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I used IRC for gaming around 2004 - fond memories! I recently tried Discord to find programming communities but I just don't get it. When you join a server you

I used IRC for gaming around 2004 - fond memories! I recently tried Discord to find programming communities but I just don't get it. When you join a server you are automatically subscribed to all the channels. And apparently you can't leave them, you can only 'silence' them by manually doing that for each channel. After a few days I just gave up as I could not keep up with all the notifications.

cout 5y ago
An IRC network can have thousands of channels; a discord server typically has dozens. Think of a discord channel as a permanent thread or a topic and a discord server like an irc channel. I find discord's model more manageable than irc for a large number of users; irc channels become a mess around 50-100 active users. Dividing the conversations into topics helps a lot. (I have been using irc since around 1994 and am still somewhat active.)
- LinuxBender 5y ago
  I would imagine one could tweak the web frontends like Convos or TheLounge to make IRC look and behave like Discord at least in terms of text chat and channel/user visibility. I theorize that's what they are doing behind the scenes.
akpa1 5y ago
Discord does allow you to set notifications across an entire community to "all messages" (which is the default), "only mentions" or "nothing" if you right-click on the community icon.
- DogLover_ 5y ago
  I was not precise when I said notifications. I already set it to "only mentions". My problem was that each channel will "light-up" when anyone is commenting in them. I have to mute each channel or mark all as read for the whole server to avoid this. On IRC you opt in to channels.
grishka 5y ago
Discord is horrible and I don't understand why so many people like it so much. First thing I do when joining a new "server" is to mute all and any broadcast (@everyone/@here/roles) mentions. Broadcast mentions should have never been invented.
- EamonnMR 5y ago
  People like it because people enjoy ownership and power. That and it's way more user friendly for newcomers. Also before Zoom got popular, it was the best voice chat for a while.
  - gaws 5y ago
    > People enjoy ownership and power. What "ownership" and "power?" Discord controls it all.
    - EamonnMR 5y ago
      Well yes, but the illusion is enough for enough people.
      - grishka 5y ago
        Also probably why security theater (TSA et al) still exists.
        EamonnMR 5y ago
        I'm officially coining Ownership Theatre for Discord, Fandom, and Reddit.
- Winsaucerer 5y ago
  For me, discord was an easy way to get friends on voice chat together. The chat functionality is a nice bonus.
Minor49er 5y ago
If you think about it like this, it makes more sense: A server is to IRC what Discord is in its entirety A channel is to IRC what a server is to Discord If IRC let you subsection a channel, those would be channels to Discord And instead of obnoxious netsplits, you get annoyed with popups to buy Nitro or whatever other crap whenever you log in

cout 5y ago

An IRC network can have thousands of channels; a discord server typically has dozens. Think of a discord channel as a permanent thread or a topic and a discord server like an irc channel. I find discord's model more manageable than irc for a large number of users; irc channels become a mess around 50-100 active users. Dividing the conversations into topics helps a lot. (I have been using irc since around 1994 and am still somewhat active.)

LinuxBender 5y ago
I would imagine one could tweak the web frontends like Convos or TheLounge to make IRC look and behave like Discord at least in terms of text chat and channel/user visibility. I theorize that's what they are doing behind the scenes.

akpa1 5y ago

Discord does allow you to set notifications across an entire community to "all messages" (which is the default), "only mentions" or "nothing" if you right-click on the community icon.

DogLover_ 5y ago
I was not precise when I said notifications. I already set it to "only mentions". My problem was that each channel will "light-up" when anyone is commenting in them. I have to mute each channel or mark all as read for the whole server to avoid this. On IRC you opt in to channels.

grishka 5y ago

Discord is horrible and I don't understand why so many people like it so much. First thing I do when joining a new "server" is to mute all and any broadcast (@everyone/@here/roles) mentions. Broadcast mentions should have never been invented.

EamonnMR 5y ago
People like it because people enjoy ownership and power. That and it's way more user friendly for newcomers. Also before Zoom got popular, it was the best voice chat for a while.
- gaws 5y ago
  > People enjoy ownership and power. What "ownership" and "power?" Discord controls it all.
  - EamonnMR 5y ago
    Well yes, but the illusion is enough for enough people.
    - grishka 5y ago
      Also probably why security theater (TSA et al) still exists.
      - EamonnMR 5y ago
        I'm officially coining Ownership Theatre for Discord, Fandom, and Reddit.
Winsaucerer 5y ago
For me, discord was an easy way to get friends on voice chat together. The chat functionality is a nice bonus.

Minor49er 5y ago

If you think about it like this, it makes more sense: A server is to IRC what Discord is in its entirety A channel is to IRC what a server is to Discord If IRC let you subsection a channel, those would be channels to Discord And instead of obnoxious netsplits, you get annoyed with popups to buy Nitro or whatever other crap whenever you log in