Discord

[Memory]

I've been trying to branch off Discord for a while now, thinking about alternative ways to talk to other people in a similar manner, and i know there are great options like Guilded or Revolt or hell even Mumble who's always been there

Sadly, Discord's monopoly in VoIP services has come to a point where you can't really move anywhere because all your friends use Discord, and their friends use Discord and so on and so forth

As it stands, i still use Discord to my dismay, i am eying Revolt quite a bit, and i set up a Guilded server in order to try and test the waters

I hope the situation changes soon; and hell with most of their new features focusing on their paid subscription and big community servers, it may change for the people who only use Discord to chat with a small group of friends (like me)

[Swiftpaw]

I've been trying to branch off Discord for a while now, thinking about alternative ways to talk to other people in a similar manner, and i know there are great options like Guilded or Revolt or hell even Mumble who's always been there

Sadly, Discord's monopoly in VoIP services has come to a point where you can't really move anywhere because all your friends use Discord, and their friends use Discord and so on and so forth

As it stands, i still use Discord to my dismay, i am eying Revolt quite a bit, and i set up a Guilded server in order to try and test the waters

I hope the situation changes soon; and hell with most of their new features focusing on their paid subscription and big community servers, it may change for the people who only use Discord to chat with a small group of friends (like me)

I had the exact same experience. I've tried other alternatives, but no matter how much I like the alternatives, if there's no one there it's not worth it. Most of my friends use Discord and we don't have any other common social media we can be contacted with.

I have noticed Discord starting to make unpopular decisions, so it feels like a matter of time until something happens that removes the user base.

The only decent alternative I've found is IRC, but its been difficult to figure out where the active IRC servers are.

[Tiffany]

I'm a member of a few different servers for various topics, but I am not that active on any of them. It's only because I don't care for the "instant messaging" feel of it, I like to post a comment then leave, and come back later. It feels too rapid for me.

[virtue]

Discord is one of the most enraging software I've seen in the modern internet. It utterly demolished my favorite online spaces and is trying to do the same with forums (successfully in many cases, I might add), is one of only software that rivals tiktok in the realm of privacy violation, and is on a mission to violate every principle of software ethics. Discord is a fucking internet nightmare and I have long since taken every effort I can to avoid using it at all costs. Currently I refuse friend requests, only join new servers when I absolutely have to, and uninstalled the app from all my devices so that I have to use the browser app which sucks and makes me want to use it less. Instead, I use:

• For chatting, Revolt. Yeah there's "no people on it" but the only way to solve that is getting on it! And it was worth it. I made a server for homestuck on Revolt, and its now one of the most active servers on the platform with hundreds of users and most of my discord homestuck friends in it. Seriously, it takes some work, but you can find a new home on Revolt if you're willing to put in a bit of effort to make or find it.
• For VOIP, I use Mumble. Revolt's VOIP isn't fleshed out yet on the clientside so I prefer to use mumble most of the time. This should be resolved as an issue within the next few months.
• For streaming, I use Owncast. I run my mumble and owncast server on my website and had fun setting it up tbh.

I sincerely recommend stopping using discord. In my opinion its an absolute plague on the internet. For that matter, I recommend you stop using any venture capital funded services. By doing that, you're desensitizing yourself to unsustainable services. These things cannot last forever and are literally designed to get you hooked so they can exploit you down the line. PLEEAAASE at least be aware of that, preferably take action regarding it and move to more sustainable places like revolt, cohost/fediverse, or even matrix (though i cannot fucking stand matrix personally and strongly recommend revolt instead)

(Side note: No. Guilded is not an alternative. It has literally the exact same problems as discord on top of EVEN worse ones. Weaponized community representation for marketing and the fact that its owned by one of the tech corporations in the world who explicitly acquired their wealth through fucking child labor exploitation and is still doing that to this day largely unquestioned?? No. Do not use Guilded. If you hate discord for any reason other than wanting to be quirky and different, do not.)

[Capybara]

I was one of the Skype-to-Discord migrators and unfortunately I do kind of default to Discord for private interaction. I have mixed feelings on how Discord servers ended up replacing forums; On one hand, I kind of prefer the "privacy" (quotation marks because I know Discord has issues with that) of how you won't see posts unless you're in there (I've posted a lot of personal shit on public forums when I was a teenager and I regret it), but you also can't vet how a server will be until you join it, and it's rude to immediately leave. I near-exclusively am in smaller servers over large public ones which is why I have a better experience, but the issue is it's pure luck on how to get into them. One cycle was being invited to a big server via Tumblr -> same person also invited me to a smaller sister server -> am now in a spin-off of that server for long-time users only, and I join servers of people I already know. Or sometimes I've just asked for an invite to places.

It's just as frustrating as it sounds, it feels like making friends online and finding communities to talk about things you like is harder now than it was 15 years ago. But so many people have to "go underground" to invite-only spaces for that. It also feels harder to "start fresh", I've kept the same Discord account for the last 7 years because I dislike remaking in general and can't stay active with side accounts. But at least on forums you can have a separate account and messages are slower than Discord.

I've considered giving IRC another chance (haven't used it in 13 years and even then it for a friend group) and trying Revolt as an alternative, but the matter is where are decent servers.

[virtue]

I've considered giving IRC another chance (haven't used it in 13 years and even then it for a friend group) and trying Revolt as an alternative, but the matter is where are decent servers.

IRC Definitely still suffers from the fact that it has a much older techy userbase, rendering it not very welcoming to a lot of people, but Revolt is probably the vibe youre looking for. The owner is a queer furry which is already a GREAT start (/srs). Ive been thinking about starting and indieweb / melonland Revolt server for quite a while now, and I have a number of friends who could very easily hop in top populate it some. If you think we can get some people around here to try out revolt, it would probably be a pretty fun little venture, and give you something to do! (I run the homestuck server on revolt which is already pretty active, so I've got some pratice)

[Melooon]

but the matter is where are decent servers.

There was a lot of talk about setting up a forum IRC server at one point, but it really proved impossible because there was no simple way to limit IRC users to forum accounts (e.g. only allowing irc access to people who are on the forum, same as we do for the Minecraft server) - the two just could not be easily connected

[Memory]

[removed by author]

[pistachio]

IRC Definitely still suffers from the fact that it has a much older techy userbase, rendering it not very welcoming to a lot of people, but Revolt is probably the vibe youre looking for. The owner is a queer furry which is already a GREAT start (/srs). Ive been thinking about starting and indieweb / melonland Revolt server for quite a while now, and I have a number of friends who could very easily hop in top populate it some. If you think we can get some people around here to try out revolt, it would probably be a pretty fun little venture, and give you something to do! (I run the homestuck server on revolt which is already pretty active, so I've got some pratice)

I've never heard of Revolt actually but I'd be down to try this!

[inkpistachio]

honestly, for me, discord is kinda a mixed bag. ive met terrible people and ive met great people. ive been groomed, ive met paedophiles, but also i met my lovely girlfriend (yes i know, online dating. i didnt go on discord with the intention of meeting a lover, i just happened to find the most amazing girl on the planet) and so many other lovely friends. i use discord daily and honestly way more than what is healthy for me. something about it, like with all social media, is very addicting. ive been using it since i was 13 and just havent stopped since. im in a bajillion servers, but mainly for the emotes (i have nitro ). im only active in like 5-7 servers but thats enough for me. overall, i somewhat enjoy discord. its fun to talk to people on, but its really addicting and gives you access to harassers and other nasty folks. also, they still havent banned my abuser despite me sending them evidence. whatever, she would just make another account anyway

[ashton]

i definitely fall into the "joined servers but is never actually active in them" category - i'm workshopping a theory about how the human brain (read: my brain) is not designed to be in server spaces full of ~10 people, all posting constantly. it's far too rapidly paced for me, and eventually i always bow out in favour for much cozier spaces. in terms of social interaction, i haven't had bad experiences so much as i just get overwhelmed and want out. mostly i use discord now for directly dm'ing some close friends. i would absolutely be open from moving off it altogether if i could convince those friends to leave it too

also: recently i discovered modded versions of discord, both for your pc and your phone. i'm not sure of any of the details, but it's kinda cool to know that projects like that exist out there

[Capybara]

IRC Definitely still suffers from the fact that it has a much older techy userbase, rendering it not very welcoming to a lot of people, but Revolt is probably the vibe youre looking for. The owner is a queer furry which is already a GREAT start (/srs). Ive been thinking about starting and indieweb / melonland Revolt server for quite a while now, and I have a number of friends who could very easily hop in top populate it some. If you think we can get some people around here to try out revolt, it would probably be a pretty fun little venture, and give you something to do! (I run the homestuck server on revolt which is already pretty active, so I've got some pratice)

YMMV but that might not be so bad for everyone, I tend to assume that people using IRC are 35-40+ range and I do wonder where the people in that age range have gone online. I used to go on IRC via a in-browser client which didn't always work out, but I know there are multiple programs to run it. If a Melonland/indie web Revolt server is made I'll probably make an account there to give it a whirl.

[Melooon]

ypothetically, would you ever be interested in hosting some not-IRC software

I'd totally love to hear about it; its hard to tell exactly what will fit and wont wont here, but Im all ears to learn about new options ^^

[wygolvillage]

Apologies if this has already been brought up but the new discord mobile UI changes...  Everything's so much more convoluted especially as someone who uses DMs a lot. I've had the same muscle memory for YEARS and everything's been thrown off

Apparently it was hidden in the latest update and they're slowly rolling it out, so you can't even wriggle out of it by disabling updates 

Sucks how pretty much all of my friends use discord, I've been increasingly dissatisfied with the user experience

[OneMillionFurries]

YMMV but that might not be so bad for everyone, I tend to assume that people using IRC are 35-40+ range and I do wonder where the people in that age range have gone online. I used to go on IRC via a in-browser client which didn't always work out, but I know there are multiple programs to run it. If a Melonland/indie web Revolt server is made I'll probably make an account there to give it a whirl.

Came here because of the recent Discord UI changes. Saw this post and immediately tried out Revolt.

I have yet to actually try any texting with it or joining any servers since none of my friends are on it and I'm Shy, so take anything that I say with a grain of salt. BUT! Just sort of exploring the program a little and checking out the settings has given me a good first impression!

I don't expect anyone to mass-migrate over any time soon, but it's still nice to have this little alternative!