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I’d take discord over slack. Aside from the lack of being able to use multiple email addresses…

ekianjo 3y ago
Discord represents the same problem
ironmagma 3y ago
Between publicizing my joined servers to other users, lack of fine grained notification control, constant captchas/email verification, and lack of alternative clients, discord teeters right on the fulcrum of convenience balanced by user-unfriendliness.
- hannofcart 3y ago
  Might not exactly fix the issue of publicizing joined servers to other users, but one item of note is that Discord allows you to set a per server identity.
  - hammyhavoc 3y ago
    I much prefer being a lurker.
  - andersa 3y ago
    This "identity" consists of a different display name, it has no effect whatsoever on people seeing shared servers or your actual username by clicking the profile.
  - mulmen 3y ago
    I really don’t trust this behavior. The difference between an account and an identity was so unclear when I signed up for Discord that I actually just closed the app and gave up on whatever led me there. The identity and “server” concepts are complete non-starters for me. Discord is in complete control of what information is shared with other users. There’s no mechanical prevention on them changing this behavior by accident or on purpose.
  - david_allison 3y ago
    Only the username, the avatar is a paid feature.
- duskwuff 3y ago
  > publicizing my joined servers to other users You're making this sound a little more dramatic than it is. Discord only makes your membership in a server public to users who are also members of that server (and who could thus see you in its member list).
  - hammyhavoc 3y ago
    "Only". I'm not into Discord in a big way, but this is propping up my reasoning as to why I don't like it. Being forced to join a server to browse it and having that shared with others is as bad as being forced to login to Twitter/X. Not to mention that conversations on Discord don't get indexed on Google, so finding solutions for some problems is an exercise in frustration.
    - rchaud 3y ago
      reminds me of that site 'experts-exchange.com' which was a pre-StackOverflow login-only forum that nonetheless used to top Google search results. HN would have hated it. I'm surprised Discord gets a pass here.
      - deleted 3y ago
        [deleted]
  - KennyBlanken 3y ago
    The client also now sort of supports multiple accounts, but one issue is that the whole point of the discord client is to spy on your activity. If anyone thinks they're just collecting data about game application use, I have a bridge to sell you. There's also a Chinese firm that owns a decent stake - tencent, I think.
  - mulmen 3y ago
    For now. But you of course have no way to know that. And there’s no architectural reason for this to remain true, if it even is.
- mulmen 3y ago
  I signed up for discord once, was horrified by what I saw, gave up, and never looked back. Everything about identity and “servers” seemed to be the opposite of what I would want. On the plus side when it inevitably shuts down I will be unaffected.
- amatecha 3y ago
  My favorite "wtf" moment is how Discord reveals to users when I have blocked them, because they can no longer apply emoji reactions to my messages. Good times.
  - asia92 3y ago
    I mean, they're going to find out anyways when you don't reply
- sph 3y ago
  What about the constant, flashy popups of GET DISCORD NITRO MEGA PLUS FOR 10% OFF, FOR 5 ANIMATED GIFS AND COLORED BACKGROUNDS? It does really not help that the target audience for Discord is 14 year old gamers.
  - bravetraveler 3y ago
    Psst, there's a free gift! Surprise, another feature you don't care about! I paid for decent audio quality, got advertisements too
sjfjsjdjwvwvc 3y ago
Discord is much harder to manage, has many security risks, kids raiding your server, exposes emails from every user easily, and has a very shady business model. I would never use it for something professional/business related.
- KennyBlanken 3y ago
  [flagged]
  - iknowstuff 3y ago
    This is correct. Why is this comment gray?
    - dang 3y ago
      No doubt because it crossed into personal attack, an obvious violation of HN's rules (https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html).
  - viraptor 3y ago
    You're right that Discord as a platform provides a thousand ways to make the server more pleasant. But it's not happening by default. The spam/bot control could be extremely improved on their side so that people don't have to use third party solutions by default.
  - sjfjsjdjwvwvc 3y ago
    Fair enough it was a couple of years ago when I last evaluated it. But in our case the server would be public, so yes anyone can raid it because there are no barriers for entry. Not saying this is not possible with Slack but it never happened and I have been part of multiple discord communities where it did happen. Due to our community being public email addresses are exposed, at least last time I checked I could easily get a list of all the emails from registered users. This is in theory also possible with Slack but not as easily automated. Maybe discord improved this since. The permission system is extensive but also complex - I have no time to learn the system and configure it correctly. Discord is great for streamers and gaming communities - IMO it’s not a good fit for companies to build their communities on. Of course everyone has different priorities. What might be right for us, might not be for your case. I still stand by my comment that the Discord business model is shady - how can you provide voice chat, CDN for files, and everything else for free? I don’t think that their premium services can pay for that.
encom 3y ago
I tried to use Discord once, but they demanded my phone number to use it, so I deleted it and never looked back. Absolute cancer of a platform.
ljm 3y ago
In a professional context I would avoid both. I don’t want to join chat servers for various SaaS I pay for where I just want a simple support question answered. At least with a forum, the questions and answers are indexed so I might find exactly what I want without having to reach out to support. I’m not a community member, I’m a paying customer.
- rchaud 3y ago
  'Community' members tend to evangelize the product on social media, so you can understand why a lot of apps beg you to join the Discord.

Discord represents the same problem

Between publicizing my joined servers to other users, lack of fine grained notification control, constant captchas/email verification, and lack of alternative clients, discord teeters right on the fulcrum of convenience balanced by user-unfriendliness.

hannofcart 3y ago
Might not exactly fix the issue of publicizing joined servers to other users, but one item of note is that Discord allows you to set a per server identity.
- hammyhavoc 3y ago
  I much prefer being a lurker.
- andersa 3y ago
  This "identity" consists of a different display name, it has no effect whatsoever on people seeing shared servers or your actual username by clicking the profile.
- mulmen 3y ago
  I really don’t trust this behavior. The difference between an account and an identity was so unclear when I signed up for Discord that I actually just closed the app and gave up on whatever led me there. The identity and “server” concepts are complete non-starters for me. Discord is in complete control of what information is shared with other users. There’s no mechanical prevention on them changing this behavior by accident or on purpose.
- david_allison 3y ago
  Only the username, the avatar is a paid feature.
duskwuff 3y ago
> publicizing my joined servers to other users You're making this sound a little more dramatic than it is. Discord only makes your membership in a server public to users who are also members of that server (and who could thus see you in its member list).
- hammyhavoc 3y ago
  "Only". I'm not into Discord in a big way, but this is propping up my reasoning as to why I don't like it. Being forced to join a server to browse it and having that shared with others is as bad as being forced to login to Twitter/X. Not to mention that conversations on Discord don't get indexed on Google, so finding solutions for some problems is an exercise in frustration.
  - rchaud 3y ago
    reminds me of that site 'experts-exchange.com' which was a pre-StackOverflow login-only forum that nonetheless used to top Google search results. HN would have hated it. I'm surprised Discord gets a pass here.
    - deleted 3y ago
      [deleted]
- KennyBlanken 3y ago
  The client also now sort of supports multiple accounts, but one issue is that the whole point of the discord client is to spy on your activity. If anyone thinks they're just collecting data about game application use, I have a bridge to sell you. There's also a Chinese firm that owns a decent stake - tencent, I think.
- mulmen 3y ago
  For now. But you of course have no way to know that. And there’s no architectural reason for this to remain true, if it even is.
mulmen 3y ago
I signed up for discord once, was horrified by what I saw, gave up, and never looked back. Everything about identity and “servers” seemed to be the opposite of what I would want. On the plus side when it inevitably shuts down I will be unaffected.
amatecha 3y ago
My favorite "wtf" moment is how Discord reveals to users when I have blocked them, because they can no longer apply emoji reactions to my messages. Good times.
- asia92 3y ago
  I mean, they're going to find out anyways when you don't reply
sph 3y ago
What about the constant, flashy popups of GET DISCORD NITRO MEGA PLUS FOR 10% OFF, FOR 5 ANIMATED GIFS AND COLORED BACKGROUNDS? It does really not help that the target audience for Discord is 14 year old gamers.
- bravetraveler 3y ago
  Psst, there's a free gift! Surprise, another feature you don't care about! I paid for decent audio quality, got advertisements too

sjfjsjdjwvwvc 3y ago

Discord is much harder to manage, has many security risks, kids raiding your server, exposes emails from every user easily, and has a very shady business model. I would never use it for something professional/business related.

KennyBlanken 3y ago
[flagged]
- iknowstuff 3y ago
  This is correct. Why is this comment gray?
  - dang 3y ago
    No doubt because it crossed into personal attack, an obvious violation of HN's rules (https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html).
- viraptor 3y ago
  You're right that Discord as a platform provides a thousand ways to make the server more pleasant. But it's not happening by default. The spam/bot control could be extremely improved on their side so that people don't have to use third party solutions by default.
- sjfjsjdjwvwvc 3y ago
  Fair enough it was a couple of years ago when I last evaluated it. But in our case the server would be public, so yes anyone can raid it because there are no barriers for entry. Not saying this is not possible with Slack but it never happened and I have been part of multiple discord communities where it did happen. Due to our community being public email addresses are exposed, at least last time I checked I could easily get a list of all the emails from registered users. This is in theory also possible with Slack but not as easily automated. Maybe discord improved this since. The permission system is extensive but also complex - I have no time to learn the system and configure it correctly. Discord is great for streamers and gaming communities - IMO it’s not a good fit for companies to build their communities on. Of course everyone has different priorities. What might be right for us, might not be for your case. I still stand by my comment that the Discord business model is shady - how can you provide voice chat, CDN for files, and everything else for free? I don’t think that their premium services can pay for that.

encom 3y ago

I tried to use Discord once, but they demanded my phone number to use it, so I deleted it and never looked back. Absolute cancer of a platform.

ljm 3y ago

In a professional context I would avoid both. I don’t want to join chat servers for various SaaS I pay for where I just want a simple support question answered. At least with a forum, the questions and answers are indexed so I might find exactly what I want without having to reach out to support. I’m not a community member, I’m a paying customer.

rchaud 3y ago
'Community' members tend to evangelize the product on social media, so you can understand why a lot of apps beg you to join the Discord.