This is unbelievably epic

As for the actual contents, I'd like to add I do remember a period during which Discord seemed to have almost monthly outages, but I can't remember during which years it really was. They were pretty bad compared to today's hiccup, lasting 15-30 minutes... Still, I agree with everything else you said. I also haven't heard of Element before, so that might be worth looking into. One thing's for sure, while the messaging platforms are gonna remain quite dubious for the foreseeable future, I'll be watching this site with great curiosity hehe

At the moment I think Revolt is one of the "easiest" alternatives out there, as it tries to mostly resemble Discord, new users generally have no problem using it (which is what in my opinion keeps many people from leaving Discord, the learning curve of having to use another new application).

You can read more about the project and its advantages here:

https://revolt.chat
https://github.com/revoltchat

Reply by ニーチェはクソだ

At the moment I think Revolt is one of the "easiest" alternatives out
there, as it tries to mostly resemble Discord, new users generally have
no problem using it (which is what in my opinion keeps many people from
leaving Discord, the learning curve of having to use another new
application).

You can read more about the project and its advantages here:

https://revolt.chat

https://github.com/revoltchat

Excellent analysis! These days, my bet is on IRC. Matrix is effectively centralized; everyone seems to be on matrix.org, missing the protocol's whole point. Even XMPP is doing better, which must be some sort of record.

As for Revolt, this is the second time I hear about it. Should probably keep an eye on it just in case. but so far I'm not convinced.

thank you for creating this post

....say, what are the privacy concerns with Element/Matrix?

Reply by benny

....say, what are the privacy concerns with Element/Matrix?

Currently I see no downside in using Element/any other client based on Matrix network. Having a network of decentralised servers can prove to be efficient in some ways, like each server demanding different security protocols which they work with. Element likes to keep their users secure by keeping them well aware of (un)verified connections with mutual contacts.

Developer team is quite small for Element though, so the updates do take time to implement, however, Element at it's current stage is reaching a decent milestone to become a stable and effective platform with privacy being one of the main concerns.

It definitely has less security loopholes and privacy concerns than Discord does.

did not read a single word rotter 

Reply by K0NjuRA

I haven't been liking the recent mobile updates myself. Even in the
UI/UX department, things are looking like they're going downhill in
terms of stuff like how you access DMs. I also really think it could use
a better way to list what servers you're joined up with. But I think
the general culture of Discord is also something that rubs me the wrong
way. I mean, each server can set its own rules and have its own
standards on what's the acceptable quality of discourse, but in general
it looks like a prime example of where the power of instant messaging
has become so abused that 90% of them are hardly much more than
shitposting servers. Little to no meaningful engagement. I suppose that
only speaks of my own particular tastes, but regurgitating unfunny memes
and watching streams like most of its userbase doesn't even look
entertaining to me.

The only good alternative instant messaging service everyone
should be using is either Matrix or Mumble. Sure, alternatives to
Discord (i.e. Revolt chat and formerly guilded) could be
sustainable for a short while, but that's only until they inevitably get
delineated into a capitalistic form of itself to a point that it
doesn't respect people's safety, privacy and dignity. It all simply
starts from it being a centralized service, we've seen this happen time
and time again. The fact that they are susceptible to this problem should
be everyone's concern because it's apart of a bigger issue of society
migrating it's control system to manageable cybernetic access and
surveillance; whole other can of beans to open.

Discord's
popularity complimented with its aesthetic of the platform became
irresistible to people because it's an output of excessive positive
monetary gain, therefore the exploited cares less about using
applications that are more ethical. Decentralized encrypted platforms
offer the safety that many people don't currently know they need in the
long run. What is going to happen to the data when it's leaked or
surveilled, and used as a means of revoking people's human rights? We
can only assume the worst from here and make an effort protect ourselves
from it, even if it's just damage control.

The fact these corporations know exactly what cards to play to keep their people reeled
in is fucking insane, and that's because they're the current successful
portion. It's in everyone's best interest to resist it, starting off
with recognizing this parasitic symptom: "all of my friends use it so I
need to".

Reply by Neurosys

The only good alternative instant messaging service everyone
should be using is either Matrix or Mumble. Sure, alternatives to
Discord (i.e. Revolt chat and formerly guilded) could be
sustainable for a short while, but that's only until they inevitably get
delineated into a capitalistic form of itself to a point that it
doesn't respect people's safety, privacy and dignity. It all simply
starts from it being a centralized service, we've seen this happen time
and time again. The fact that they are susceptible to this problem should
be everyone's concern because it's apart of a bigger issue of society
migrating it's control system to manageable cybernetic access and
surveillance; whole other can of beans to open.

Discord's
popularity complimented with its aesthetic of the platform became
irresistible to people because it's an output of excessive positive
monetary gain, therefore the exploited cares less about using
applications that are more ethical. Decentralized encrypted platforms
offer the safety that many people don't currently know they need in the
long run. What is going to happen to the data when it's leaked or
surveilled, and used as a means of revoking people's human rights? We
can only assume the worst from here and make an effort protect ourselves
from it, even if it's just damage control.

The fact these corporations know exactly what cards to play to keep their people reeled
in is fucking insane, and that's because they're the current successful
portion. It's in everyone's best interest to resist it, starting off
with recognizing this parasitic symptom: "all of my friends use it so I
need to".

Business must be growing and growing one way or another. If subscription services didn't make enough money to sustain the server rent/maintenance, the company holding your data would (and will most likely) result to selling your data to marketing and other third party sites.

Thank you for this detailed input. :)

i understand if a bit farfetched but.. hexchat? i myself am still learning how it even works but im intrested in public chatting on it ...though im yet to find a client with active people just to chill.. lol

Reply by Reese2500

I'm surprised OP is still replying to people here. Idk any good discord alternative nowadays. Hell, I want to crawl back to amino for a good sense of community belonging but that platform is a turd waiting to be spilled to the ceiling fan. I heard of matrix and element but those so far are telegram alternatives, and avoid using phone numbers to sign in for these services.

Reply by ✶Rib𓆩𓁺𓆪Eye Black Dragon✶

sry if this point has already been mentioned
feel like it needs to be said as to not be confusing, im not entirely against dsc

myb if smth doesnt make sense, i was rambling for a lot of this

>under the coat of popularity it's a giant mess

the more i sit back and look at my time on dsc this feels more true and true lol

biggest issue for me (been using dsc since around the start of 2019) is that all my friends and ppl i meet only use dsc. it has become the online/gaming norm and asking ppl to migrate to a platform where none of their friends r is a pointless ask, theres no insentive until others go - but then u run in circles of "oh im waiting for the next guy to leave" while he waits on the first guy (if that makes sense )
personally havent really had any real issues with server stability and the phone app (other than small minor things that got fixed) so cant really talk on those points but on the point of the data leak and security - most ppl rnt aware or REALLY care. like i said, most ppl rnt really aware of the data leaks and if they do they say they care and "oh no they r taking my data" but dont do anything about it. no1 will say they dont care about a data leak but most ppl r to lazy or dont care enough to do anything about it

i agree that matrix, as mentioned, is the only real contender for dsc's spot as "its" (element) ui and general system is pretty similar to dsc for the user, but again its a whole seperate platform so asking ppl to migrate away from the norm wont really work until an established group is there. im aware of the dsc to matrix protocol bridge and have set it up on my own servers but the issue with that its not a widly available thing across dsc - its not a native server setting but rather a bot u have to set up. ive only encountered dsc 3 servers that have it and 2 of those r my own lol. its a good first step to forming a migration but it first needs to be a discord native option for servers.

theres also the irc protocal which is like the ogog version of discord that first came about in the early 90's. this was "popular" for the time but is pretty dead now-a-days with servers of only ppl who appreciate the old internet. this wont ever really "pop off" again though due to a multitude of reasons. first most clients r pretty old or r no longer updated which gives the idea of "irc messaging" being old (props cause it is lel) - ppl wont want to "down grade" to something older. most servers also dont support images, voip, and video calls as well which is another major reason for not using it - some servers do support these but its A) not the norm B) u need clients that support these things along with a server that supports them. theres probably other reasons but i like irc servers so instead of fully dogging on them ill finish with that they r very lightweight so theres that :) 

edit:
theres also xmpp which i cbb explaining in detail but it suffers from the same thing as everything else - its just miles away from being the norm like discord and doesnt have an once of the same popularity 

Reply by lainpilled glowie

sry if this point has already been mentioned
feel like it needs to be said as to not be confusing, im not entirely against dsc

myb if smth doesnt make sense, i was rambling for a lot of this

>under the coat of popularity it's a giant mess

the more i sit back and look at my time on dsc this feels more true and true lol

biggest
issue for me (been using dsc since around the start of 2019) is that
all my friends and ppl i meet only use dsc. it has become the
online/gaming norm and asking ppl to migrate to a platform where none of
their friends r is a pointless ask, theres no insentive until others go
- but then u run in circles of "oh im waiting for the next guy to
leave" while he waits on the first guy (if that makes sense)
personally
havent really had any real issues with server stability and the phone
app (other than small minor things that got fixed) so cant really talk
on those points but on the point of the data leak and security - most
ppl rnt aware or REALLY care. like i said, most ppl rnt really aware of
the data leaks and if they do they say they care and "oh no they r
taking my data" but dont do anything about it. no1 will say they dont
care about a data leak but most ppl r to lazy or dont care enough to do
anything about it

i agree that matrix, as mentioned, is
the only real contender for dsc's spot as "its" (element) ui and
general system is pretty similar to dsc for the user, but again its a
whole seperate platform so asking ppl to migrate away from the norm wont
really work until an established group is there. im aware of the dsc to
matrix protocol bridge and have set it up on my own servers but the
issue with that its not a widly available thing across dsc - its not a
native server setting but rather a bot u have to set up. ive only
encountered dsc 3 servers that have it and 2 of those r my own lol. its a
good first step to forming a migration but it first needs to be a
discord native option for servers.

theres also the
irc protocal which is like the ogog version of discord that first came
about in the early 90's. this was "popular" for the time but is pretty
dead now-a-days with servers of only ppl who appreciate the old
internet. this wont ever really "pop off" again though due to a
multitude of reasons. first most clients r pretty old or r no longer
updated which gives the idea of "irc messaging" being old (props cause
it is lel) - ppl wont want to "down grade" to something older. most
servers also dont support images, voip, and video calls as well which is
another major reason for not using it - some servers do support these
but its A) not the norm B) u need clients that support these things
along with a server that supports them. theres probably other reasons
but i like irc servers so instead of fully dogging on them ill finish
with that they r very lightweight so theres that :) 

edit:
theres
also xmpp which i cbb explaining in detail but it suffers from the same
thing as everything else - its just miles away from being the norm like
discord and doesnt have an once of the same popularity

"biggest issue for me (been using dsc since around the start of 2019) is that all my friends and ppl i meet only use dsc. it has become the online/gaming norm and asking ppl to migrate to a platform where none of their friends r is a pointless ask, theres no insentive until others go - but then u run in circles of "oh im waiting for the next guy to leave" while he waits on the first guy (if that makes sense)"

This is the popularity effect Discord owns unfortunately.. it's pointless to convince a single person to move on from the platform elsewhere, if all of their friends are still on Discord and aren't willing to make a move... this will be the forever struggle of socializing outside of Discord.

---

""oh no they r taking my data" but dont do anything about it. no1 will say they dont care about a data leak but most ppl r to lazy or dont care enough to do anything about it"

Unfortunately there is not much anyone can do... only two precautions exist in this case:

• Report the problem
• Avoid sharing sensitive data over on Discord or overall any data that could be used against your goodwill

This isn't a perfect solution per say but it's one way to make the situation less stressful when it happens..

---

"im aware of the dsc to matrix protocol bridge and have set it up on my own servers but the issue with that its not a widly available thing across dsc - its not a native server setting but rather a bot u have to set up. ive only encountered dsc 3 servers that have it and 2 of those r my own lol. its a good first step to forming a migration but it first needs to be a discord native option for servers."

---

"theres also the irc protocal which is like the ogog version of discord that first came about in the early 90's."

I might look into that actually for the nostalgia sake and see the old UI elements, but I won't dig too much into it ... but it still will be worthwhile having a look around.

---

"theres also xmpp which i cbb explaining in detail but it suffers from the same thing as everything else - its just miles away from being the norm like discord and doesnt have an once of the same popularit"

Again... this just hints at how Discord just carries its unwilling userbase which is far too confident and comfortable in using Discord... unfortunately.

"Ah, I see you're a man of culture as well."

of course 

-----

"I might look into that actually for the nostalgia sake and see the old UI elements, but I won't dig too much into it ... but it still will be worthwhile having a look around."

fs, its cool to look around at the old chat rooms and pop into some of the still "active" ones

i forgot to mention before but anyone can host a server so theres also that added bonus ig :3

It won't stick as a permanent solution, but have you toyed around with the retro revivals of popular old messaging apps? For example, Escargot is a recreation of MSN/WLM, alongside NINA trying to relaunch AOL, AIM, and ICQ.

I've also heard that some people are trying to recreate XFire, too, if that piques your interest.

There's a forum post somewhere that delves into what other revival projects there are. If I find it, I'll edit/reply with the thread.

Reply by Xela

It won't stick as a permanent solution, but have you toyed around
with the retro revivals of popular old messaging apps? For example,
Escargot is a recreation of MSN/WLM, alongside NINA trying to relaunch AOL, AIM, and ICQ.

I've also heard that some people are trying to recreate XFire, too, if that piques your interest.

There's a forum post somewhere that delves into what other revival projects there are. If I find it, I'll edit/reply with the thread.

seriously? this entire thread and signal hasnt been mentioned at least once!

decentralized methods like matrix are a good idea but i have yet to see it work out in practice, and ive been following its development fairly closesly from the very beginning. being able to see folks emoji responses, and in fact most emoji in general, even in a "fully encrypted" channel room which shows all messages as [this message cannot be displayed because you lack the proper encryption keys] or whathaveyou... that's an unimaginable security risk. they have no intention of adding genuine quality-of-life features folks have been requesting for years, the bug fixing process is slow and ineffective because theyre now running up against core design flaws.

signal is the only platform that i have used that works exactly as you would expect a chat app to work. which, you know, probably means that it's going to eventually enshittify sooner rather than later, and we'll be back to the never ending cat-and-mouse game.

Reply by Samsux

seriously? this entire thread and signal hasnt been mentioned at least once!

decentralized
methods like matrix are a good idea but i have yet to see it work out
in practice, and ive been following its development fairly closesly from
the very beginning. being able to see folks emoji responses, and in
fact most emoji in general, even in a "fully encrypted" channel room
which shows all messages as [this message cannot be displayed because
you lack the proper encryption keys] or whathaveyou... that's an
unimaginable security risk. they have no intention of adding genuine
quality-of-life features folks have been requesting for years, the bug
fixing process is slow and ineffective because theyre now running up
against core design flaws.

signal is the only platform that i
have used that works exactly as you would expect a chat app to work.
which, you know, probably means that it's going to eventually enshittify
sooner rather than later, and we'll be back to the never ending
cat-and-mouse game.

I do not mind using Signal. It has a simple yet effective design, the privacy concern is also a really nice touch, definitely a platform worth checking out. Only time will tell how soon it will "enshittify".

Matrix is a hit or miss with the development.. either you sit through it and hope that it will get to where you hope it's gonna get.. or you'll sit back, forget about it for a few years and then come back to see how it has changed.

For me, the main reason I use discord is because discord has PluralKit. That bot makes discord the single most accessible program of its type for plural systems, and any alternative will need to have similar functionality or we won't be able to comfortably use it as ourselves. PluralKit is by far the biggest reason we still use Discord, personally, and its absence is the biggest obstacle preventing us from finding alternatives.

Reply by Tails

For me, the main reason I use discord is because discord has PluralKit. That bot makes discord the single most accessible program of its type for plural systems, and any alternative will need to have similar functionality or we won't be able to comfortably use it as ourselves. PluralKit is by far the biggest reason we still use Discord, personally, and its absence is the biggest obstacle preventing us from finding alternatives.

This is going to be a really outdated recommendation but https://xat.com/ is what I used for a few years between 2011 and 2015. you can make your own chat group and personalize it, some have playlists and different emojis but you need to buy xats for that I think.

just wanna say that seeing you reply to people on here regularly even though it's been over a year is really cute i love that so much

-i really dislike discord and i've been looking for cool alternatives that people actually would use. i used to use it a lot back when i was regularly gaming in 2020-2023 but it's so easy to get into the wrong crowd on that app and it's generally really hard for people to learn how to navigate themselves through and actually use. so i do have one suggestion being emerald chat.

it's just called eme by people that use it, its layout is extremely similar to discord's and all you have to do is make an account, it gives you a cute little robot profile photo (although i think they updated it to let you set your own photo) and you can join one of many chat rooms or choose to connect with someone and talk to them one-to-one, like omegle.

it was really cute for a while but it wasn't well known. so being the small network that it was, the cool people eventually got off of it and went on with their lives and afterwards it kinda got infiltrated by horny old men and creeps. i haven't been online on that site in about three or four years, i really don't know what's come of it but i think that if enough people used it then it could be easily become a chill place for others to hang out and have conversations with people of the same interests online. perhaps it's already like that and i just visited again at the wrong time.

so that's that, maybe troll some old dudes or find a few friends who're surfing the internet for retro websites?? :]

Reply by PanicClinic

This is going to be a really outdated recommendation but https://xat.com/ is what I used for a few years between 2011 and 2015. you can make your own chat group and personalize it, some have playlists and different emojis but you need to buy xats for that I think.

---

---

Reply by inza

just wanna say that seeing you reply to people on here regularly even though it's been over a year is really cute i love that so much

-i really dislike discord and i've been looking for cool alternatives that people actually would use. i used to use it a lot back when i was regularly gaming in 2020-2023 but it's so easy to get into the wrong crowd on that app and it's generally really hard for people to learn how to navigate themselves through and actually use. so i do have one suggestion being emerald chat.

it's just called eme by people that use it, its layout is extremely similar to discord's and all you have to do is make an account, it gives you a cute little robot profile photo (although i think they updated it to let you set your own photo) and you can join one of many chat rooms or choose to connect with someone and talk to them one-to-one, like omegle.

it was really cute for a while but it wasn't well known. so being the small network that it was, the cool people eventually got off of it and went on with their lives and afterwards it kinda got infiltrated by horny old men and creeps. i haven't been online on that site in about three or four years, i really don't know what's come of it but i think that if enough people used it then it could be easily become a chill place for others to hang out and have conversations with people of the same interests online. perhaps it's already like that and i just visited again at the wrong time.

so that's that, maybe troll some old dudes or find a few friends who're surfing the internet for retro websites?? :]

---

"just wanna say that seeing you reply to people on here regularly even though it's been over a year is really cute i love that so much"

Aw thank you! I try to pay attention to this forum twice as much ever since Discord had failed me once again (mentioned above)

---

"it's so easy to get into the wrong crowd on that app"

Yes I do agree that there are a lot of bad actors on Discord platform, but I will not only blame Discord for this, I have managed to find bad actors on Revolt as well within week of using it. However I do believe that the concentration of these "bad actors" is really bad on Discord because of how clueless innocent people can be on Discord at times.
(Discord moderation -- hello?)

---

"it's just called eme by people that use it, its layout is extremely similar to discord's and all you have to do is make an account"

Curious about this one. I *do* enjoy decent Discord clones, however what I do not enjoy is associating my socials and/or private with corpos. Needing Google account to sign into Emerald Chat is kinda red flag already. Though I may want to do some more digging and look into it further down the lane.

But like you said, it was later infiltrated with horny bad actors, just like Discord. The site *does* require you to be over the age of 18 when registering, so I guess that kinda speaks for itself, what you can expect from people there.

Sometimes the old times just used to be better. Same with the old internet.

---

so that's that, maybe troll some old dudes or find a few friends who're surfing the internet for retro websites?? :]

Heh, I think I gave up on that long ago, I got other things to attend to. Real life is catching up to me so I am learning to slowly adapt to the pace life is dictating. :>

Thank you for the reply!

Discord is surveillance state trash. Use Matrix, Signal, and hardened IRC for your comms so you wont get profiled and spied on by corpo-fascists and sex trafickers.

Reply by arc0

Discord is surveillance state trash. Use Matrix, Signal, and hardened IRC for your comms so you wont get profiled and spied on by corpo-fascists and sex trafickers.

Sometimes I like to ponder as to why Discord promotes their Nitro so badly given their profits from just selling data to third party companies probably make majority of their monthly sales but oh well. Like you mentioned, Signal & Matrix are the best options right now. Signal is a good alternative for phone users from what I've noticed and tried out myself. 

It's more of a Telegram/Signal alternative, but I use Session to chat with people (outside of the built-in messengers on social media platforms).

It's a peer-to-peer private messenger with a focus on anonymity. It's so private, most users are paranoid techbros.

There is a benefit to that though. Unless someone personally snatches your device and your messages are left undeleted, there is no way someone can find out what you and another person are saying. And unless said other person has their pfp/username match their public stuff, there's no way someone can find out who they are either. Pure anonymity.

You don't even need an email address or a phone number. You just hit "create account".

Not really an ideal Discord alternative, as it's a messenger first, but you can still set up groups and stuff in it. : p

Reply by 0tp1cal-r1m 🏳️‍⚧️

It's more of a Telegram/Signal alternative, but I use Session to chat with people (outside of the built-in messengers on social media platforms).

It's a peer-to-peer private messenger with a focus on anonymity. It's so private, most users are paranoid techbros.

There
is a benefit to that though. Unless someone personally snatches your
device and your messages are left undeleted, there is no way someone
can find out what you and another person are saying. And unless said
other person has their pfp/username match their public stuff, there's no
way someone can find out who they are either. Pure anonymity.

You don't even need an email address or a phone number. You just hit "create account".

Not really an ideal Discord alternative, as it's a messenger first, but you can still set up groups and stuff in it. : p

Unfortunately neither Signal nor Telegram do offer more organized methods of voice communication in groups of people.. hence why we still struggle to find the perfect one. 

Session is a nice idea though. I imagine people meet there anonymously in order to get connected with other people after getting to know them without having to show too much other than their interests, personality, etc.

Neat discovery though. Thank you!

whatsapp or telegram

Reply by ajojo'sfanboy1980

hio! this was really interesting! I didn't know a lot of these things so thanks for sharing! 

i'm here to make it known to everyone reading whos interesting in using Guilded that it's going to get shut down by the end of the year iirc. kind of unfortunate because it's very much usable, even despite being owned by ROBLOX. anyways hope I helped :]

Reply by splagebi

yk discord gives me bad modern age vibes playing moviestarplanet on skype was were it was

Reply by ✰ 𝕸𝖆𝖗𝖌𝖊 ✰