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Disclaimer
Please keep in mind that I am NOT trying to bash Discord and its userbase for simply existing. I am still using Discord nowadays because of the popularity effect it carries (although I feel like the lesser I use Discord the better, for sure). This post is simply about my personal discovery of how Discord development has been on a slight downfall rather than trying to improve itself for past few years plus some self discoveries.
Looking for a stable alternative to discord isn't easy nowadays
People nowadays strive to accept platforms & social media sites that can "prove" themselves to reliably work and fill their purpose as social platforms. However, some users notice that said platforms are not as reliable/trustworthy as they once used to be. Thus they seek alternatives, such as myself.
Just remind yourself of the times when Discord featured AI learning bot "Clyde" into big servers for the AI to learn. The community didn't respond quite well to it, although not everyone was against it, the outlash was noticeable.
History
Discord has been released over 8 years ago on May 13th 2015, back then it was just a simple client for people to voice chat and have fun (it was also the first platform to nearly kill Skype & Teamspeak in later years). It ran smoothly, without any major errors (slight bumps are expected for first year of release), the update flow was stable and frequent, often adding useful tools and features to the client and much more. The community was rather nice and helpful (not saying it isn't nowadays, however some minor/major communities are very reserved and toxic nowadays).
Overall the experience was great, I'd say that from 2015 until late 2018 Discord was blooming positively in my eyes, managing to grow rapidly in popularity and being loyal to the userbase.
(I have registered my first account on Discord in late Summer 2015, so I can claim I have been there "since the start"... sort of)
There is a great video on YouTube showing one of the old versions of Discord, how it looked like, and how it functioned --- Exploring Old Discord (2016-2017)!
Updates
Nowadays.. I'd say that Discord has stopped focusing (not completely, but limited itself) on community as whole. The main pipeline for updates is mostly vanity stuff (or completely useless for majority) focused on Discord nitro users with 1st tier (10$ per month) subscription (now before you think I am just being a crybaby because I can't afford Nitro, be aware that I do own the 1st tier for a whole year, no bragging intended).
Server stability
I was rather hesitant on mentioning this.. but Discord servers literally died (for me at least) as I was writing down this topic.
Back then Discord servers had outage max. once or twice per year, I acknowledge the fact that in previous years the userbase wasn't as big as it is now, however, if Discord can afford to charge people with subscription based Nitro, why can't they afford better servers & providers?
Phone app
The Discord app on phone is barely working as it should, it often crashes/freezes/doesn't load messages.
Hey remember when they actually apologized for the poor performance officially? That was quite funny.
Comparing that to the stability of the app from 2018 for example, it has downgraded.. massively. I am well aware that they're also trying to overhaul the interface for Discord on phone but to be fair, I think it will receive the same treatment as some other alternatives to visual experience, such as "Compact" mode for discord on desktop. Chances are you have never heard of it/used it for longer than 2 hours because of how messy it is, same way you probably haven't used their new phone app interface for far too long because of how messy/laggy/unfinished it can be. Only time will tell if this project will get somewhere or not.
Security
Every now and then we hear of Discord data leak from 3rd parties (although some are just hoaxes, some are verified sources and actually can be trusted). I am not saying we didn't get those back in "the good days" of Discord, but given how more and more people tend to completely sink their privacy into Discord, I'd say that this is a rather dangerous situation for them. Keep in mind that Discord is also often used as a gateaway for illegal activities (some activities were even committed by Discord employees themselves).
Partial work-arounds
Some of us might be aware of "Betterdiscord", the usage of it, the meaning behind it. Personally, I am glad for its existence, the purpose it serves and the community behind it, especially the devs.
However, Discord is very jumpy regarding any mentions of Betterdiscord in their territorial waters. Should you prove that you are using it in front of any Discord staff, chances are you may be banned from using Discord on your account (I haven't seen a ban given for this in person, yet.. although their TOS mentions it [or at least used to]).
Platforms I discovered
Prior to late 2021 I began seeking alternatives for Discord. I started with a rather niché platform "Guilded". It looked like a great Discord alternative, it even had richer features than Discord and was developed by only a few people (from the looks of it, not sure what the truth was). Friends and I gave it a shot for 3 months and genuinely were thinking of staying on the platform because it provided a lot of comfort.. until ROBLOX company decided to buy Guilded out of nowhere. We immediately scrammed after.
After we abandoned Guilded we (as a group) remained unsure what the next move will be. In late 2022 we decided to switch to "Telegram". Telegram isn't perfectly made for VOIP activities like Discord is, however it has proven itself as a stable platform for just small chitchats, even group chats.
Majority of us remain on Telegram until today, but some people have minor trust issues with Telegram due to its involvements and problems with the Russian government and their policies (please do not bring politics into this).
...Which brings me to my last most recent discovery... Element. Element is a client running on Matrix platform of decentralised servers (I am not too much into explaining how this works, you have to do some research about it yourself). Only a few of us found Element worthwhile (including myself) for its privacy concerns and (somehow) better stability than Discord (in 2023).
Tl;dr
From what I've noticed Discord is getting progressively more demanding in terms of its features released to the userbase (mostly targeting users paying for Nitro subscription). In addition each update released onto the platform tends to break the app even more, whether that's server issues, clientside issues, or general stability issues (on both desktop and mobile versions).
Finding an alternative platform nowadays isn't easy due to the popularity factor that Discord can proudly represent itself with, but under the coat of popularity it's a giant mess in my opinion.
Any thoughts?
I'd love to hear your thoughts out about this. Any criticism is welcome and should be acknowledged for as long as its constructive.
I am also looking into more alternatives still, discovering new platforms is always fun way to see how other companies can treat their userbase based on first contact and eventual updates that come along the way. If you are aware of any good platforms that haven't been mentioned or aren't well known, let me know!
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