So You Want To Write An Open Source Discord Replacement
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@0xabad1dea things you additionally MUST do:
- advertise it by exclusively mentioning which programming language and software stack was used
- requiring manual compilation for anything other than the linux distro it was made for
- require the user to fill out a yaml config file with gateway and api shards information
- link to your personal git server running some esoteric frontend as the only way to report issues or feedback
- provide only mobile app support for postmarketos
- "run this command in a terminal to install the client"
- make the aforementioned command for windows a powershell script that requires changing execution policy to run but also provide no instruction or forewarning about it
- make voice chat require some fucked codec that isn't fully open source and so "sorry you're gonna have to get that yourself" and then link to a github repo with no releases, no instructions, a bespoke c building pipeline nobody ever heard of and no automated script that fetches any of that on first launch@hellpie @0xabad1dea I see you tried out stoat/revolt as well?
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@hellpie @0xabad1dea I see you tried out stoat/revolt as well?
@DJGummikuh @0xabad1dea no i didn't, for the reason in here (https://raru.re/@hellpie/116056742280236438) i stop way sooner than finding out how bad it was
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note that I didn’t even touch on audio/video calls and screen sharing, which are HEAVILY used features of discord, but we can start with “a solid chatroom experience” as the minimum viable replacement; if you can’t get that part right, discussing the rest with a straight face is clownshoes
@0xabad1dea i'd actually argue that Whatsapp and clones already offer a decent alternative for text chats for a lot of people, so audio/video chat is *absolutely* part of any minimum viable replacement
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So You Want To Write An Open Source Discord Replacement
Things you don’t need:
- federation/distributed systems
- multiparty end-to-end encryption
- an entirely new operating system kernel specially designed to—Things you DO need:
- a user interface that is Normal
- the ability to use languages other than English and writing systems other than Latin
- higher standards of user experience than how irc actually works in the real world
- any fucking clue how Discord works and why people use itI have muted replies to this post due to the usual reasons
@0xabad1dea @drahardja One login, alll your ‘servers’ listed.
Anything that makes you do a new separate signup per ‘server’ has a lot more friction than Discord.
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So You Want To Write An Open Source Discord Replacement
Things you don’t need:
- federation/distributed systems
- multiparty end-to-end encryption
- an entirely new operating system kernel specially designed to—Things you DO need:
- a user interface that is Normal
- the ability to use languages other than English and writing systems other than Latin
- higher standards of user experience than how irc actually works in the real world
- any fucking clue how Discord works and why people use itI have muted replies to this post due to the usual reasons
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I do consider federation important. Single point of failure and all that
@0xabad1dea @gabboman if you don't make it distributed, you also have to host the entire bloody thing - which gets expensive once you add video chat and/or screensharing at any meaningful scale
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So You Want To Write An Open Source Discord Replacement
Things you don’t need:
- federation/distributed systems
- multiparty end-to-end encryption
- an entirely new operating system kernel specially designed to—Things you DO need:
- a user interface that is Normal
- the ability to use languages other than English and writing systems other than Latin
- higher standards of user experience than how irc actually works in the real world
- any fucking clue how Discord works and why people use itI have muted replies to this post due to the usual reasons
@0xabad1dea I think a huge part of the last point is the room and privilege management, allowing you to somewhat properly moderate your server. The ability to create thematic rooms is, I think, what drives many people to matrix, even in smaller communities it can be super helpful to have different thematic areas on the same server. A feature that I learned to value a lot
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So You Want To Write An Open Source Discord Replacement
Things you don’t need:
- federation/distributed systems
- multiparty end-to-end encryption
- an entirely new operating system kernel specially designed to—Things you DO need:
- a user interface that is Normal
- the ability to use languages other than English and writing systems other than Latin
- higher standards of user experience than how irc actually works in the real world
- any fucking clue how Discord works and why people use itI have muted replies to this post due to the usual reasons
@0xabad1dea federation is extremely useful though here.
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> - any fucking clue how Discord works and why people use it
I think this puzzles me most. I just... don't. I tried, multiple times. I don't get it.
> - a user interface that is Normal
> - higher standards of user experience than how irc actually works in the real world... which is also why I wouldn't agree here, because I find Discords UI horrible :'-D
But so is Element's etc. whelp
@ljrk@todon.eu @0xabad1dea@infosec.exchange then you probably shouldnt be the one to develop a discord replacement
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So You Want To Write An Open Source Discord Replacement
Things you don’t need:
- federation/distributed systems
- multiparty end-to-end encryption
- an entirely new operating system kernel specially designed to—Things you DO need:
- a user interface that is Normal
- the ability to use languages other than English and writing systems other than Latin
- higher standards of user experience than how irc actually works in the real world
- any fucking clue how Discord works and why people use itI have muted replies to this post due to the usual reasons
@0xabad1dea Dear user, please download our program and then use this Terminal command to bypass system security feature
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So You Want To Write An Open Source Discord Replacement
Things you don’t need:
- federation/distributed systems
- multiparty end-to-end encryption
- an entirely new operating system kernel specially designed to—Things you DO need:
- a user interface that is Normal
- the ability to use languages other than English and writing systems other than Latin
- higher standards of user experience than how irc actually works in the real world
- any fucking clue how Discord works and why people use itI have muted replies to this post due to the usual reasons
@0xabad1dea@infosec.exchange discord has multiparty end to end encryption so you do actually need this for voice and video data
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@0xabad1dea Dear user, please download our program and then use this Terminal command to bypass system security feature
@0xabad1dea @isis yeah, that tends to happen when properly using the system security features require an annual ransom
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So You Want To Write An Open Source Discord Replacement
Things you don’t need:
- federation/distributed systems
- multiparty end-to-end encryption
- an entirely new operating system kernel specially designed to—Things you DO need:
- a user interface that is Normal
- the ability to use languages other than English and writing systems other than Latin
- higher standards of user experience than how irc actually works in the real world
- any fucking clue how Discord works and why people use itI have muted replies to this post due to the usual reasons
@0xabad1dea (I realise I'm muted here, but I think some of those negative points are significant)
- No federation: some bastard can come along and buy it. Doesn't matter if I can run my own if everyone else is on the Nazi Server. Federation is not proof against this (see email) but it's a necessary start.
- No multiparty e2e encryption: we don't care about black or gay or trans people being allowed to talk without everything they say being fed into the secret police machine. They, however, do. -
So You Want To Write An Open Source Discord Replacement
Things you don’t need:
- federation/distributed systems
- multiparty end-to-end encryption
- an entirely new operating system kernel specially designed to—Things you DO need:
- a user interface that is Normal
- the ability to use languages other than English and writing systems other than Latin
- higher standards of user experience than how irc actually works in the real world
- any fucking clue how Discord works and why people use itI have muted replies to this post due to the usual reasons
Thank you.
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So You Want To Write An Open Source Discord Replacement
Things you don’t need:
- federation/distributed systems
- multiparty end-to-end encryption
- an entirely new operating system kernel specially designed to—Things you DO need:
- a user interface that is Normal
- the ability to use languages other than English and writing systems other than Latin
- higher standards of user experience than how irc actually works in the real world
- any fucking clue how Discord works and why people use itI have muted replies to this post due to the usual reasons
@0xabad1dea End to end encryption would be a really cool bonus
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@0xabad1dea End to end encryption would be a really cool bonus
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@0xabad1dea Dear user, please download our program and then use this Terminal command to bypass system security feature
@isis @0xabad1dea com.apple.quarantine is not a security feature.
It is a sales tool.
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@isis @0xabad1dea com.apple.quarantine is not a security feature.
It is a sales tool.
@isotopp @0xabad1dea If you’re German, I must ask you not to reply to my posts. T.I.A.
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@ay @0xabad1dea If Telegram spent any effort into making their voice calls (p2p and group) more stable and user-friendly, nobody would need Discord anymore.
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So You Want To Write An Open Source Discord Replacement
Things you don’t need:
- federation/distributed systems
- multiparty end-to-end encryption
- an entirely new operating system kernel specially designed to—Things you DO need:
- a user interface that is Normal
- the ability to use languages other than English and writing systems other than Latin
- higher standards of user experience than how irc actually works in the real world
- any fucking clue how Discord works and why people use itI have muted replies to this post due to the usual reasons
@0xabad1dea Certainly, most of this is true. You can always add the Things You Don't Need later. You need the other stuff to gain any traction at all, though.
Admittedly, I do not have any fucking clue how Discord works, and I have literally zero idea why people use it. I've spent some time there and found the entire experience fucking horrible.
(Which is why I'm not trying to write the replacement. I'm more than happy with IRC)
