Discord is terrible for both public and private communications. It locks public discussions (which would otherwise happen somewhere open like a traditional forum) away somewhere you can’t search without logging in, meaning you can’t get quick answers without already knowing where you need to look. It also offers no E2EE on its ‘private’ chats, so presumably datamines everything you type.
I use discord because its easy to use. Everytime i open slack i feel like i’m not using it right, creating a new accout or cant find the button to switch communities…
Discord is fine right now, but at any point it can decide to destroy what makes it good, and many communities will stick with it through inertia. I’d recommend setting up matrix with a discord bridge for the communities you don’t have control over, while trying to convince admins to switch to matrix when you can. Having a matrix account/server will also be helpful if you decide to join one of the many foss projects that uses matrix for their communications.
THe problem is, Discord in’t really the type of platform for a good chunk of FOSS users though. Discord activly scans Messages vor activity that might break their ToS, even private Chats. This is a privacy violation which i and many other find to be quite uncool. This means you might lack the more privacy-focused users opinions.
Given Discord’s history with certain kinds of content being shared on it, it’s hard to fault them for doing this. But I agree, most FOSS enthusiasts are looking for something a little more private and in their control.
sorry for not making this clear enough in my original comment:
I would be concerned that a sizable chuck of the FOSS community would refuse to join a discord, on priciple, because they won’t support a company that is going against all of their ideals.
Discord is awesome. Nitro makes it cool, buts its too pricey for what it is (I’d pay $2.99, not almost $10 a month). My worry is at some point discord will need to IPO. Seems like that IPO/cash out moment is the kiss of death for most great products. Once profitability is “key”, user experience goes out the window.
I think Nitro could “save” them from IPO because they have actual cash flow. Before they started monetizing I was absolutely just counting down the time before they’d need to do an IPO. They have the game store and other sources as well. Though I have no insight into if they’re profitable or not.
Never thought of it that way. That does make me more positive towards their monetization and pricing, as it’s much preferable to an IPO in my eyes. I’m afraid they might eventually do one regardless, though.
Funny you would think that using the fediverse. Discord has exactly the same problems Reddit and Twitter had where at any moment someone for whatever reason could alter the deal significantly.
Honestly, I’ve been trying to find a good alternative to Discord for a while. Matrix is promising. But I tried self hosting it a few times and there were too many technical gotchas specifically in my environment (combination of Cloudflare tunnel and Traefik).
I haven’t checked on the progress of Matrix 2.0 in a while but once that is stable I’ll give it another shot. The eternal problem after that is convincing a critical mass of friends to join you. Most of my friends have decent moral compasses and they still don’t understand why I have not touched Reddit since July.
Add comment