[kbar13]

what's surprising about discord's privacy policy? it seems pretty straightforward.

we can push open source alternatives all you want but the truth is that these alternatives don't do a good enough job with the most valuable part of social networks: building the network. yes, word of mouth is a big part of growth, but the developers also need to put in work. discord didn't simply blow up because early adopters told their friends and so on, as much as we want to think that to be the case.

[modo_mario]

Honestly I don't think that's the reason at all i've never seen anything push by discord or it's developers that actually worked and affected me or people I know. No advertising until it reached critical mass. No invite incentive programs that made people get it going (despite apparently there being that one month free nitro thing most people don't know off)

Most people came because a)others were there and had chosen it as a platform. b) It's just really nice in every way (other than the bottomline control an privacy part) c) There's no competitors that completely match it's functionality and profit model or if they tried to get close they came too late.

You have your voice chats, video chat and of course text chats. No trouble hosting servers. Easily and extensively customisable modding, structure, permissions, etc. Pins, pings, etc Almost all functionality one might need is there and if it isn't there's bots for it. Sharing and inviting is easy. No time limit on how long stuff is saved or needing to be online to see messages. Linked images, articles, videos what have you show up nicely. Theming is consistent. It works on every OS (except maybe bsd idk) and the browsers consistently so you won't have one group being left out and crusading against it. Everything is in a single place unlike the various irc networks. Want to show a pic you took? a webm? No need to host it somewhere else first.

If there was an open source alternative that got close hell yes of course I'd use it. I'd consider it a big bonus that i'd drop a bit of functionality for. But as it stands there's no comparable private alternatives either.

[kbar13]

yes as i said, word of mouth is an important part of growth. but word of mouth doesn't just happen out of nowhere. discord knows their market, did their research, and did tons of work behind the scenes in marketing, partnerships, developing features that would add growth, etc. you see discord literally everywhere at events, other social media platforms, involved in communities.

where do you see this kind of effort from open source alternatives? i believe this is the biggest issue with the "alternatives". my perception is that they think they built an amazing product and that people should just start using it. but that's not how that works.