Discord Alternatives

Beginning with a phased global rollout to new and existing users in early March, users may be required to engage in an age-verification process to change certain settings or access sensitive content. This includes age-restricted channels, servers, or commands and select message requests.

  • Taleya@aussie.zone
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    1 month ago

    This is the point where you need to teach a short, sharp lesson to companies by burning it to the ground.

  • BeBopALouie@lemmy.ca
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    1 month ago

    I am almost 70. I will just use a pic of good ol Harold. Will be funny to see if it accepts him.

  • IronKrill@lemmy.ca
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    1 month ago

    One of my friends hit me with the “they already know everything about me” line on this one and literally said they’d give Discord “anything”, so I don’t think I’m gonna convince my group to move y’all. At least my best friend is educated enough at this point to be interested in moving so I’ll still be investigating options.

  • you_are_dust@lemmy.world
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    1 month ago

    I heard it suggested that you can possibly trick the face scan using screen grabs of video game or tv characters. Anyone know if this is actually possible?

    • badgermurphy@lemmy.world
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      1 month ago

      It seemed mostly fake to me. The dead giveaway was all the tech support forums that pushed themselves onto Discord. That makes so little sense it MUST be fake.

  • betanumerus@lemmy.ca
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    1 month ago

    Unless they trade me a face scan of each Discord employee and member, I’m out. Enough is enough, nothing is free.

  • SalamenceFury@piefed.social
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    1 month ago

    Discord genuinely thinks they got the users by the balls… Thing is, people move platforms extremely easily. It happened to MSN Messenger, it happened to Skype, and it’ll happen to Discord too.

    For those who are looking for something very similar, look at Stoat (formerly known as Revolt). Their URL is https://stoat.chat/.

    • CosmoNova@lemmy.world
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      1 month ago

      On one hand yeah sure, people ditched Skype and MSN as soon as something better came along but that was a long time ago. Discord has sadly been the go-to for people for over a decade. Many users literally grew up with it. They are conditioned. A lot has to happen for them to leave their comfort zone. It‘s like asking someone to stop drinking coke or get McDonald‘s after they‘ve had it for their entire life.

      I‘ll say this probably won‘t be the straw that breaks the camel‘s back but there is a silver lining. Discord will lose revenue over this and might change course quickly. This already rolled out in Canada and from what I‘ve heard many users cancelled Nitro at least. That‘s a start. Discord may also try to milk remaining users even harder as a result very soon and that will definitely put them into a down spiral.

    • RandAlThor@lemmy.ca
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      1 month ago

      I just went through an EXASPERATING experience installing and signing up for Stoat. It DOES NOT WORK. Don’t recommend it.

      • whelk@retrolemmy.com
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        1 month ago

        Sounds like everyone and their dog trying to sign up at once due to this Discord news is overwhelming them, give it a while and try again later. I’m waiting a bit before I try. im_doing_my_part.jpg

    • ILikeBoobies@lemmy.ca
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      1 month ago

      Revolt (suppose stoat) had problems with noise cancellation and people complained to me the UI wasn’t intuitive.

    • Sheridan@lemmy.world
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      1 month ago

      Mass migration like that occurs (from my memory at least) when the newer alternative has much better functionality, performance, and ease of use compared to the status quo service and has a low barrier to entry (sign up is quick and straightforward). Do any of the decentralized Discord alternatives fit these criteria (honest question, not rhetorical)?

      • SalamenceFury@piefed.social
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        1 month ago

        Well, Stoat has the same features as Discord, including many premium ones for free, the ability to write HTML/CSS for your own server, with the only thing missing being video feed. Otherwise, it functions the same while being much faster.

        Also sign up is very quick, but right now they’re getting hugged to death, so sign up emails might take a while to arrive.

        • RandAlThor@lemmy.ca
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          1 month ago

          Sign up is QUICK? It’s been more than a hour. I’ve tried through the app, through the web, it hasn’t sent me back NOTHING for verification. Still not signed up. What’s quick for you? 10 hours to sign up?

          • SalamenceFury@piefed.social
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            1 month ago

            I literally fucking said they got hugged to death. Why are you mad at an app/website that literally had its email crash from everyone trying to sign up at once??

            • RandAlThor@lemmy.ca
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              1 month ago

              If they can’t handle this small surge in volume, they are too small to handle any issues that might come up down the road. Not trusting my web of friends with an app like this. Because I have to onboard OTHERS onto this mickey mouse unreliable operation, that’s why. Downvote me for all you want but THAT is a simple fact that exposes them for what they are. Amateurs not ready for it.

    • Jestzer@lemmy.world
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      1 month ago

      They absolutely have their users by the balls and I guarantee most people will continue to use the app after this, unfortunately.

      • Chulk@lemmy.ml
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        1 month ago

        Yeah, my group of friends will be very resistant to moving away from discord. They’re all aware of the issues with it, but It’s too convenient of a platform. Personally, I will give up most of the comforts to not be under the thumb of a corporation, but I’m an outlier in my friend group with that perspective.

        • IamtheMorgz@lemmy.world
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          1 month ago

          I’m in this boat too. Most of my online friends I only really get to talk to via discord. Not sure what I’m gonna do, because they won’t end up budging.

        • Jestzer@lemmy.world
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          1 month ago

          I did. That’s my opinion, most people won’t care I care, but most people don’t.

    • Boomer Humor Doomergod@lemmy.world
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      1 month ago

      One problem will be that there are way too goddamn many software projects that use Discord as a shitty replacement for a blog and documentation, and they’re gonna be a pain to move to proper content platforms.

      • empireOfLove2@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        1 month ago

        Sometimes the only way thru is shitty. And those devs might have to learn the hard way not to overcentralize- or to not use a damn chat software for what is way more suited to forums.

        • Leon@pawb.social
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          1 month ago

          I’ve been complaining about this for years. Hope we’re finally starting to see the end of it.

      • MonkderVierte@lemmy.zip
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        1 month ago

        “Look, Discord requires me to upload a pic of my face or ID, to which i can’t legally agree to. Please provide another channel or i can’t contribute.”

        • Boomer Humor Doomergod@lemmy.world
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          1 month ago

          That’ll work for individual users, but getting all that chat history out will be a problem for the owners once the users dry up.

          And I’m sure Discord will do their best to make it impossible.

          Serves them right for picking chat software in the first place, let alone one they don’t control.

      • chunes@lemmy.world
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        1 month ago

        I’m in like a hundred of those. Honestly, they’re not that useful. Burn it all down and start over.

    • whelk@retrolemmy.com
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      1 month ago

      I think a big thing that made it catch on was the ease of joining. Just send someone a link and boom, they’re in the intended server. No immediate registration process, no buttons or commands to use, just a single click and entering a username. For all that I dislike Discord about, they did that part really well

  • PlexSheep@infosec.pub
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    1 month ago

    While this is certainly a big step in their enshittification process, the restrictions from just not doing it don’t seem so bad.


    Content Filters: Discord users will need to be age-assured as adults in order to unblur sensitive content or turn off the setting.

    Age-gated Spaces – Only users who are age-assured as adults will be able to access age-restricted channels, servers, and app commands.

    Message Request Inbox: Direct messages from people a user may not know are routed to a separate inbox by default, and access to modify this setting is limited to age-assured adult users.

    Friend Request Alerts: People will receive warning prompts for friend requests from users they may not know.

    Stage Restrictions: Only age-assured adults may speak on stage in servers.


    I will definitely not identify myself for them with these options. If they would implement more private methods of age authentication, maybe I would consider it, since I am currently bound to discord for a few social activities.

  • tabular@lemmy.world
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    1 month ago

    I refuse to verify my age with a face scan or government ID for an online account/profile… It’s too easy to imagine how fucked up that will go.

    The more I delete profiles to platforms with unwanted disturbing features the more recluse I become. It must look to acquaintances that I don’t care to speak (to them) but what can I do? I cannot imagine convincing even computer-literate friends to switch to something - as they will have the same problem.

    Do I need to retire my Discord gaming server before I’m locked out of controlling it?

  • Aatube@thriv.social
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    1 month ago

    only changes for the unverified:

    • Channels, servers, and commands set to age-restricted will be inaccessible
    • DM requests deemed “sensitive” will be inaccessible
    • “Sensitive content” will be blurred
    • Won’t be able to become a speaker in “stage” channels, a special type where a few videoconferencers have a meeting where anyone else can watch and type but not videoconference; verified watchers can be invited to speak
    • DMs from unfamiliar users will be routed to a separate “warning”

    nothing else

    I think this is business as usual…

    • sudoer777@lemmy.ml
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      1 month ago

      Youtube age restricts pro-Palestine stuff and the government age restricts the Epstein files, so I can imagine this would target political or LGBTQ spaces, which are some of the worst spaces to require ID for. There’s a local political server I’m in, which due to this I’m strongly urging to migrate to Matrix with Discord bridges, and am offering to help with.

      • EndlessNightmare@reddthat.com
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        1 month ago

        I’m strongly urging to migrate to Matrix with Discord bridges, and am offering to help with.

        Bravo. I know Matrix isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but I’ve been using it for a few years now and would like to see it gain some traction.

        I absolutely refuse to put the Discord app on my phone and using Matrix bridging for Discord messaging (only works with messages, not voice/video).

      • Aatube@thriv.social
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        1 month ago

        Server owners must apply an age-restricted label to any channels that contain sexually explicit content involving adults or content involving adults that is shared solely for the purposes of sexual gratification.

        nothing else needs to be age-restricted, and age restriction of topics you mentioned would be big news for discord. pluralkit’s home is discord and has great influence there, and the lgbtq+ community definitely has a larger presence than the plural community

  • acetanilide@lemmy.world
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    1 month ago

    Can someone help me figure out if matrix/element would work for what I need? So far it looks decent, but my main issue is figuring out integrations/bots.

    Is there a way to integrate something like PluralKit there?

    • zod000@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      1 month ago

      I have many friends have that ported their bots from other platforms to Matrix, but these are technically capable people that created bots to begin with so YMMV.

    • Psythik@lemmy.world
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      1 month ago

      Is Matrix a self-hosted alternative to Discord? I’ve been looking for one but the closest I can find is RocketChat, which is meant more for corporate environments. I’m going to be launching a radio station for Lemmy soon and I need a suitable solution for chat platform that I can integrate with my website (and eventually app).

      • sudoer777@lemmy.ml
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        1 month ago

        Matrix is sort of a mishmash of things, not a fan of the UX but it has federation and encryption and isn’t Discord, and also has bridges to various platforms

    • vithigar@lemmy.ca
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      1 month ago

      Matrix does have a bot API, but there is not even close to as robust an ecosystem of bots to choose from. Whatever you want is probably possible, but depending on your needs you may have to write it yourself.

  • deathbird@mander.xyz
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    1 month ago

    It seems like the restriction should be lifted for accounts without verification after 5 years. After all, you’re not even allowed to sign up if you’re under 13, so by 5 years you have to be at least 18.