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Revolt: Open-source alternative to Discord

revolt.chat

21–30 of 413 posts

Re: Revolt: Open-source alternative to Discord

#21
post #4

How does it compare to matrix? Would have been nice to use that since it’s an open protocol that already takes privacy seriously

My question, maybe a bit more meta - is why not instead work on features for matrix and a client like element?

As if the world needs yet another slack-like.

xkcd_15_competing_standards.png

Re: Revolt: Open-source alternative to Discord

#22
post #9

Giving this project such a politically charged name is a bit cringey. It could turn some people off who would otherwise be interested. Unless of course you're only interested in targeting a more narrow group to begin with. That's ok to, it just potentially limits the reach of the user pool. For an app whos success will be governed by 'network effects', it helps to cast that net as wide as possible instead of narrowin…

If it would make you feel better , just fork it and rename it ‘bootlicker’

Re: Revolt: Open-source alternative to Discord

#23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For me I think “written in Rust”actually does add a lot. It is a signal that this will be easy to build, easy to deploy (because it is compiled into a single binary in general), memory safe, and likely to be written by a someone that cares about performance and efficiency. I think those are all valuable hints.

> memory safe That's an incorrect assumption if you haven't audited the code. > likely to be written by a someone that cares about performance and efficiency Ah, the stamp of approval that comes from signalling to the "right people". Reminds me of the preamble to almost every C++ Boost library -- "written with performance in mind".

> That's an incorrect assumption if you haven't audited the code.

Even without an audit, the odds of a Rust project being memory safe are so much higher than in comparable languages.

Furthermore, Rust makes auditing so much easier by allowing you to concentrate on unsafe blocks.

Re: Revolt: Open-source alternative to Discord

#24
post #3

Not sure "written in Rust" is a headline thing that's worth mentioning anymore. Particularly amusing in this case when parts of Discord are written in Rust too.

Similarly I used to have an issue with the number of projects submitted to /r/golang that are “a whatever server written in go”. If I wanted to see a new whatever server I would be looking elsewhere and wouldn’t particularly care what language it’s implemented with.

Nowadays I’ve come around to appreciating the opportunity to see what other gophers are doing. I usually skip over those posts but occasionally I look at the code and learn something new.

Even when I’m dealing with compiles binaries, I slightly prefer something written in a language I’m familiar with just so there’s a better chance I will be able to diagnose any bugs I encounter.

Re: Revolt: Open-source alternative to Discord

#25

it's not written in Rust, it is written in Typescript the backend is written in Rust if you use Discord, you don't care about the backend, it doesn't run on your machine This is something i notice about rust users, they promote "written in Rust" more than the products Very bad marketing

> if you use Discord, you don't care about the backend, it doesn't run on your machine

Right, but for a self hosted project this might of interest.

Re: Revolt: Open-source alternative to Discord

#27
post #4

How does it compare to matrix? Would have been nice to use that since it’s an open protocol that already takes privacy seriously

Their FAQ on “Why no federation?” is relevant: https://developers.revolt.chat/faq/federation

> "In terms of the situation, we started the project when none of us even knew what federation was, so it was never even considered from the start."

Well, yes, it is honest, but it also is disturbing - which other well-known network principles were unknown to them?

Re: Revolt: Open-source alternative to Discord

#28
post #17
post #9

Giving this project such a politically charged name is a bit cringey. It could turn some people off who would otherwise be interested. Unless of course you're only interested in targeting a more narrow group to begin with. That's ok to, it just potentially limits the reach of the user pool. For an app whos success will be governed by 'network effects', it helps to cast that net as wide as possible instead of narrowin…

https://revolt.chat/about They're marketing to a privacy aware audience which is, unfortunately these days, political to some.

Ok having read the about page, it starts to tell a narrative. It's helpful and gives me a better idea about the motivations behind thebproject, but as a brand name you dont get to force everyone to read your /about when they first see the name Revolt.

But on the specific issue, consider if someone is a proponent for privacy, but isn't sure if the're joining software created by activists they disagree with, maybe the equivalent of the folks behind Gab, for example.

Re: Revolt: Open-source alternative to Discord

#30
post #18

Curious why you decided to use MongoDB as opposed to HBase or Cassandra? Discord moved away from MongoDB because its sharding is “complicated to use and not known for stability.” Are these issues not relevant anymore?

Hi, one of the developers here, there was no specific reason why we went mongo at the start, but there have been talks to move to a different database if needed. Currently mongodb is fine for us.
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