• klangcola@reddthat.com
    3·
    6 months ago

    The biggest problem with Discord is that its an information black hole. Its not properly searchable and not indexed by search engines.

    Discord is fine for casual chat, but horrible when used for forum-type discussions and even worse when used for documentation.

    You see the same problems being discussed and solved again and again, but you cant just “link” someone the solution like you could with a forum thread cause its spread out over 3-10 chat messages that are interleaved in-between other topics being discussed in the same room

    Anything of long-term value for the project (forum-type discussions, documentation etc) should not recide in Discord

    • Blackmist@feddit.ukEnglish
      3·
      6 months ago

      There’s going to be a lot of shocked Pikachus when the inevitable enshittification hits, and suddenly they charge to host all the documentation and wiki pages. All that barely maintained stuff will just vanish overnight.

    • Kayday@lemmy.world
      1·
      6 months ago

      I have all the issues with Discord that you mention, but struggle to find a better alternative. Do you have any recommendations?

      • RvTV95XBeo@sh.itjust.works
        1·
        6 months ago

        Forums. Phpbb, Mybb, hell even discourse is better than discord. If you’re specifically dealing with a coding project, most git repositories offer an issues page and wiki you can use.

  • PJB@lemmy.spacestation14.comEnglish
    01·
    6 months ago

    Ahhh, yet another “Discord bad” post. Let’s see what alternatives they propose. After all, just telling me I made the wrong choice isn’t productive right?

    There are great FOSS alternatives to Discord or Slack. SourceHut has been investing in IRC by building more accessible services like chat.sr.ht. Other great options include Matrix and Zulip. Please consider these services before you reach for their proprietary competitors.

    Hahaha hahaha. Good fucking joke.

    There’s a reason Discord is a million times more usable than all of those, and it’s not just network effect.

    …

    I’m well aware discord is going to enshittify itself eventually. It’s inevitable. However quite frankly as long as that hasn’t happened yet, it will remain by far the best option. I am not going to knee-cap my project by using a Discord “alternative” that barely works.

    The day Discord dies will be a massive loss for the internet. That hasn’t happened yet. But it will. And it’s not going to be a loss just because of all the communities locked in on it. It’s going to be a loss because it’s the best damn community chat software and there’s no replacement.

    • bravemonkey@lemmy.ca
      1·
      6 months ago

      The day Discord dies will be a massive loss for the internet.

      What loss will that be? Discord’s value is the same as MSN Messenger - the history on Discord is already unusable for resolving issues, so when it’s gone people will just move to the next real-time communication platform that fills the same gap. It’s not a forum that people can search and find answers on years after discussions have happened and solutions have been posted.

      • PJB@lemmy.spacestation14.comEnglish
        01·
        6 months ago

        See my other comments. There is still no suitable alternative to Discord that is as good at it for making communities people can easily access. The loss is not solely in the messages that get locked away (sure that sucks too). It’s the loss of the communities that can’t exist on platforms like Matrix or IRC.

    • ramirezmike@programming.dev
      1·
      6 months ago

      I’ve used Zulip a couple times and thought it had some neat features and worked well enough. What’s so bad about it that justifies a reaction like that?

      • PJB@lemmy.spacestation14.comEnglish
        01·
        6 months ago

        When the OP article was posted in 2021, Zulip didn’t even have public access as an option. This basically would make it a non-starter for what the article author suggests it for, as that’s worse (having to make an account everywhere) than Discord, Matrix or IRC.

        To be honest I don’t have too much experience with Zulip or Rocket or all of these other new platforms, but my current default assumption is that they will always be designed foremost for organizations rather than the “I am in 20 communities I am somewhat active in[1]” like Discord. Matrix always seems like the better choice here… but it’s got its own issues.

        I also don’t put much regard into the author’s word here because unironically suggesting IRC in 2021 means they’re off their rocker.

        [1] I know you can only join like 100 servers without nitro ok.