Discord have announced that beginning in March, they're starting a global rollout of forced age verification to access all features of the platform.
  • TheObviousSolutionEnglish
    4·
    4 hours ago

    What I don’t understand is, have these people never heard of OAuth? I don’t know what it is, we have decades of this and people act like it doesn’t exist and don’t see the value in it. Even Lemmy, try to suggest why it might be valuable to separate identity versus community hosting, it’s like you have to walk people through it step by step.

    There’s no way I’m giving platforms like this even more private information, but if governments put forth both publicly available OAuth servers along with the possibility of privately purchasable OAuth servers for this sort of thing, I would have no problem with it because then you have the possibility of vetting age authenticators like you would VPN providers, and the data would never leak into the social networks that abuse it. It’s like the regulators and the Internet has conveniently forgotten about OAuth and certificate authorities and has just said, “Yeah, let’s just have users leak their data all over for this” as if there were no better way. Maybe that’s the point, because I suspect organizations like Palantir will be quite happy at things like this.

  • Whats_your_reasoning@lemmy.worldEnglish
    1·
    4 hours ago

    I only have the app because a handful of people have asked to add me on it. I can’t recall the last time I actually opened it, let alone used it to talk to someone. Actually, I think the last time I used it was not for socializing, but to get support for a game mod. (For some reason, instead of having an FAQ page, the creator directed people to their Discord. I feel like that’s more annoying for the creator, answering the same questions individually over and over again instead of just having a webpage that users can read and find their own answers on. But, okay, if you wish.)

    Totally not worth the privacy invasion. Brb gonna take two seconds and delete the app from my phone.

    Edit: it is done

  • Gyangrene@piefed.caEnglish
    4·
    8 hours ago

    Trying to get my friend group to switch over to Stoat (formerly Revolt) as soon as possible – I think Matrix is a harder sell for people not already in the federated spaces, or non-tech savvy people, but I’m hoping it fits the need.

    • jaselleEnglish
      2·
      7 hours ago

      Stoat seems to be very early in development still. Matrix has gotten easier for non-technical users recently.

      • Gyangrene@piefed.caEnglish
        2·
        7 hours ago

        Oh, for real? Thanks, I’ll check it out - appreciate it buddy!

        Edit: Just check it out, and it’s honestly got a alot (almost all) of the features I’m looking for, including a Canadian English language option. It sucks that it doesn’t seem to have custom roles/tags or custom emojis, but aside from that it being able to pin messages, have separate channels and voice rooms and being E2E encrypted are ticking the right boxes for me.

  • LuciEnglish
    43·
    17 hours ago

    Discords about to lose a lot of users

    • TyphoonEnglish
      1·
      14 hours ago

      You’re right, but some governments are forcing it too.

    • iamthetot@piefed.caEnglish
      19·
      16 hours ago

      Also cancelled mine. I don’t suspect this change will actually directly affect me personally, but it’s the final straw on a big pile of straw. I know plenty of people here will admonish those of us that were paying for it in the first place, but better late than never I say.

      Not entirely sure what I’m going to transition my group to. It’s quite likely we won’t actually have one replacement, but many. We used text, voice, video, and screensharing on Discord (plus many other, though less important features). I don’t know of an alternative that does all of it.

      • WalrusDragonOnABike [they/them]@reddthat.comEnglish
        1·
        8 hours ago

        The only person I know who had nitro also had already cancelled their subscription before I even talk with them and they use lots of other mainstream platforms like twitter regularly, so I was surprised.

        Does Element not support all of that?

      • ExcursionInversion@lemmy.worldEnglish
        1·
        1 hour ago

        Cool. Once they get the verification emails going again I’ll check it out. Discord has been causing GPU crashes for me lately, hopefully stoat doesn’t.

        • TheSlad@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
          1·
          53 minutes ago

          I had problems with the desktop app fyi. But i run multiple accounts across many services so i recently started using Ferdium, which runs web apps in containerized sandboxes. Its very useful for managing multiple accounts on the same service. Ferdium also has the option to work completely locally with no account needed. It is very nice.

  • commander@lemmy.worldEnglish
    141·
    16 hours ago

    I know Element sucks compared to Discord but with more users and potential funding interest from that user base growth, it can get a lot better and snowball to fast improvements. Blender was the butt of jokes until version 2.8. Like 15 years of being easily dismissed as major commercial production worthy. Element can get better. It’s the story of pretty much all the well regarded general consumer targeted open source software we use today

    • who@feddit.orgEnglish
      6·
      15 hours ago

      I know Element sucks compared to Discord

      Only if you don’t care at all about privacy, agency, or continued access to your communities regardless of corporate whims.

      Element can get better.

      Yes, as can other Matrix clients, and the network itself. And they are. :)

    • jaselleEnglish
      3·
      13 hours ago

      I feel like Matrix already hit the “elbow point” where it’s getting good fast. It’s very usable, I have ~10 contacts I regularly communicate with on Matrix.

  • towerful@programming.devEnglish
    20·
    17 hours ago

    I think this is the a major step in discords plan to be a service to games (ie business-to-business).
    They are positioning themselves to be an age-verifying platform for games, alongside in-game chat, in-game VoIP, in-game store and game community.

    At some point, games are going to have to require age verification. It’s just the way the “protect the children” bullshit is going (instead of “enable the parents to raise their kids”, which is far to socialist and progressive) Or game shops will. But if you don’t sell your game, that bypasses game shops. And if cracks can bypass purchasing, then… It’s on the game to comply with laws.
    If there is in-game chat: needs age verification.
    If there is in-game voip: needs age verification.

    At some point, discord is going to roll out this massive suite of dev tooling that “just works” for devs creating multiplayer games with voip, chat, in-game purchases, gifting in-game purchases to friends, friends lists, out-of-game chat, game communities etc. while also offering age verification.
    It already does a lot of that.
    They are getting ahead of the age verification laws so they offer a very simple path for developers to “just pay discord” to skip a HUGE legal minefield, and get a bunch of functionality for whatever cut discord decides .

  • AFK BRB Chocolate (CA version)English
    264·
    18 hours ago

    It’s for everyone who wants to access adult content or get messages from people they might not know, according to their release.

    • BlameTheAntifa@lemmy.worldEnglish
      5·
      8 hours ago

      Which includes many of the wargaming, traditional art, and queer Discord servers my partner and I use. Never assume that when a bad actor says “adult content” they mean hardcore porn and snuff, they mean everything that doesn’t conform to their ideal christofascist ethnostate purity. And now they have a list of all the “dangerous” nonconformists while blocking everyone else from being exposed to “dangerous” ideas. This should chill people to the bone. Nobody should be okay with this anywhere, in any capacity, in any quantity, whatsoever.

      • WalrusDragonOnABike [they/them]@reddthat.comEnglish
        3·
        8 hours ago

        Even if it is hardcore porn, that still doesn’t mean I’m going to give them an ID/pictures to verify who I am just so I can see the art people draw of ███████████████.

        • petrol_sniff_king@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
          2·
          4 hours ago

          Healthcare workers were prioritized for vaccination, locking them into the narrative early. Once you’ve taken the shot and pushed it on patients, your identity – professional judgment, ethics, self-image as a healer – hinges on its safety. The cost of admitting error becomes psychologically prohibitive.

          What the fuck did you link.

          [edit] So, if you follow links to Joshua Stylman’s substack, you can find this:

          Maybe it’s my algorithm, but the content was flooded with an unusual amount of vitriol directed at Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s nomination as HHS Secretary. […] talking heads across networks uniformly labeling him a “conspiracy theorist” and “danger to public health,” never once addressing his actual positions.

          Honestly, I don’t even know why I’m wasting my time on this. It’s just funny, I guess.

    • CidVicious@piefed.zipEnglish
      30·
      17 hours ago

      Discord’s filters are kind of infamously bad about what they detect as “adult content.” I, for one, will not be supplying an ID to anyone. They’ve already given me several compelling reasons not to to give them money, but it seems that this one finally pushed me over the edge.

    • YesButActuallyMaybeEnglish
      19·
      18 hours ago

      Who doesnt love getting spearphisted by all these random girls on discord that send friend requests without ever talking to you?!

      • NaibofTabr@infosec.pubEnglish
        12·
        17 hours ago

        Don’t worry, this will still happen, they’ll just use stolen IDs from previous fishing victims, or from the database of 70,000 that Discord already had breached.

      • AFK BRB Chocolate (CA version)English
        61·
        18 hours ago

        Yeah, it’s the part of this that seems like a benefit. “Oh, sorry, I didn’t verify my age so I can’t get spammed by direct message.”

    • superfes@lemmy.worldEnglish
      111·
      18 hours ago

      So, if I am not looking for adult content, and could not care less about getting PMs from people I don’t know, I don’t need to sub to this privacy nightmare?