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I have been using computers for 40 years and I cannot see a single feature of discord that I cannot have on a forum or even reddit. In fact, the UX of Discord i

I have been using computers for 40 years and I cannot see a single feature of discord that I cannot have on a forum or even reddit. In fact, the UX of Discord is abismal.

Paradigma11 2y ago
Voicechat, Videochat and Screensharing?
NeutralForest 2y ago
Then you're not the public they're targeting but if we want things to change, we need to be cognizant of why people like Discord.
hyperfuturism 2y ago
You clearly don't have the live chatting feature in a forum or on reddit. I'm assuming it's a tongue in cheek comment, and not to be taken literal, but there are many features that Discord have that other products do not.
least 2y ago
Forums sometimes do have (crappy) live chat experiences. Their main selling point is that they have easily searchable, indexable, and navigable threads that are usually pretty well organized into distinct topics. The UX on Discord is excellent. That's why so many people, including nerds that used to happily use IRC and Mumble, use it. It's easy to create your own server, administer it with granular permissions, and to invite your friends to it. You can instantly start voice and video calls with screen sharing, for free. It's also a live chat with excellent formatting capabilities and has multiline support, unlike IRC (unless this has changed recently?), which makes it much better suited for technical questions involving code. Oh, it also has actual code formatting built in so it's actually legible (though this remains a feature underutilized). The problem with discord is it's just not visible outside of discord, it can't be indexed, archived and searched through other means, and is vulnerable to the whims of the server owner. It's also not very good at being a forum replacement because its threading capabilities and UI wasn't designed for that purpose, so it feels bolted on (because it is).
Klonoar 2y ago
One of the most wildly successful chatting platforms of the modern era is not objectively “abysmal” just because it does things differently than your 30 or so years of understanding. People on this site really confuse this issue: your dislike of Discord is an ethical one, because it goes against what you believe a chat should be (free/open/whatever). Most people unfortunately just don’t give a shit.
lairv 2y ago
What I like about discord is that, in my experience, it lowers the barrier of entry to get a reply on an issue. On forums or GitHub issues, you usually need to be more formal and thoughtful in your posts, you don't want people on stack overflow to tell you that this is a dumb question, and even then you might wait days or weeks for a response. The instant chat format encourages people to simply reply even in informal ways Of course, this isn’t always the case, your messages can still go unanswered for days. But in my experience, when I see that a project has a Discord, I now think "Great I might get an answer". And this doesn't dismiss all the cons that others have already mention
- skydhash 2y ago
  That’s because you were expected to read the manual, and then afterward ask your question. That reduced the number of questions and it’s more likely to have an answer. The forum was an extension to to the manuals (for isolated cases) and a window to how the software/project is being used in the real world. Look at the VIM help as an example of great manual. Or the GNU software documentation. Now, you see “Join our Discord” instead.
badsectoracula 2y ago
Forums and reddit do not have chat[0] and video calls/streaming. The real alternative to Discord is IRC, Matrix, etc, not Discourse and phpBB or whatever. [0] hacks aside
nehal3m 2y ago
I don't see Discord as a replacement for forums, but as a replacement for TeamSpeak/Ventrilo. The chat is an added bonus. As far as I know there is no other voice communication program that handles voice channels TeamSpeak style with a chat box next to it. If there is one I'd jump ship.
theshrike79 2y ago
Voice and video chat on a forum? How would you do that sensibly? Embed Jitsi?

I have been using computers for 40 years and I cannot see a single feature of discord that I cannot have on a forum or even reddit. In fact, the UX of Discord is abismal.

Paradigma11 2y ago

Voicechat, Videochat and Screensharing?

NeutralForest 2y ago

Then you're not the public they're targeting but if we want things to change, we need to be cognizant of why people like Discord.

hyperfuturism 2y ago

You clearly don't have the live chatting feature in a forum or on reddit. I'm assuming it's a tongue in cheek comment, and not to be taken literal, but there are many features that Discord have that other products do not.

least 2y ago

Forums sometimes do have (crappy) live chat experiences. Their main selling point is that they have easily searchable, indexable, and navigable threads that are usually pretty well organized into distinct topics. The UX on Discord is excellent. That's why so many people, including nerds that used to happily use IRC and Mumble, use it. It's easy to create your own server, administer it with granular permissions, and to invite your friends to it. You can instantly start voice and video calls with screen sharing, for free. It's also a live chat with excellent formatting capabilities and has multiline support, unlike IRC (unless this has changed recently?), which makes it much better suited for technical questions involving code. Oh, it also has actual code formatting built in so it's actually legible (though this remains a feature underutilized). The problem with discord is it's just not visible outside of discord, it can't be indexed, archived and searched through other means, and is vulnerable to the whims of the server owner. It's also not very good at being a forum replacement because its threading capabilities and UI wasn't designed for that purpose, so it feels bolted on (because it is).

Klonoar 2y ago

One of the most wildly successful chatting platforms of the modern era is not objectively “abysmal” just because it does things differently than your 30 or so years of understanding. People on this site really confuse this issue: your dislike of Discord is an ethical one, because it goes against what you believe a chat should be (free/open/whatever). Most people unfortunately just don’t give a shit.

lairv 2y ago

What I like about discord is that, in my experience, it lowers the barrier of entry to get a reply on an issue. On forums or GitHub issues, you usually need to be more formal and thoughtful in your posts, you don't want people on stack overflow to tell you that this is a dumb question, and even then you might wait days or weeks for a response. The instant chat format encourages people to simply reply even in informal ways Of course, this isn’t always the case, your messages can still go unanswered for days. But in my experience, when I see that a project has a Discord, I now think "Great I might get an answer". And this doesn't dismiss all the cons that others have already mention

skydhash 2y ago
That’s because you were expected to read the manual, and then afterward ask your question. That reduced the number of questions and it’s more likely to have an answer. The forum was an extension to to the manuals (for isolated cases) and a window to how the software/project is being used in the real world. Look at the VIM help as an example of great manual. Or the GNU software documentation. Now, you see “Join our Discord” instead.

badsectoracula 2y ago

Forums and reddit do not have chat[0] and video calls/streaming. The real alternative to Discord is IRC, Matrix, etc, not Discourse and phpBB or whatever. [0] hacks aside

nehal3m 2y ago

I don't see Discord as a replacement for forums, but as a replacement for TeamSpeak/Ventrilo. The chat is an added bonus. As far as I know there is no other voice communication program that handles voice channels TeamSpeak style with a chat box next to it. If there is one I'd jump ship.

theshrike79 2y ago

Voice and video chat on a forum? How would you do that sensibly? Embed Jitsi?