Best explanation wins no prize, but could be used as a template when Discord is suggested as an alternative on Reddit.
Thank you all for your responses!
I’ve summarized them into the following 4 bullet points:
Discord is a poor replacement for Reddit. Here are 4 reasons why:
- Format: Discord’s main strength is chat-style messages, not forum-style discussion threads, like Reddit and Lemmy. Discord groups with more than a few dozen active users can quickly become disorganized.
- Barrier to entry: Content on Discord is inaccessible unless you have a Discord account, while almost all content on Reddit and Lemmy is available without registration.
- Discoverability: Google (and other search engines) index Reddit and Lemmy, and relevant threads show up in searches. Discord content cannot be indexed, and won’t show up in searches.
- Censorship: A Discord community is ultimately still controlled by a single Big Tech company, which can delete your community on a whim if they so choose. Lemmy, being a distributed social network, is inherently resistant to censorship.
Any further suggestions or tweaks?
I would use the argument that you can’t access content on Discord unless you have a discord account, on the other hand pretty much all content on Reddit (And Lemmy etc) is available without registration
Oh, and that it’s much more focused on chats than on forum-style posts
It’s more of a Slack alternative.
Google indexes Reddit. Nobody can index Discord.
Discord has messages, not threads. It gets messy if you try to have multiple ongoing “threads” (just descord messages) at the same time.
And communities are easier to find and join than discord servers. (You can also lurk without joining.)
Most succinct? Messaging app vs Forum would do it it, imho.
You ever been in a Discord group with 10k users? It’s like jumping into the middle of a 200 page book, reading 2 pages, and then never picking it up again.
Seriously, how the hell is anyone supposed to keep up with this stuff? Or moderate it? I’ve once been on a relatively small server where I could keep up with everything interesting and chat with people I knew. Then it grew, moderation became bad, chats were moving too quickly to even keep up in real time, let alone catch up to what I missed when away. A lot of new people and too many of them to actually build bonds and remember who is who. Countless different discussions happening in the same place at once between different people making things a mess. Topics shifting constantly in real time so if you go do something it already shifted a few times by the time you’re back. Also due to activity you need to actively engage a lot if you want to know what’s even going on in there because things aren’t organised to neatly revisit conversations. Quitting this server was such a relief because I didn’t need to keep up with anything anymore. I still keep in touch with 2 people from there months later though.
E: Plenty dramas too between users I don’t really know and the whole server’s mood shifting and talking about it while I just want to hang out. Big discord servers suck.
You let the chaos flow and ban people when you spot the issue.
There was a e-commerce store selling games that like using discord for customer support. The general is a cesspool of nonsense.
I feel like having to explain this means you don’t want to. Its chat.
I mean, it’s a chat based app. It isn’t a forum based app/service.
It’s still an alternative because that just means it’s an option. It isn’t a good alternative, and it’s definitely not a replacement.
Besides what others brought up already, another point is of course: No, a Discord community does not make you safe against your community being removed, ultimately, you still rely on their central service.
Whether it’s a good replacement for someone depends on what they’re looking for, there’s no answer that applies to everyone. And given that Reddit is such a cesspool, lots of things could qualify as better.
