's contact page says most communication happens there, and the invite is discord.com/invite/papermc. Read the channel list before posting; there are separate channels for Paper help, Velocity help and plugin development.
spigotmc.org/forums is older and slower than Discord, but searchable, and every plugin resource there has a discussion tab where the author answers. If your problem is a specific plugin, its discussion thread is the second-best place after its own Discord.
r/admincraft is the subreddit for people who run servers: hardware, hosting choices, config, moderation, growth. Note that r/mcservers is for advertising a server, not for help; asking there gets your post removed.
LuckPerms, EssentialsX, GeyserMC and most maintained plugins link a Discord from their project page on Hangar, Modrinth or SpigotMC. Go there for that plugin, and use the GitHub issue tracker only for confirmed bugs with a reproduction.
For anything about the machine: RAM limits, ports, panel errors, a server that will not start with no error in the log, backups. They can see things you cannot. Free hosts have little or no support, which is part of what you pay for on a paid one.
Contact us for anything about your listing, votes not arriving from our list, or a count flag. We can't debug your server, but we will tell you what our pinger sees when it checks you.
Two more that are easy to forget: the Minecraft Wiki server tutorial for anything vanilla, and PaperMC's own documentation, which covers most configuration questions before you need to ask a human.
The five-minute self-check before you ask
- Read the console, not the chat. The error is in
logs/latest.log. The first line of a stack trace that mentions a plugin name tells you which Discord to go to. - Search the exact error text in quotes. Most errors have been posted before with the fix underneath.
- Check versions.
/versionon Paper prints the build and whether it is current;java -versionon the machine prints Java. A plugin built for one Minecraft version will not load on another, and the console says so. - Remove what you changed last. If it broke after you added a plugin or edited a config, undo that one thing and start the server. If it works, you have your answer.
- Halve the plugins. Move half of them out of
plugins/, start, test, repeat. Ten plugins take four rounds to find the culprit. - Lag is its own path. Low TPS is not a "help me" question until you have a profile. Our lag fix guide starts with spark and fixes most of it without asking anyone.
How to ask a question that gets answered
- One sentence on what you expected and what happened. "Players get 'Internal Exception: io.netty' when joining through Velocity since I updated Paper" beats "server broken".
- Exact versions. Server software and build, Minecraft version, Java version, proxy if any, host or home. Type them, don't say "latest".
- The whole log, as a link. Paste
latest.log(and the crash report if there is one) on mclo.gs, the log site run by Aternos, and share the link. Never paste 400 lines into chat, and never a screenshot of a log. If you use a panel, its console view usually has a copy button. - For lag, a spark profile. Install spark, run
/spark profiler start, let the lag happen for a minute or two, then/spark profiler stop. It prints a link to the viewer; share that./spark tpsand/spark healthadd the numbers people will ask for next. - What you already tried. Two lines. It stops the first five replies from being things you did an hour ago.
- Ask in one place and wait. Cross-posting the same question in four servers annoys the people who answer in all four. Don't DM helpers; the answer is useful to the next person only if it is in the channel.
- Close the loop. When it is fixed, say what fixed it. That is the post someone finds by search next year.
Which place for which problem
| Problem | First place | Bring |
|---|---|---|
| Server crashes or will not start, log names a plugin | That plugin's Discord or SpigotMC thread | Log link, plugin version, server version |
| Crash or error with no plugin named | PaperMC Discord (Paper help) | Log link, crash report, Java version |
| Low TPS, rubber-banding | Our lag guide, then PaperMC Discord | spark profiler link, /spark tps, view distance, RAM |
| Plugin loads but does nothing | The plugin's Discord | Log link (look for "Could not load" or a missing dependency such as Vault) |
| Permissions wrong | LuckPerms Discord | The output of /lp verbose and your /lp tree or web editor link |
| Players can't connect from outside | Your host, or our public server guide if home-hosted | Port, whether the host shows the server running, what the player sees |
| Bedrock players can't join | GeyserMC's Discord | Geyser log, UDP port, whether Floodgate is installed, the crossplay checklist |
| Votes not arriving | Our NuVotifier guide, then contact | Vote port, whether /testvote works, our test-vote result |
| Staff drama, griefers, rules | r/admincraft and our staff guide | What happened, what your rules say |
| Billing, RAM upgrade, panel access | Your host's tickets | Account email, server ID |
Help that is actually a scam
The week your server appears on lists, the DMs start. The pattern is always the same: an offer that sounds like help, then a request that hands over control. Every one of these is common enough that experienced owners recognize them on sight.
- The free developer or builder. Offers to fix your lag or build a spawn, then needs your panel login "to work faster". Give nobody your login. If you do bring someone on, make them a limited sub-user on the panel with only the permissions they need, and remove them when the job is done.
- The sponsor or partner. A "hosting company" or "network" offers to sponsor you, then sends a jar to install or a link to log in. The jar is malware; the login page steals your account. Real sponsors don't ask you to install their file.
- The featured or ranked spot. Someone claiming to work for a server list offers a featured slot or a top rank for a payment to their PayPal. Lists sell placements only on their own site; ours is the advertise page and nowhere else.
- Mojang, Discord or "staff". Nobody from Mojang or Discord will DM you about your server. Reports about your server come through the platform, not a person asking you to verify your account.
- Leaked premium plugins. "Free" copies of paid plugins are the most common way a server gets a backdoor. Download only from the author's page on SpigotMC, Hangar, Modrinth or GitHub.
- Free ranks and gift links. Aimed at your players rather than you, but it lands on your reputation. Warn them once in the rules channel; our Discord guide covers the moderation settings that stop most of it.
When you have a fix, the best thing you can do for the next owner is write it down where they will find it: in the channel where you asked, and in your own Discord's staff notes. Then list your server here, link that Discord on the listing, and claim it from its server page so the people who answer your questions can find you too.
Quick questions
Is there an official Minecraft server help Discord?
Not from Mojang. The closest is the PaperMC Discord for anyone running Paper, Velocity or Folia, and each major plugin's own Discord. For vanilla setup questions, the Minecraft Wiki's server tutorial is the reference.
Where do I get Minecraft server help on Reddit?
r/admincraft, which is for people who run servers. r/mcservers is for advertising a server and removes help posts. Include your versions and a log link in the post itself, not in a comment later.
What should I paste when someone asks for logs?
The whole logs/latest.log from the run where the problem happened, uploaded to mclo.gs and shared as a link. Add the crash report from crash-reports/ if the server crashed, and a spark profiler link if the problem is lag.
Can 9MinecraftServer help fix my server?
Only with what we can see: whether your server answers our checks, what it reports, why a vote didn't arrive, or why a count is flagged. For the server itself, the places above are faster and better.