There is no truer adage to me than nothings is perfect. And when it comes to anything related to Discord it’s no different.

Discord itself to me has been an issue for years. Its use of data collection, the obsession of companies trying to buy it all were concerning. For me the latest age verification just further reinforces my beliefs. That being said the majority of users who ignored all this and kept going, really nothing would change. Most people I know use Discord lightly and aren’t in large chats that use hentai gifs. I still would tell anyone who would listen to get out of dodge. But if you never cared about data usage then you’re probably not going to start now.

For all the alternatives out there truth is, none are really anywhere near perfect. Matrix and most of its clients while encrypted don’t offer true jump in /jump out game chat. More a kin to Skype really. Foss Discord implementations like Spacebar are to all over the place and for me are not really functional. Stoat while probably my favorite is still really small and not holding up to the stress of the user influx. And of course it’s missing “discord features” and the new kid Fluxer while appealing is still to new and it’s monetization model a little to concerning. 300 bucks as a backer for unproven project ? And of course with the exception of Matrix none of the other projects currently offer encryption.

Truth is no option really is ideal. Truth is all the options have some pretty serious flaws. And truth is getting your large swaths of friends to move might be close to impossible.

So if you are looking to move please do some digging. Ask people who use the apps their opinions. Try to as a group of friends chose to make a move.

And the final truth is it’s a really good thing we finally have some options. No matter the flaws having competition brings innovation.

I hope this posts helps clear up some things for people who might be confused or concerned.

OC write up by @64bithero@lemmy.world

  • chasteinsect@programming.devEnglish
    4·
    1 day ago

    If you don’t need voice channels and all of that jazz, Matrix is a decent alternative. Someone mentioned that using a separate service for voice communication like Mumble works great.

    Honestly with the comments on this site I had worse expectations, but if you stick with Element it’s a pretty good experience. I didn’t self-host (yet), wanted to first try it out with my small group of friends so there may or may not be more problems there. But I do think I could easily switch to it and never look back. If my group doesn’t end up switching it will probably be only because of the lack of gif / custom emoji support. We tried Cinny and some other clients, but they all had some problems, Element seems to be a bit more polished.

    I can’t stop thinking all of these other alternatives while may work for a specific group, will not lead to any widespread adoption.