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The protocols might not be competitors. But that doesn't change the fact that Discord has been swallowing up almost every single community that either previous

by phire 4y ago

The protocols might not be competitors. But that doesn't change the fact that Discord has been swallowing up almost every single community that either previously used IRC, or would have used IRC if it was created 10-20 years ago. The sad fact is that other than openness (in several senses of the word), Discord delivers a much better experience to the communities that use it. It preserves scroll back. It has a proper mobile app that reliably delivers notifications (I'm not aware of anyway to do this with IRC, other than a closed and paid service like IRC cloud). It has moderation tools. It has community building tools and ways to split off sub-conversations. It has platform wide anti-spam. It both embeds images and videos, and stores them. It is incredibly depressing watching communities die on IRC, either moving to discord, or being replaced by new communities on discord that serve the same role. Most of the ones still holding on are run by older people who have strong views on the importantness of openness. I actively support those communities staying on IRC. But at the same time, I use discord myself, and I understand why it's winning.

lightedman 4y ago
"It preserves scroll back." For limited definitions of 'preserves' if you aren't a paying user. "It has a proper mobile app that reliably delivers notifications" Not really, you can't tell who pinged you half the time (and this is a common complaint from most everyone in a discord server with 70+K members.) "It has moderation tools." Limited ones unless you get a bot to add in granularity (such as duration of moderation action.) I can think of a few HTTP chat sites from the late 90s that had better moderation for all users (and a reverse-ignore feature, which seems to have just disappeared from everyone's collective memory.) "It has platform wide anti-spam." Which more often than not takes my pictures of rocks and flags them as NSFW. Useless. "It both embeds images and videos, and stores them." This is about the one thing it does right. I should note IRC had video chat functionality with pIRCh98.
- TheBrokenRail 4y ago
  > For limited definitions of 'preserves' if you aren't a paying user. What do you mean by this? I don't pay for Discord and I have never had any issues scrolling as far back as I want to. > Not really, you can't tell who pinged you half the time (and this is a common complaint from most everyone in a discord server with 70+K members.) Personally I have notifications disabled so I can't comment on that, but both the web client and the Android app have a specific view to list all past pings or replies. > Limited ones unless you get a bot to add in granularity (such as duration of moderation action.) I can think of a few HTTP chat sites from the late 90s that had better moderation for all users (and a reverse-ignore feature, which seems to have just disappeared from everyone's collective memory.) While limited, they are there by default and pretty convenient. And they're getting better.
  - lightedman 4y ago
    "What do you mean by this? I don't pay for Discord and I have never had any issues scrolling as far back as I want to." The servers need to be boosted to keep certain things like extended history preservation and what not available to the users of that server.
    - TheBrokenRail 4y ago
      This just isn't true. I'm on a server which has never been boosted and I can scroll back all the way to the server's creation with no limits.
- phire 4y ago
  > For limited definitions of 'preserves' if you aren't a paying user. You might be thinking of slack. Discord preserves unlimited scroll back for everyone. > Not really, you can't tell who pinged you half the time Which is still an improvement over IRC. > (and this is a common complaint from most everyone in a discord server with 70+K members.) And how does a 70K user IRC channel handle this? > Limited ones unless you get a bot to add in granularity (such as duration of moderation action.) They recently added "Timeout bans", and other features to reduce the need for bots (regex actions that will auto-filter, flag or timeout on match). Which is far more than IRC offers without needing a bot. > can think of a few HTTP chat sites from the late 90s that had better moderation for all users But discord isn't competing with HTTP chat sites from the late 90s. It's competing with IRC. > I should note IRC had video chat functionality with pIRCh98. I don't really think you can use a propriety feature of a single (obsolete) client to defend IRC. It really doesn't matter what did what first, or what IRC could theoretically do if you extend it. The only thing that matters to users and communities is the that the out-of-the box experience for discord today is far better than the out-of-the box experience for IRC.
  - lightedman 4y ago
    "You might be thinking of slack. Discord preserves unlimited scroll back for everyone." Only if the server has been boosted enough to allow for it. Boosts = paying money. "And how does a 70K user IRC channel handle this?" It doesn't, the client is usually programmed to notify upon specified trigger words or the user name, and handles that itself. "I don't really think you can use a propriety feature of a single (obsolete) client to defend IRC." I'm not defending IRC - I'm simply saying IRC did it first.
    - TheBrokenRail 4y ago
      > Only if the server has been boosted enough to allow for it. Boosts = paying money. This just isn't true. I'm on a server which has never been boosted and I can scroll back all the way to the server's creation with no limits.

by phire 4y ago

lightedman 4y ago

"It preserves scroll back." For limited definitions of 'preserves' if you aren't a paying user. "It has a proper mobile app that reliably delivers notifications" Not really, you can't tell who pinged you half the time (and this is a common complaint from most everyone in a discord server with 70+K members.) "It has moderation tools." Limited ones unless you get a bot to add in granularity (such as duration of moderation action.) I can think of a few HTTP chat sites from the late 90s that had better moderation for all users (and a reverse-ignore feature, which seems to have just disappeared from everyone's collective memory.) "It has platform wide anti-spam." Which more often than not takes my pictures of rocks and flags them as NSFW. Useless. "It both embeds images and videos, and stores them." This is about the one thing it does right. I should note IRC had video chat functionality with pIRCh98.

TheBrokenRail 4y ago
> For limited definitions of 'preserves' if you aren't a paying user. What do you mean by this? I don't pay for Discord and I have never had any issues scrolling as far back as I want to. > Not really, you can't tell who pinged you half the time (and this is a common complaint from most everyone in a discord server with 70+K members.) Personally I have notifications disabled so I can't comment on that, but both the web client and the Android app have a specific view to list all past pings or replies. > Limited ones unless you get a bot to add in granularity (such as duration of moderation action.) I can think of a few HTTP chat sites from the late 90s that had better moderation for all users (and a reverse-ignore feature, which seems to have just disappeared from everyone's collective memory.) While limited, they are there by default and pretty convenient. And they're getting better.
- lightedman 4y ago
  "What do you mean by this? I don't pay for Discord and I have never had any issues scrolling as far back as I want to." The servers need to be boosted to keep certain things like extended history preservation and what not available to the users of that server.
  - TheBrokenRail 4y ago
    This just isn't true. I'm on a server which has never been boosted and I can scroll back all the way to the server's creation with no limits.
phire 4y ago
> For limited definitions of 'preserves' if you aren't a paying user. You might be thinking of slack. Discord preserves unlimited scroll back for everyone. > Not really, you can't tell who pinged you half the time Which is still an improvement over IRC. > (and this is a common complaint from most everyone in a discord server with 70+K members.) And how does a 70K user IRC channel handle this? > Limited ones unless you get a bot to add in granularity (such as duration of moderation action.) They recently added "Timeout bans", and other features to reduce the need for bots (regex actions that will auto-filter, flag or timeout on match). Which is far more than IRC offers without needing a bot. > can think of a few HTTP chat sites from the late 90s that had better moderation for all users But discord isn't competing with HTTP chat sites from the late 90s. It's competing with IRC. > I should note IRC had video chat functionality with pIRCh98. I don't really think you can use a propriety feature of a single (obsolete) client to defend IRC. It really doesn't matter what did what first, or what IRC could theoretically do if you extend it. The only thing that matters to users and communities is the that the out-of-the box experience for discord today is far better than the out-of-the box experience for IRC.
- lightedman 4y ago
  "You might be thinking of slack. Discord preserves unlimited scroll back for everyone." Only if the server has been boosted enough to allow for it. Boosts = paying money. "And how does a 70K user IRC channel handle this?" It doesn't, the client is usually programmed to notify upon specified trigger words or the user name, and handles that itself. "I don't really think you can use a propriety feature of a single (obsolete) client to defend IRC." I'm not defending IRC - I'm simply saying IRC did it first.
  - TheBrokenRail 4y ago
    > Only if the server has been boosted enough to allow for it. Boosts = paying money. This just isn't true. I'm on a server which has never been boosted and I can scroll back all the way to the server's creation with no limits.