[HN Gopher] Discord Alternatives
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Discord Alternatives
Author : speckx
Score : 20 points
Date : 2026-02-11 19:37 UTC (3 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (soatok.blog)
(TXT) w3m dump (soatok.blog)
| RandomGerm4n wrote:
| I think it would be a mistake to reject Matrix outright. Even if
| it's not perfect, it would still be a good starting point from
| which to build something better. Besides, you don't have to
| replace Discord with the perfect solution, just with something
| that's better than Discord and where there's no company behind it
| that can steer it in a negative direction again, as happened with
| Discord.
| erxam wrote:
| >just with something that's better than Discord
|
| I mean, that's the entire issue. There's very little _tangibly_
| better than Discord. I like the idea of Matrix, but it 's
| complete garbage in practice.
|
| At least for now, the solution lies more in mass outrage and
| action rather than any technological migration. The post raises
| this and I think it's a good point.
| erxam wrote:
| Also, the fetishism for federation has got to _stop_. It 's
| only barely workable in asynchronous environments like the
| Fediverse, but on a live chat service it's ruinous. It's
| feels like it's half of what's suffocating Matrix.
| MarsIronPI wrote:
| IDK, XMPP group chats have always "jest werked" for me
| (though admittedly I haven't used them much).
|
| The difference between XMPP group chats and Matrix group
| chats is that Matrix servers replicate all the message
| history, whereas XMPP group chats are hosted on a single
| server. IMO the "bring your own account to a central
| server" model of XMPP is a good thing, but the "replicate
| all the things" model of Matrix is not.
| iwontberude wrote:
| Element is way better these days. Not many people know this
| but Matrix team upgraded synapse last year to support
| hundreds of simultaneous voice/video users without the need
| for that shitty jitsi. They aren't advertising bullshit to
| you all the time. The ACLs for spaces and rooms more granular
| and expressive. Your data isn't training AI models used by
| people that want to enslave you. You have control where your
| data resides for protections by jurisdiction. Element has web
| embeddings for links now, it has all the platforms supported,
| it's easy to verify sessions and backup your key. They
| support SSO external auth. What more can you want?
| OkayPhysicist wrote:
| The writer of this blog is a cryptographer. They're primarily
| focused on security, first and foremost, and when people ask
| for their advice, they're probably concerned about security,
| too.
|
| The Matrix devs demonstrated an alarmingly cavalier attitude
| towards fundamental security issues that the writer pointed out
| in the past, so they are naturally not going to encourage its
| use.
| skywalqer wrote:
| What about SimpleX? Is it good? Did somebody try it?
| Saris wrote:
| It's basically a replacement for SMS, not anything near what
| Discord does.
| pcthrowaway wrote:
| Why are Zulip and Mattermost not considered here? To be clear I
| am a former Mattermost user who would no longer recommend them,
| but considering Zulip now as a replacement
| grougnax wrote:
| Maybe they are not for furries?
| iwontberude wrote:
| My community (30 members or so) of hackers switched to Matrix
| last October because we were expecting draconian policy which
| would attempt to unmask and chronicle our members identities and
| sentiments. We now spend more than we did with Discord but the
| data sovereignty is worth it. Not a plug per se, but we host our
| international community members content out of Germany using
| federated.computer.
|
| In recent days people have been coming out of the woodwork trying
| to join again.
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(page generated 2026-02-11 23:01 UTC)