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Comment on FLOSS communities right now

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CliveRosfield@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

Sure.

FREE
Messages, files, images, and videos are saved and searchable to anyone who joins a discord server since its inception. Some of my servers are from 2016 and all 100k messages up to this day are still there with each and every file untouched whenever I search for something.

That alone is the primary objective selling point of discord. For the subjective stuff it’s:

Conversations are easy to follow in busy channels because of the ability to respond to specific messages and also start a thread.
Extreme customization with a permissions system that makes each server quick to setup and very flexible for your use case.
Unique channels that also have very customizable permissions
Integrated screen sharing and voice chat
Emojis, reactions, etc.
Works on every single device I use without a single problem from my personal experience.

…And this isn’t even including the bots that make it even easier to use or the custom clients.

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KillingTimeItself@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
this is not explicitly true, moderation is still a labor requirement.

Messages get deleted from bans, channels wipes cause problems, sometimes discord just decides people shouldnt exist anymore.

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- CliveRosfield@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Moderation is a requirement with anything involving people so I don’t see that as a discord specific problem. If anything it’s easier than a forum since I don’t have to deal with spam bots myself for the most part.
  
  The channel wipe thing is fair. You’re right about that.
  
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  - KillingTimeItself@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    i dont see how it would be easier on discord, discord is literally known only for bot/hacked account issues. I’ve never seen a spam bot on a forum before.
    
    Plus nobody is likely to target a forum, everybody is targeting discord already. And on top of that the discord banning/automoderation isnt great, i’ve heard its getting better though.
    
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    CliveRosfield@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    I follow a niche community and the recent bans for their board is all spam bots even in 2024. I don’t want to put up with that nonsense and discord actively tries to curb that so the choice is easy.
    
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418teapot@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Good for you, you have a short list of requirements out of a chat service and discord perfectly fills your niche. But different people have different requirements for chat, and they don’t align. And network effects force people who have differing requirements to use the service with the most users which sucks.

For instance here are things that I require from any chat service that I use that discord completely falls flat at:

Ability to run it on my linux machine without using an electron client (npm is a huge mess of supply chain attacks and I refuse to run any software that is likely to contain dependencies from it)

Ability to run it on my AOSP phone which does not have any google play services installed

Ability to write software to back up messages without fear of a company changing their API and breaking my backup system
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- technom@programming.dev ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Ability to search answers without having to join a ‘server’
  
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  - CliveRosfield@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    Justin a server, find your answer, and leave. Why is that so scary for you? You don’t even have to interact with anyone.
    
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    technom@programming.dev ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    That lazy culture is exactly why discord is bad for the job. I search for solutions first, instead of barging in with a question that may have been asked and resolved a thousand times before.
    
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- CliveRosfield@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  At the end of the day all of the reasons you stated maybe <1% of people care about and most of the points have nothing to do with the chatting features itself. If I’m honest it’s basically paranoia and fear for the insanely low chance something goes slightly wrong. It’s like refusing to leave your house because you can spontaneously get struck by lightning. 🤷
  
  Whatever solution you’re using I would bet most people would find incredibly annoying to use from a usability perspective. As it would lack the 8 years worth of features and QoL discord introduced.
  
  So we have a philosophical difference and that’s that.
  
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  - 418teapot@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    Agreed, but my point is with a centralized network the lowest common denominator wins. There is no reason you can’t have QoL features on an open network, and thusly let everyone have the features that they care most about.
    
    Can you imagine what a shithole the internet would have been if email wasn’t federated an open? There is absolutely no way that whatever centralized bullshit would have spawned instead would already be either long gone or enshittified to the point of being useless.
    
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xigoi@lemmy.sdf.org ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Do you want to alienate users who are banned from Discord or don’t want to use proprietary software?

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- CliveRosfield@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Yup. I am not giving up that convenience for a tiny fractional minority.
  
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  - xigoi@lemmy.sdf.org ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    People willing to give up freedom for a little convenience is how we end up with enshittification.
    
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    CliveRosfield@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    That’s quite a blanket statement when things like Steam exist.
    
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