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Discord Alternatives, Ranked

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Re: Discord Alternatives, Ranked

#81

Post by derkades »

aaravchen wrote: post #16

Ironically, Signal actually ranks a -1 for privacy in this use. Presumably you're already using Signal and getting mainstream contacts to start using it too. You probably have a basic profile that at least includes your real name, and might also have your picture. Maybe you're even one of the 7 people in the world that use the Stories feature in it. Well good news, now all of that is also unconditionally available to…

The part about stories is not true. When sending a story you can choose who to send it to. To make it easier you can even put people in groups

Re: Discord Alternatives, Ranked

#82

Post by ranger_danger »

MarsIronPI wrote: post #5

I'm sad to see XMPP missing from this list. I wonder if the author was simply unaware of it or simply ignored it. IMO XMPP is technically superior to Matrix. It "only" needs a cross-platform high-quality, branded app àla Element. There's underlying protocol support for all the features: video/audio calls, group calls, threads and reactions. Maybe missing are custom emoji (I think?) and channel grouping (which is stil…

I tried XMPP recently and was surprised to see just how barren it was. The tech might be good but if nobody is using it after all these years, what's the point?

Re: Discord Alternatives, Ranked

#83

Post by oarsinsync »

OJFord wrote: post #79
ozlikethewizard wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can have multiple instances of signal on a mobile device, and you can use VoiP or eSIMs to register. Signal with an online persona revealing no identifying information, registered to a cash purchased eSIM on an ungoogled android is as good as your getting. Why do you think so many jurisdictions are trying to ban both GrapheneOS and Signal.

That's privacy for someone who cares deeply and will get it somehow no matter what, not default zero-effort privacy for the ignorant. (Which WhatsApp does pretty well for example.)

> default zero-effort privacy for the ignorant. (Which WhatsApp does pretty well for example.)

Can you elaborate on what default zero-effort privacy for the ignorant WhatsApp offers, that Signal does not?

Re: Discord Alternatives, Ranked

#84

Post by numpad0 »

jszymborski wrote: post #6

This does miss a major feature of Discord and why, imo, it got such an huge following among gamers at first: voice and video chat. I've really had a hard time finding a Discord alternative that has the same kind of first-class voice and video chat support that Discord does. Back to Ventrilo and Mumble I guess /s

Why can't anybody just add a button to host a fully P2P WebRTC call? Like everyone did back when Slack didn't have anything, but in one click?

Re: Discord Alternatives, Ranked

#85

Post by Semaphor »

cbdumas wrote: post #15

I know I'm in the small minority of Discord users who mostly uses it as a voice chat room while gaming with my friends, but for that use case the best alternative I've found seems to be Mumble. I recently set up a Mumble server on my home server and it seems great so far, was able to get my friends connected pretty easily. We'll see how the voice quality and latency compare to Discord.

> small minority

Huh. I’d have said majority. It was always my impression that a) gamers make up the vast majority of discord users (with all their gamification and gaming features), and b) that gamers mainly care about voice chat (which is what people almost always talk about when it comes to discord and gaming).

Re: Discord Alternatives, Ranked

#86

Post by Gareth321 »

dokyun wrote: post #77
Mashimo wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would love to know why it's considered a feature for you. I remember messing with bouncers and reading the backlog from a 3rd party page. Bots that would ping other members when they come online. It was cumbersome.

Saving logs is gross, chats should be ephemeral. In any case there's HistServ and IRCv3 /chathistory nowadays, so if you really want it you can have it. That all the minute garbage everyone posts is preserved forever in an unfiltered state I think is a root cause of the mental degradation that results from using Discord: kids don't have anywhere to 'post into the void' anymore. Preserving past events and relationship…

I wanted to disagree but I really miss IRC internet. Saving everything we ever said online was a mistake. We need to focus on ephemeral chat making a comeback.

Re: Discord Alternatives, Ranked

#87

Post by ranger_danger »

monocultured wrote: post #50

I would love an updated KDX/Hotline server running an a RasPi or similar at home. This was a solved problem 20 years ago. The migration to online based platforms will always lead to network effects and enshittification, for very little gain.

There are updated clients and servers for Hotline.

https://hlwiki.com/index.php/Clients

https://hlwiki.com/index.php/Servers

But the number of users on any particular server these days is extremely small.

Re: Discord Alternatives, Ranked

#88

Post by ekianjo »

ozlikethewizard wrote: post #48
aaravchen wrote: post #16

Ironically, Signal actually ranks a -1 for privacy in this use. Presumably you're already using Signal and getting mainstream contacts to start using it too. You probably have a basic profile that at least includes your real name, and might also have your picture. Maybe you're even one of the 7 people in the world that use the Stories feature in it. Well good news, now all of that is also unconditionally available to…

You can have multiple instances of signal on a mobile device, and you can use VoiP or eSIMs to register. Signal with an online persona revealing no identifying information, registered to a cash purchased eSIM on an ungoogled android is as good as your getting. Why do you think so many jurisdictions are trying to ban both GrapheneOS and Signal.

Of course it's revealing information. If I know that two users that are identified by their phone numbers are talking to each other every day, this is a clear connection you can exploit. Metadata is only useless if you have no imagination.

Re: Discord Alternatives, Ranked

#89

Post by Mashimo »

dokyun wrote: post #77
Mashimo wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would love to know why it's considered a feature for you. I remember messing with bouncers and reading the backlog from a 3rd party page. Bots that would ping other members when they come online. It was cumbersome.

Saving logs is gross, chats should be ephemeral. In any case there's HistServ and IRCv3 /chathistory nowadays, so if you really want it you can have it. That all the minute garbage everyone posts is preserved forever in an unfiltered state I think is a root cause of the mental degradation that results from using Discord: kids don't have anywhere to 'post into the void' anymore. Preserving past events and relationship…

But on IRC you had your own log, and sometimes the server made the full logs public. It was just cumbersome to access. What I said and you said in my presets was still logged.

It's a muddy middle ground where neither you are I are satisfied. Far from perfect.

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