Set text size as preferred, underline links (or not), turn off display name styles (or not), ui density compact or default, chat message display to compact, space between message groups 0px, turn off all the animated emojis and gif animation stuff if you want.
In client use, there's a button to hide member list (or not).
You can definitely make discord look like a slightly less dense IRC client (mainly because of the channel picker) if you want. And if you want to go really crazy use it in a browser and userscript customize it or use betterdiscord.
I think a lot of the features like embeds and emoji reactions add a lot of value compared to IRC (which I think is also why the IRC world is trying to add those features).
Personally I'd love to find a decent online community these days, my social circle has shrunk considerably, but idk. It seems difficult to start fresh with new people nowadays
Which is all to say i agree about needing mostly irl, but there is also something of online community that irl could never replicate (for most people).
I think the problem is not keeping agents out of private real people spaces, but for people who dont have any pre-existing or 'real world' connections to these communities to find a way to prove they are a real person over the internet alone and get an invite
On a related note, I think this is going to be the biggest challenge to most folks when it comes in resisting using government ID online. it will be the apple offered for easy proof youre not a bot to normal circles.
Some would see those as negatives.
> IRC kinda sucks compared to modern chat and they refuse to implement features that are considered basic.
Just because a protocol doesn't change purposes as time goes on that doesn't mean it "sucks". Who is this "they" you're talking about? Do you think IRC is a centralized service like Discord?
Some communities are better than others but the sheer volume of stinky trash is immense despite discord and the poor volunteer moderators efforts to prevent it. Most mods are neutral on it too.
There are chat communities that are still somewhat safe with zero user verification. But I will not mention them.
but yes the publicly accessible servers are going to face similar problems. the socially competent people tend not to run those servers, and have smaller private servers with people they know as they have no drive to try to create a space for strangers to gather.
Sure, if you want to chat while gaming, that's the whole point of Discord. Ganbatte.
But, for everything else, Discord is such a horrible misfit that I don't understand why it's the default.
but yes i also game and it gets a lot of use for that as well
i agree though that for collecting and organizing information longer term like forums do, it is not ideal
Mailing lists are old, boring, boomer tech. Ayup. They are. And they work.
However, Zoomer, if you must have Teh Sh1ny(tm), then explain to me why a Discourse isn't a better choice?
Discord is the anti-Pangloss; it is the "Worst of All Possible Worlds".
Because it equally well supports real-time communication.
And it looks shiny.
And some people use it to e.g. watch a video together, or other social purposes.