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Discord cuts ties with identity verification software, Persona

fortune.com

71–80 of 349 posts

Re: Discord cuts ties with identity verification software, Persona

#71

the damage is already done though. Discord just burned years of goodwill and trust. Im in a few discord communities and while they aren't moving Im not looking to join any more right now because of this whole thing.

Discord is a cancer on the open internet anyway. Real time chat? Great. But entire communities, forums, and wikis moving behind the locked walled of Discord has been a disaster for information discovery. Don't replace Discord with a similar alternative. Return to open forums and wikis!

Yes. And likewise for all those other walled gardens. I shouldn't need a Facebook or a Twitter account to read what some politician wrote.

Re: Discord cuts ties with identity verification software, Persona

#73
post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good article but the web site gave me eye and ear cancer. Please make it actually readable and don't steal my audio!

[flagged]

Reading mode doesn't work on Safari for me... I get a paragraph and sod all else.

So respectfully, do not make assumptions. And if you want someone to read the content, don't surround it with shite.

Re: Discord cuts ties with identity verification software, Persona

#74
post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> So does this mean Discord is scrapping its new face verification requirement for users, No, they’re outsourcing the verification to an external company. Just not this one. Side note: The verification is only if you want to remove content filters, join adult-themed servers and a couple other features. If you only want to chat with your friends and use voice then no verification is required.

probably find out the new identity verification firm is just a shell around the Thiel company

Or bought just long enough later to make it too late.

Re: Discord cuts ties with identity verification software, Persona

#75

the damage is already done though. Discord just burned years of goodwill and trust. Im in a few discord communities and while they aren't moving Im not looking to join any more right now because of this whole thing.

Can someone explain to me how Discord got so big in the first place, particularly for non-gaming uses?

I saw this coming a mile away when folks started ditching slack for Discord - Slack being problematic because a) it was profit-seeking and would use its leverage over your personal data to seek rent and b) it was antithetical to the open web.

Discord has the exact same two issues so was obviously not a solution.

Why did the internet en masse fall for it again?

Re: Discord cuts ties with identity verification software, Persona

#76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The list is getting longer and longer, but a good touchstone is simply net worth. You don't normally get to the top of a foodchain without being an apex predator.

Indeed. Empathy and the levels of wealth accumulation in scope are incompatible imho. They are the paperclip maximizers we were warned about.

Where do you guys come up with these ideas?

Simply having a lot of money makes someone evil? Why? They are obviously all quite competitive in business but the philanthropy they've done is pretty crazy. Gates for example is giving away hundreds of billions of dollars. What does it even matter if he's compassionate or not if he's doing that?

Re: Discord cuts ties with identity verification software, Persona

#77
post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thiel is one of the more public faces of what is now known as the "Epstein class" of societal predators. But one of many and certainly not the epicenter.

There is certainly a shadow cabal of these elite billionaire types that avoid all public exposure yet are working very hard to destroy society and profit

Some people are trying to use a different word than "cabal" because of the racial associations and history.

Oligarchs/y are among my choices, but I have supplanted that with Epstein Class now, to be more accurate to whom I refer

Re: Discord cuts ties with identity verification software, Persona

#78

I'm glad to see "Peter Thiel-backed" becoming a widely-recognized epithet.

it is truly amazing how much damage one person is able to do to civilized society if you expand the scope to a handful of adjacent figures, the catastrophe is truly amazing

I’m hearing this a lot but never with any substance, would you care to elaborate with a hard action or idea with a direct result?

Re: Discord cuts ties with identity verification software, Persona

#79

the damage is already done though. Discord just burned years of goodwill and trust. Im in a few discord communities and while they aren't moving Im not looking to join any more right now because of this whole thing.

Discord is a cancer on the open internet anyway. Real time chat? Great. But entire communities, forums, and wikis moving behind the locked walled of Discord has been a disaster for information discovery. Don't replace Discord with a similar alternative. Return to open forums and wikis!

The problem is forum UX on mobile is mediocre, and people have to create an account for each forum. Most people are using mobile devices now, like it or not, so convenience of rich text chat wins out.

Re: Discord cuts ties with identity verification software, Persona

#80
post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Indeed. Empathy and the levels of wealth accumulation in scope are incompatible imho. They are the paperclip maximizers we were warned about.

Where do you guys come up with these ideas? Simply having a lot of money makes someone evil? Why? They are obviously all quite competitive in business but the philanthropy they've done is pretty crazy. Gates for example is giving away hundreds of billions of dollars. What does it even matter if he's compassionate or not if he's doing that?

Because it's about power, control, and influence. The wealth is just the tool. Melinda French and MacKenzie Scott are true philanthropists, Gates and Bezos are just status chasers. "Look at me!" "Please clap." and so on. There are only ~3000 billionaires in the world, so I am not too concerned about broad support for them in a world with 8-10 billion people.

"Fuck you" money is fine, we all strive for freedom during our lifetime as humans. "Fuck everyone" money is not a welcome target, imho. That's unelected power. Its easy to not be a billionaire of course: philanthropy. But do most billionaires? They do not. They hold tightly to their power.

"Why does it even matter?" Because many of us do not want to be ruled or governed by these people, who by all indications, are not fond of other humans and see them as a resource to exploit and control. I assure you, I have no envy for these people and their wealth, I am allergic to what it would take to accumulate and maintain it (as a high empathy, high justice sensitivity human). I know what enough is. This is self preservation from a class of predator.

> Where do you guys come up with these ideas?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_of_mind

https://medium.com/roaring-rivers/are-all-billionaires-socio... | https://archive.today/nX2Fh

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/interactive/2025/bil... | https://archive.today/Gb2RF

https://www.forbes.com/sites/ellamalmgren/2025/09/09/america... | https://archive.today/nLx78

https://www.google.com/search?q=billionaires+sociopaths

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