There is no truer adage to me than nothings is perfect. And when it comes to anything related to Discord it’s no different.
Discord itself to me has been an issue for years. Its use of data collection, the obsession of companies trying to buy it all were concerning. For me the latest age verification just further reinforces my beliefs. That being said the majority of users who ignored all this and kept going, really nothing would change. Most people I know use Discord lightly and aren’t in large chats that use hentai gifs. I still would tell anyone who would listen to get out of dodge. But if you never cared about data usage then you’re probably not going to start now.
For all the alternatives out there truth is, none are really anywhere near perfect. Matrix and most of its clients while encrypted don’t offer true jump in /jump out game chat. More a kin to Skype really. Foss Discord implementations like Spacebar are to all over the place and for me are not really functional. Stoat while probably my favorite is still really small and not holding up to the stress of the user influx. And of course it’s missing “discord features” and the new kid Fluxer while appealing is still to new and it’s monetization model a little to concerning. 300 bucks as a backer for unproven project ? And of course with the exception of Matrix none of the other projects currently offer encryption.
Truth is no option really is ideal. Truth is all the options have some pretty serious flaws. And truth is getting your large swaths of friends to move might be close to impossible.
So if you are looking to move please do some digging. Ask people who use the apps their opinions. Try to as a group of friends chose to make a move.
And the final truth is it’s a really good thing we finally have some options. No matter the flaws having competition brings innovation.
I hope this posts helps clear up some things for people who might be confused or concerned.
Im about to try to self host stoat. I’m really feeling like spinning up 3 or 4 of the new services and trying each to see which one or mixture works best. If anyone else is doing this we should start a megathread
Movim would be a good one to try. It’s actually more full featured than Stoat as well, as it offers Encryption, Federation (XMPP), group video/audio calls, and screensharing with application audio! (must use a chromium based browser to pass the audio for now). It is currently missing Discord-like channels with rooms, but the dev is actively working on that.
Stoat currently cannot do video calls or screensharing, and has no plans to implement encryption or federation, AFAIK.
Also @astropenguin5@lemmy.world, @Pika@sh.itjust.works and @betahack@lemmy.world
Stoat did a Q&A the other day. Looks like voice is live and screen sharing is implemented but not live yet.
That being said it looks like these updates apply to the hosted service. Improving the self hosted experience is something they want to do but right now they are just trying to keep the hosted service humming due to increased activity.
I don’t believe Stoat is federated so your server would be in its own silo. But it’s great if you just want a space for you and your friends
Oh, apologies if this was about federated options. I’m just excited for the death of discord.
Oh no it’s not purely about federated. And I love Stoat. I just wanted to make sure that wasn’t lost in translation. Especially if you had any interest in that part
I actually do but I kind of dont know what that would entail with an app like discord. I’d imagine it would just be the same but with @domain.com instead of Username#1234
Basically how discord works right now with other “servers” but it can actually ne a different server.
Agreed, I’d really like to know how that goes! I didn’t even think of selfhosting stoat, but I’m intrigued now