Hate how Discord works recently

[plasticseaslug]

I've been particularly noticing recently that the direction with every single Discord update sucks. It always seems to be another cosmetic thing to spend real money on or a new feature that people barely use. On top of that, Discord's choice to add a "parental controls" feature just seems unhelpful at best and genuinely dangerous at worst.

The Halloween update pushed me over the edge, just because the notification sound change seemed unnecessary.

At the same time, it's the one messaging platform that the majority of my friends use, so I can't reasonably stop using it.

Does anyone else feel the same way about Discord, or am I overreacting?

[ThunderPerfectWitchcraft]

Well, I can understand your frustration.
Back when I was a teenager, the only mode for communication that worked with many of my friends was the "Steam"-messenger, and there was hardly a way around it. I tried several times to get people to more secure, FLOSS messengers - but they were absolutely locked in. It was frustrating.

Have you talked about your friends with the issues? There are good alternatives available (Matrix, Mumble, Revolt), but if your friends want to stick to Discord as they don't share your reservations against it, there is not much that you can do (as I assume that changing out your friends over it is no sound option  ).

[Slix]

I've not noticed any of the issues that you mentioned. How is the availability of parental controls a bad thing? I tend to just close any of the "extra" stuff that Discord offers, like games or whatever. I just use it to talk to people on some servers.

[PurpleHello98]

Escargot (the MSN revival) is apparently coming out with a web client in a week or two, so I think that for those of us who use Escargot (which I know includes both me and plasticseaslug) that could be a great way to try and get friends to use something besides Discord! Especially people who use Linux or recent Macs and thus can't install MSN clients to use Escargot with.

[BlackMageGaming]

Does anyone else feel the same way about Discord, or am I overreacting?

No, I can agree with you about the weirdly predatory updates that they've been pushing as of late. I've been using discord less and less in certain aspects as the overall quality has been decreasing. I use Vencord to remove a lot of the predatory features, but they bleed through my friend group complaining about it.
I'm hit especially hard when it comes to the lack of features for free users, it creates this poor-shaming culture that becomes so tiring.

I miss when it was just a place to hang out, but now I'm bombarded with ads for games, telling me everything I miss out on by not giving Discord any of my money, and what feels like a growing hostility on the platform.
It just sucks right now.

 

[Bumperdog]

I never really saw Discord's cosmetics as anything annoying but I feel like there's a lot of things that Discord does that is worse than a platform I used before. Before I used Discord, I had Telegram with my middle school friends. Unlike Discord, they don't make you pay a subscription to have access to certain stuff such as uploading big file sizes. You can customize your entire GUI screen on Telegram but on Discord you have to have nitro which does not make sense because no one sees it.

I often barely use Discord and I kinda never like the aspect of having to join a server because I find myself only ever doing that just to for one essential use and such as having a news feed to a certain brand or content creator. And in that instance you are just pretty much having a large list of servers you have joined in with little to no social response.

The only reason I still use Discord is to chat with my friends.

[plasticseaslug]

I use Vencord to remove a lot of the predatory features, but they bleed through my friend group complaining about it.

 

I'll have to try out Vencord!! That seems like a useful tool.

[plasticseaslug]

I never really saw Discord's cosmetics as anything annoying but I feel like there's a lot of things that Discord does that is worse than a platform I used before. Before I used Discord, I had Telegram with my middle school friends. Unlike Discord, they don't make you pay a subscription to have access to certain stuff such as uploading big file sizes. You can customize your entire GUI screen on Telegram but on Discord you have to have nitro which does not make sense because no one sees it.

I often barely use Discord and I kinda never like the aspect of having to join a server because I find myself only ever doing that just to for one essential use and such as having a news feed to a certain brand or content creator. And in that instance you are just pretty much having a large list of servers you have joined in with little to no social response.

The only reason I still use Discord is to chat with my friends.

I hadn't thought to use Telegram!! I admit, I've only ever used it for school things, especially with Muslim things.

Before using Discord, I had primarily used Google Hangouts or E-Mailed my friends. I only really moved back to Google Hangouts because it was literally being shut down. If it hadn't, I doubt I'd even get Discord in the first place.

[dream]

I miss my buddy list! It listed people currently online and chatting. Remember away messages? IM windows. Chatrooms. There was a shift as IM made its way onto phones and people became always connected.

Discord is aptly named in my experience. One of a dozen servers may have 15 unread channels. Chaos. Even after leaving 'em all, I don't want a giant window with various tab-like things just to chat with a few friends.

Modern IM like Discord feels sleek yet messy. I want quirky yet simple. I want a little window with a list of my friends who are online. I want to be able to open a little chat window with them. Maybe I'm just old.

[plasticseaslug]

I've not noticed any of the issues that you mentioned. How is the availability of parental controls a bad thing? I tend to just close any of the "extra" stuff that Discord offers, like games or whatever. I just use it to talk to people on some servers.

My personal issue with the parental controls is that they're most often used to be invasive in kids' online spaces, which can often end up furthering some parental abuse.

[plasticseaslug]

Escargot (the MSN revival) is apparently coming out with a web client in a week or two, so I think that for those of us who use Escargot (which I know includes both me and plasticseaslug) that could be a great way to try and get friends to use something besides Discord! Especially people who use Linux or recent Macs and thus can't install MSN clients to use Escargot with.

I'm seriously excited for the web client!! I like being able to check my messages on borrowed computers, too, like when I'm in the library or something. I'm hoping I can get some of my other friends on it, especially considering how easy it is to share media over the platform.

[plasticseaslug]

Have you talked about your friends with the issues? There are good alternatives available (Matrix, Mumble, Revolt), but if your friends want to stick to Discord as they don't share your reservations against it, there is not much that you can do (as I assume that changing out your friends over it is no sound option  ).

I haven't really thought to mention it to them, mostly because a majority of my friends aren't the same kind of interested as I am when it comes to customizing my... internet... experience...? But I've slowly been putting my friends on other ways to communicate for the sake of my sanity (namely, hanging around in person).

[halcybutton]

i really do not like discord for numerous reasons (i don't like the ceo, it's definitely a prime example of enshittification, how much stuff is paywalled, how a lot of stuff that used to be on public forums have now been moved to discord servers, etc), but so many people i know are too used to it that they don't really want to migrate. i also admit i quite like a few bots that i currently have not seen used elsewhere (proxy bots primarily like tupperbox and pluralkit). i enjoy using escargot and matrix, but alas i can't seem to get any of my friends to try them out, or if they do they use it for like a day

[dream]

Even as a retro lover, installed-Escargot (e.g. MSN 14) feels dated on Windows and it's not even feasible on Mac, so even some techy folks will resist it. And, mobile friendly seems important for many folks, even those looking to switch from Discord to something more akin to Escargot. The web version of Escargot may help with some or all of this.

I checked out Matrix once but it's been a while. Element was the client I used I believe. It felt like Slack IIRC. I don't know much about it, but perhaps there's something there? Is there a group of melonheads on matrix? Is there a forum thread to help me connect with folks there? What's the best client?

One more thought that's occurring to me, and it feel shallow to say it, but, I'm realizing one of the most important factors for me with regard to Discord vs the world is aesthetic/ UX. I love the charm of Melonland. The stars in the background, the raindrops, those spider webs up at the top of the page. The little pumpkins. The pixelated animated moon. Those retro icons. So much love is put into this little place and it's done in such a caring, tasteful stylized way that brings me joy. There are many reasons to take issue with Discord but if I'm being honest, I want to human interface with software that is joyful to use. That has soul. And that's why I long for something better.

But I also want to refocus on plasticseaslug's original points. The Discord updates are obtrusive. Whether it's a font change, nitro nags, D&D adventure pack Shop BS, notification changes, whatever. Maybe there's a skin or alternate clients that solves all these complaints? I played around with a terminal-based client once--it worked but was a little too extreme :P

[Dreamwings]

Even though the acct linked on my profile here says otherwise, I've had a Discord acct since 2017 (its just an older one I still use for updates). Previously, when it was only $5, Discord Nitro was just for people who wanted to support the platform and get a few cosmetic perks (custom emojis, animated profile pictures, hd streaming when they eventually added video streaming, slightly bigger file sharing, that was about it), as this was back when they were a private venture-capital-funded company with no investors to report back to and the only plan was to get in their foot in the door and get ahead of the alternatives (so they still had a need to make the platform good). Of course the security issues were still there, as they are today, but it definitely wasn't as money grubbing or as mainstream to get away with said money grubbing as it is today. I was there for when they added spoilers, channel categories, video calls, features today that are essential. And it was great, they really felt like they were evolving. At one point they tried to add a games store which made sense for the time as it was still marketed as for gamers but, even I, someone who did pay for Discord Nitro back then because I really liked Discord and wanted to keep supporting them, was like "Hmmmmmm.... I don't think I'd really use this though.". But again, it made sense at the time to have a games store. I wouldn't really consider that money grubbing yet. Just a bit of a weird choice. I actually did use the Games Launcher they implemented in preparation for the update pretty regularly as it worked as a really good shortcut to fire up games while still in the app, I was very sad when they got rid of it.
There was a major shift at some point in the company and I pin it down to around when they released Nitro Boosting, though you could also definitely say that it could be when they decided to become a chat platform for all rather than a chat platform for gamers (which, to be fair, and I had been saying this back then as well, should have been done sooner actually, as for years it had been used by the non-target audience VERY regularly and the dubbing of "for gamers" was actually chasing off some people. I don't say that doing that was bad, I'm saying though that when they did that there was definitely a shift in what was considered important.). Nitro Boosting maybe you could argue was still in others best interest but even then, it was a bit weird. Even then though, mostly ignored. But it was noticeable that features were being added that were less useful. To be fair you could chalk it up to Discord already being perfect at that point and there not being as much of a need for innovation but the difference between back then and now was a bit staggering. And most of those features, like banners and the like, we're going to Nitro subscribers. This shift was also shown in the way their marketing drastically changed. If you look back on older posts or announcements on the Discord site, socials, etc, they are a STARK contrast to today's ultra-corporate talk and pristine vectors with the cast of perfectly marketable characters as their mascots that I don't even know the names of but apparently there is Discord lore in a webcomic where they are relevant?? Oh yeah, and if you open up Discord Experiments (basically the switches used for developer testing that are still in the program, if you're installing Vencord you can access them with a single switch flip) or you have a modded Discord mobile client, you'll see a long line of switches labelled as "upsell" or "subscriptions" or "premium". Those are for all of the different new implemented methods of advertising Nitro and doing this or that which there testing out, and there are a lot more of those than actual features in there. Hell, here are my screenshots of the ones on mobile from about last year or so when I was sending them to a friend (on Discord funnily enough), just so you can see. It's really gross actually to see it. (Ignore the smudge over the last two images taking out some of the letters uhhh I messed up my censoring job a little bit)

The default welcome messages used to have these funky video game references and quotes (some of which could be rather crass) and those were all retroactively changed to generic "Hello, {name}" "Welcome, {name}, we're so glad you're here" and then would be responded with a bunch of very corpo looking stickers. The "Discordo" sound that you can hear if you spam click the Home button 20 times (at least, that was the old method. I'm not sure if that's still the way you do it.) used to be the startup sound. Every time the client started, you would hear that, But they got rid of that too in the corpification progress. The loading screen quotes used to be some sort of cheeky video game reference. It was just.... mmm. All the hard edges there used to be have been smoothed out now. Of course a lot of people say that those are cringe or whatever, but they're dumb. They were very fun to me. It gave it character. And now they're long gone and most people don't even know that they were there to begin with. Most people only know Discord as what they are now. And its a bit sad to me because it really wasn't always like this. Like, I know everyone says that but this time I really mean it. They really did use to be a lot more down to earth, and gave features people wanted, and Discord Nitro really WAS a lot more cosmetic and not shoved down your throat 24/7 unless you were ACTUALLY trying to do something that required Nitro, like sending a big file or using another server's emojis (and a million times cheaper). But not anymore. Hasn't been like that for about... 4 years now I believe??
Sorry for sounding like a cringy YouTube commenter but if we're venting about Discord I thought I might as well let loose and act a bit pretentious on main.
To go on, I really only have a Discord acct because everyone else has one. I use the one linked here for business stuff (and even then I haven't checked it in a few months) and I use the old acct that used to be a personal one for talking to one person and keeping up with updates in various servers about different projects because for some reason nowadays people can't just make an RSS feed or something, they need to put it behind a wall. If someone could make something that could convert those single channels to RSS Feeds I would be eternally grateful. Though leaving Discord isn't really just because like, I don't like Discord anymore. That would be justified I guess but it really is moreso just because like, I got older, I got a life, I couldn't spend every waking moment on Discord like I used to. I got into drama and fights and things and it made me touch grass and realize "Hey, maybe constantly being in chatrooms sucks actually" (honestly it was one of the reasons why I joined up with the web revival and joined forums like here, because there isn't that obligation of being online 24/7 to keep standing and such, which works better for my current lifestyle of "Disappear off the face of the earth for a few months and then come back like nothing happened").

On top of that, Discord's choice to add a "parental controls" feature just seems unhelpful at best and genuinely dangerous at worst.

My personal issue with the parental controls is that they're most often used to be invasive in kids' online spaces, which can often end up furthering some parental abuse.

I get where you're coming from with that and I know what you're picturing when you say that.
For context for those not on Discord/not in the know, the parental controls...

• Show who your kid is talking to and for how much/long, but not the messages/calls themselves (for the privacy of the kid)
• Show who the kid has friended
• Show what servers the kid is in

And that's about it (because that's really all that you can do on a chat app).
I actually feel this is a really, really good and really important feature actually in this day and age, with Discord as popular as it is. Despite the downsides, I really feel like you cannot ignore the INSANE numbers of child diddling that goes on on Discord. Its literally become a joke about the service at this point that it's just full of predators. And it IS always Discord that is being used. Now that is mostly because it is the most common thing for people to have nowadays (if it wasn't this it would be whatever other commonplace service there is) but I still feel like it is definitely a step in the right direction to make it easier for parents to monitor where their kids are/who they're talking to to make sure that the more innocent folks don't end up in those certain circles or in the DMs of certain unsavory individuals. Because it happens, and there are a lot of them. And it is really really important that parents have a way to monitor to make sure they don't end up there and to make it AS SIMPLE as possible (a literal interface where you can see it all).
Again, I totally get what you're picturing. That gay teens or kids in abusive situations won't be able to get out because their parents will be able to see what servers they're in or people they're talking to and those people/servers might give them away. I get that. I guess I can only hope that they try to be inconspicuous about it and the people they're talking to/servers they're in don't make it too obvious what is going on. Again, the messages and calls are private, so its not that the CONTENT is being seen that could definitely incriminate them, but if they're sending a bunch of messages to one guy or on a particular day then that might look suspect.
But to me personally, in general, I feel like the benefits outweigh the negatives. And I feel like it is a better balance than most. The teenager can have their privacy, and the parent can still have the info necessary to make decisions (Whatever those may be, good or bad).

Escargot (the MSN revival) is apparently coming out with a web client in a week or two, so I think that for those of us who use Escargot (which I know includes both me and plasticseaslug) that could be a great way to try and get friends to use something besides Discord! Especially people who use Linux or recent Macs and thus can't install MSN clients to use Escargot with.

I've been hearing a whole lot about Escargot since I've come back and I am curious, what is the security of it? Is it p2p? Or is everything hosted on the servers still? Or is it a referring sort of system (and if so are the messages still cached)? I was too young for MSN Live Messenger or AIM or anything like that so I don't have a reference on how they worked for this. It looks very cool though (but I don't think I could convince my one friend I still talk to on Discord to use it, especially if it isn't mobile friendly and they won't like to pull up a web-browser).

Before using Discord, I had primarily used Google Hangouts or E-Mailed my friends. I only really moved back to Google Hangouts because it was literally being shut down. If it hadn't, I doubt I'd even get Discord in the first place.

Google Hangouts was peak for real. I used that mostly just for communicating with people I knew irl though (since you had to have someone's email, usually gmail, to use it). They have Google Chat now which is basically the same thing as Hangouts was with a new interface and I think a few more features.

Is there a group of melonheads on matrix? Is there a forum thread to help me connect with folks there? What's the best client?

• People put Matrix on their profiles as a little category if they have it linked (like how you can link Discord, Space Hey, iMood, etc), so you could use that to find people. Just go through forum threads looking at peoples profiles and then @ing/dming then on Matrix via that (after all, if they have it linked at all on the forums it probably means they want to be contacted on there)
• Tried doing a search for you and no, there isn't. You could probably make it though (and it would help with your hunt for other Melon-Matrix enjoyers
• Did a whole bunch of research on it because I was considering joining Matrix myself at one point (but didn't because I decided I didn't have much of a reason to). Element is considered the best client by basically everyone (currently, could def change but that is the peak right now as of me writing this).

One more thought that's occurring to me, and it feel shallow to say it, but, I'm realizing one of the most important factors for me with regard to Discord vs the world is aesthetic/ UX. I love the charm of Melonland. The stars in the background, the raindrops, those spider webs up at the top of the page. The little pumpkins. The pixelated animated moon. Those retro icons. So much love is put into this little place and it's done in such a caring, tasteful stylized way that brings me joy. There are many reasons to take issue with Discord but if I'm being honest, I want to human interface with software that is joyful to use. That has soul. And that's why I long for something better.

If you want to give it soul, since Discord is just an Electron app (basically a website inside of a program), you can style it yourself with CSS and make your own themes, use themes made by others, or a between, a lot of the bigger themes here have customizations you can do (like changing the background image, color, spacing, etc) to make it more custom (or you can use BDeditor which has a live preview). There is a range. Though a lot of themes tend to make the client still look like Discord there are some that get a bit silly with it like this one (only works if you have a big screen though, no laptops allowed). Then you can load it with either BetterDiscord, Vencord, BeautifulDiscord, etc (theres a whole bunch, though be careful of course).

But I also want to refocus on plasticseaslug's original points. The Discord updates are obtrusive. Whether it's a font change, nitro nags, D&D adventure pack Shop BS, notification changes, whatever. Maybe there's a skin or alternate clients that solves all these complaints? I played around with a terminal-based client once--it worked but was a little too extreme :P

You can get rid of a lot of those with CSS on the PC version. The Vencord Discord has a channel called #css-snippets where people post css to get rid of various buttons, popups, etc (which you copy-paste into CSS Snippets or whatever your equivalent is on your respective mod).
As for mobile, you're kinda out of luck since those are part of it and as far as I know there are no plugins to get rid of them.