On the side bar it lists the following:

  • [Matrix/Element]Dead
  • Discord

“Discord” is an active link, but the Matrix link is completely inactive. Not only is it inactive (which could have be excused as a broken link), but it is also manually labeled as “Dead”, as if there is no intention of making it work. How can a community that is focused on privacy willingly favor a service that is privacy non-respecting when a perfectly functional privacy-respecting alternative exists?

  • @Damage@feddit.it
    26•1 year ago

    I don’t understand why it’s so popular… It’s a fancy IRC that’s centralized by a single company

    • Amju WolfEnglish
      31•1 year ago

      Because it has significantly more features than IRC and it’s dead simple to spin up your own “server” where you aren’t beholden much to “admins” or whatever.

    • @DrQuint@lemm.ee
      25•1 year ago

      fancy IRC

      IRC was already “caveman playing with sticks and pebbles” a decade before discord became a thing. It’s really not a good point of comparison and questioning.

      Discord became popular for one simple reason: anyone could make a server, share it with a crossplatform link, and others could then try out that link without installing anything. In other words, it became popular because it literally copied Slack and because the Skype era was atrociously bad customization and ease of use-wise compared to the preceding.

    • @folkrav@lemmy.world
      13•1 year ago

      Every time I see Slack/Discord et Al. described as such, I wonder if any of these people actually used any of those. By use, I mean actually try out its features, not just treating it as IRC (“just” channels, messages and DMs for text convos).

      I hate Discord with a passion, but pretending like it’s just “fancy IRC” is IMHO pretty absurd.

    • zeekaranEnglish
      11•1 year ago

      If you legitimately don’t understand why it’s popular, you are seriously out of touch.

    • @rbits@lemm.ee
      8•1 year ago
      • Better moderation tools
      • Easier to do voice/video channels
      • Easy to create your own server
      • Huge amount of useful bots created by the community
      • Features like replies, threads, onboarding screens, and custom emotes

      Don’t get me wrong, I wish that we could use a FOSS platform instead of Discord, but 1: people are already using Discord and it’s hard to get everyone to switch platform, and 2: there is no comparable alternative right now

    • kratoz29English
      3•1 year ago

      I use it because some of my favorite games for the Nintendo DS that has Wiimmfi support use it ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

      Too hard to regrow the, already tiny user base in those cases.

        • kratoz29English
          2•1 year ago

          Yeah, seems like it is only for MK for Wii, as it shows in the always decent active users count, but it supports many games, and I use it mainly for Metroid Prime Hunters and Jump Ultimate Stars.