this post was submitted on 02 Mar 2024
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Please don't use Discord for FOSS projects (drewdevault.com)
submitted 2 years ago by starman@programming.dev to c/opensource@lemmy.ml
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[–] klangcola@reddthat.com 10 points 2 years ago (2 children)

The biggest problem with Discord is that its an information black hole. Its not properly searchable and not indexed by search engines.

Discord is fine for casual chat, but horrible when used for forum-type discussions and even worse when used for documentation.

You see the same problems being discussed and solved again and again, but you cant just "link" someone the solution like you could with a forum thread cause its spread out over 3-10 chat messages that are interleaved in-between other topics being discussed in the same room

Anything of long-term value for the project (forum-type discussions, documentation etc) should not recide in Discord

[–] Blackmist@feddit.uk 6 points 2 years ago (1 children)

There's going to be a lot of shocked Pikachus when the inevitable enshittification hits, and suddenly they charge to host all the documentation and wiki pages. All that barely maintained stuff will just vanish overnight.

[–] Kecessa@sh.itjust.works 3 points 2 years ago

At this point, charging for the service is the only thing left to do to make it more shit...

[–] Kayday@lemmy.world 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

I have all the issues with Discord that you mention, but struggle to find a better alternative. Do you have any recommendations?

[–] RvTV95XBeo@sh.itjust.works 1 points 2 years ago

Forums. Phpbb, Mybb, hell even discourse is better than discord. If you're specifically dealing with a coding project, most git repositories offer an issues page and wiki you can use.

[–] pastermil@sh.itjust.works 1 points 2 years ago

I second this!

It's especially disappointing to see FOSS people on Fediverse promoting it.

[–] DavidGarcia@feddit.nl 1 points 2 years ago (2 children)

i don't understand discord's popularity at all. it's so annoying to use

[–] Fisch@lemmy.ml 1 points 2 years ago

It started getting popular years ago and that's when me an my friends switched to it too (back when I didn't know shit about privacy). You gotta keep in mind the alternatives back then were Skype, which was meant for 1 to 1 calls, had shit audio quality and issues all the time and TeamSpeak, which was complicated because you needed a server (we were kids, we only knew what a server was from Minecraft) and had a text chat that was only a small part of the bottom of the window that was full of connected and disconnected messages, so I actually didn't even know you could write in that. TeamSpeak's interface also isn't exactly good-looking or very intuitive. Then came Discord, you could create a server for you and your friends for free, you saw who of your friends was online and playing what, you could see when someone was in a voice channel and could just join, you had multiple text chats where you could easily send a link or memes while playing and you could easily share your screen with the others. It was a major improvement over the other two. I know that it sucks from a privacy standpoint but there's good reasons why people started using it.

[–] NostraDavid@programming.dev 0 points 2 years ago (1 children)

It was my replacement of Skype, which was leaning hard into its enshittification around that time.

[–] delirious_owl@discuss.online -1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

What? Skype is better than discord

[–] NateSwift@beehaw.org 1 points 2 years ago

Not when discord launched. Discord had far better audio quality, multiple text and voice channels, and some moderation tools. Skype was basically a group chat with a group call function

[–] ardi60@reddthat.com 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

my main problem is issue cannot be searched on search engine

[–] GravitySpoiled@lemmy.ml 0 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 children)

Chat and forum are different things and serve different purposes. Even matrix doesn't solve the search problem. Use a forum for this.

[–] ardi60@reddthat.com 1 points 2 years ago

yeah that is why discord should not be used for problem-solving or archival purpose. Hell, even mastodon,reddit and lemmy can be indexed properly on search engine.

[–] db0@lemmy.dbzer0.com 0 points 2 years ago (1 children)

As someone deeply involved in Foss for many years and with multiple large Foss services running on my back, these constant requests for purity from outsiders will go nowhere until volunteers people step up to do the hard work of setting up and maintaining the infrastructure and management of such Foss solutions in the place of the core developers

[–] Cataphract@lemmy.ml 0 points 2 years ago (1 children)

? What's the difference between setting up a free forum (they're everywhere) versus setting up Discord channels? It's the exact same process.

[–] db0@lemmy.dbzer0.com 0 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 children)

Ease, convenience, existing userbase, familiarity, choose a few

[–] Cataphract@lemmy.ml 0 points 2 years ago (1 children)

I guess we have different perspectives. Ease, convenience = forums, existing userbase? = Do you prefer Reddit for this reason?, familiarity = forums lol, search-ability = forums, privacy = forums, etc etc.

[–] db0@lemmy.dbzer0.com 0 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Forums are not the same as real-time. And yes for most of the people using discord, forums wouldn't cover the same niche.

[–] HowManyNimons@lemmy.world 0 points 2 years ago (1 children)

I don't want real time. Does me no good in my time zone.

[–] db0@lemmy.dbzer0.com 0 points 2 years ago

That's what lemmy is for.

[–] pjb@lemmy.spacestation14.com -1 points 2 years ago (4 children)

Ahhh, yet another "Discord bad" post. Let's see what alternatives they propose. After all, just telling me I made the wrong choice isn't productive right?

There are great FOSS alternatives to Discord or Slack. SourceHut has been investing in IRC by building more accessible services like chat.sr.ht. Other great options include Matrix and Zulip. Please consider these services before you reach for their proprietary competitors.

Hahaha hahaha. Good fucking joke.

There's a reason Discord is a million times more usable than all of those, and it's not just network effect.

...

I'm well aware discord is going to enshittify itself eventually. It's inevitable. However quite frankly as long as that hasn't happened yet, it will remain by far the best option. I am not going to knee-cap my project by using a Discord "alternative" that barely works.

The day Discord dies will be a massive loss for the internet. That hasn't happened yet. But it will. And it's not going to be a loss just because of all the communities locked in on it. It's going to be a loss because it's the best damn community chat software and there's no replacement.

[–] illectrility@sh.itjust.works 1 points 2 years ago

as long as that hasn't happened yet

Hasn't happened yet? Have you seen the new mobile app? What usability?

[–] bravemonkey@lemmy.ca 1 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 children)

The day Discord dies will be a massive loss for the internet.

What loss will that be? Discord's value is the same as MSN Messenger - the history on Discord is already unusable for resolving issues, so when it's gone people will just move to the next real-time communication platform that fills the same gap. It's not a forum that people can search and find answers on years after discussions have happened and solutions have been posted.

[–] pjb@lemmy.spacestation14.com -1 points 2 years ago

See my other comments. There is still no suitable alternative to Discord that is as good at it for making communities people can easily access. The loss is not solely in the messages that get locked away (sure that sucks too). It's the loss of the communities that can't exist on platforms like Matrix or IRC.

[–] ramirezmike@programming.dev 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

I've used Zulip a couple times and thought it had some neat features and worked well enough. What's so bad about it that justifies a reaction like that?

[–] pjb@lemmy.spacestation14.com -1 points 2 years ago

When the OP article was posted in 2021, Zulip didn't even have public access as an option. This basically would make it a non-starter for what the article author suggests it for, as that's worse (having to make an account everywhere) than Discord, Matrix or IRC.

To be honest I don't have too much experience with Zulip or Rocket or all of these other new platforms, but my current default assumption is that they will always be designed foremost for organizations rather than the "I am in 20 communities I am somewhat active in[1]" like Discord. Matrix always seems like the better choice here... but it's got its own issues.

I also don't put much regard into the author's word here because unironically suggesting IRC in 2021 means they're off their rocker.

[1] I know you can only join like 100 servers without nitro ok.

[–] Blisterexe@lemmy.zip 0 points 2 years ago (1 children)

i agree with you that irc is not a good alternative, but [Matrix] is

[–] veniasilente@lemm.ee 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

I think you meant XMPP?

[–] Blisterexe@lemmy.zip -1 points 2 years ago

XMPP is dead and buried lets be honest