4 ms·

Discord co-founder and CEO Jason Citron is stepping down

45 points by OuterVale 1y ago

rf15 1y ago
Well, let the enshittification begin. If we don't like it, we can spin up OSS alternatives.
- horsawlarway 1y ago
  Discord is already pretty terrible now compared to a couple years ago. But Blizzard Activision style management is a sure fire way to make me leave.
  - pavel_lishin 1y ago
    What's changed in the last few years? The only thing I've noticed is the constant nudging to upgrade so I can use custom emojis from different servers.
    - mystified5016 1y ago
      Full screen pop-overs, animated multicolored flashing popups advertising nitro, brightly colored cards in the server menu and user lait advertising nitro, fake DMs advertising nitro. There's really not many ways for it to get worse.
      - pavel_lishin 1y ago
        > There's really not many ways for it to get worse. You had to go and say it, huh :(
terpimost 1y ago
https://zulip.com/ https://zulip.com/ is good but videoconferencing has to be a 3d party
jarbus 1y ago
Praying FOSS can step up, if Matrix/Element plays their cards right, this could be huge for them
- OuterVale 1y ago
  We've seen a pretty decent influx at Revolt.
- Arathorn 1y ago
  The strategy on Element has been to try to get sustainable by selling secure comms systems for governments - https://element.io/sectors https://element.io/sectors, simply because govts have always been the main folks willing to fund Matrix dev (starting with France back in 2019, then Germany, then US, then UK, then Sweden etc). Over the last few years we’ve really had to double down on this rather than relying on VC funding. In terms of competing with Discord, the good news is that in govtech, we’re basically competing against consumer products like Signal and WhatsApp, as well as stuff like Teams. As a result, Element is not that far from a Discord competitor. On the other hand, right now we are heads down building out stuff like https://element.io/server-suite https://element.io/server-suite and adding antivirus to Element Pro, and similar stuff which govts are willing to pay for, in order to keep the lights on. Meanwhile, fun features like custom emoji and discord-style voice rooms are stuck. The plan is that when we get to break-even we can get back to our mission to provide secure decentralised comms for everyone, not just govts, but right now the focus is purely on being financially sustainable. That says, if anyone reading this wants to fund us to get back on the broader mission sooner, do let me know!
  - tristan957 1y ago
    How can individual users fund Matrix development?
    - Arathorn 1y ago
      https://matrix.org/support/ https://matrix.org/support/ is how to support the Foundation, which uses the $ to keep the protocol independent and on track, and lets Matrix developers like Element spend more time building implementations.

45 points by OuterVale 1y ago

rf15 1y ago

Well, let the enshittification begin. If we don't like it, we can spin up OSS alternatives.

horsawlarway 1y ago
Discord is already pretty terrible now compared to a couple years ago. But Blizzard Activision style management is a sure fire way to make me leave.
- pavel_lishin 1y ago
  What's changed in the last few years? The only thing I've noticed is the constant nudging to upgrade so I can use custom emojis from different servers.
  - mystified5016 1y ago
    Full screen pop-overs, animated multicolored flashing popups advertising nitro, brightly colored cards in the server menu and user lait advertising nitro, fake DMs advertising nitro. There's really not many ways for it to get worse.
    - pavel_lishin 1y ago
      > There's really not many ways for it to get worse. You had to go and say it, huh :(

terpimost 1y ago

https://zulip.com/ https://zulip.com/ is good but videoconferencing has to be a 3d party

jarbus 1y ago

Praying FOSS can step up, if Matrix/Element plays their cards right, this could be huge for them

OuterVale 1y ago
We've seen a pretty decent influx at Revolt.
Arathorn 1y ago
The strategy on Element has been to try to get sustainable by selling secure comms systems for governments - https://element.io/sectors https://element.io/sectors, simply because govts have always been the main folks willing to fund Matrix dev (starting with France back in 2019, then Germany, then US, then UK, then Sweden etc). Over the last few years we’ve really had to double down on this rather than relying on VC funding. In terms of competing with Discord, the good news is that in govtech, we’re basically competing against consumer products like Signal and WhatsApp, as well as stuff like Teams. As a result, Element is not that far from a Discord competitor. On the other hand, right now we are heads down building out stuff like https://element.io/server-suite https://element.io/server-suite and adding antivirus to Element Pro, and similar stuff which govts are willing to pay for, in order to keep the lights on. Meanwhile, fun features like custom emoji and discord-style voice rooms are stuck. The plan is that when we get to break-even we can get back to our mission to provide secure decentralised comms for everyone, not just govts, but right now the focus is purely on being financially sustainable. That says, if anyone reading this wants to fund us to get back on the broader mission sooner, do let me know!
- tristan957 1y ago
  How can individual users fund Matrix development?
  - Arathorn 1y ago
    https://matrix.org/support/ https://matrix.org/support/ is how to support the Foundation, which uses the $ to keep the protocol independent and on track, and lets Matrix developers like Element spend more time building implementations.