You Deserve Better than Discord (The Mental Block is Big!) ========================================================== *Incomplete for the time being.* It is likely you have already read several articles on the wrongs of Discord, from the likes of Richard Stallman[1], Spyware Watchdog[2], Opal Hart[3], UseMumble[4], Spitemim[6] and many others. If you have not, I would recommend doing so before continuing this one. (I would start with Richard Stallman's note, following the links as you read. The Shy Studios video is a great and more comprehensive, but still summarized, second stop.) Otherwise, you might not grasp the message of this article.* *You might say "I Don't Want To Read All That! Too Much Text!" I implore you to patiently read. You will not regret it. Introduction ------------ It is the truth that only some people have accepted the undeniable problems exposed by articles such as the ones listed above, and that even less have acted upon knowing them. This article has the objective of explaining why this is, and how to overcome it for good. What moving off Discord is really all about is not winning a commercial competition. This is remoralization, as in, you have been demoralized, and you're bringing back your morals to use them again. It is 80% Mental, 10% Facts, 10% Action: not because the Facts and Action endeavors aren't small; they just happen to be small compared to the Mental Barrier. These truths have generated very unpleasant reactions. Told as a Story --------------- Before Discord, you found there were many programs available. You likely were using more than one, depending on what was necessary in certain scenarios. Then, you found Discord for the first time, likely through a YouTuber or Twitch streamer advertising his Discord group for everyone to join. Sooner than later, you found other programs were falling out of favor because Discord had everything necessary. Even if each feature was not as good as the other alternatives, having all of them fully integrated made Discord very appealing. (The worst outcome here is having forgotten (1) and simply becoming unaware of other programs existing.) After likely a lot of time, you found an article like the ones at the top of this article. You may have had an intense emotional reaction, very likely a negative one (helplessness, passive-aggressivity) overcoming the positive one (being the change, optimism). It is the truth very little people have quit Discord this way. Eventually, you are placed in an awkward position: you want to migrate off Discord, but your friends/communities keep you on it; and when you tried to argument with others about it, the demoralizing responses you got kept you at a loss for words. You knew there was something more to it than they made it seem like it was, but you could not put your finger on it. You gave the topic some deep thought. And you intuitively realized the mental frame you needed to finally be free from Discord. You wanted, and were about to be, the change. You talked to your friends some more, and after this long mental journey, you move on to a better platform. Life is Good. Fin As Argument Refutals -------------------- I. "This is just us shitposting and saying nothing important, I don't care if Discord/the feds/CIA/NSA/Google/advertising firms are spying on me" or "" In my experience, this is a huge bridge to cross. The greatest roadblock. It gets easier from here. The key is knowing and accepting you are worth more than some plaything for data mining operations from the government and investment firms[2][5]. Some lab rat for A/B experiments. You are not a pawn. You downloaded a chat client to chat. II. "'I really need to try and persuade people on a shitty discord/forum/subreddit about what tech should rule their life'" or "Ok shill". This is completely backwards! The great point is you should rule your tech, your tech should not rule you. I think it's unproductive to call any promotion of an idea or intention "shilling"; this is no sales pitch, there is no economic intent. I am not ruling over you or imposing anything on you; if you will, I am not /the one/ ruling over you. The truth has been written simply to inform you so you can make use of your free will to make the decision that is morally best. But there is a caveat in saying "Free will". This is because people's free wills have been completely subverted. People will cling on to any whimsical excuse. It really makes me sad. The depressing excuses I have suffered of, and have seen others suffer of as well, are my main reason for writing this article! I am not accusing anybody of being weak willed! I have been through this as well. People think others who have desisted from Discord are somehow different. I was once in a position just like yours. It is clear that there is a lot of will directed towards clinging on to Discord. I think if you're smart enough and have the motivation to stop using Discord in the first place, you're not looking for some external incentive of "conveniences" to make you do it; you'd do it anyways. III. "I'm with you generally don't get me wrong. But I'm not in the headspace for arguments like these just now when I already have other stuff on my plate" I also have much stuff on my plate. My plate hasn't been empty in years, in fact. There is always something else to deal with. But the key is to not let this send you into inaction! Look at it this way: It takes about 10 minutes to install a XMPP client, make an account on a XMPP server and log in. For most servers, you don't have to solve a ReCaptcha, you don't have to verify your email, you don't need TOTP, or anything of the sort. There is no maintenance cost. No constant risk of losing your account due to unwritten regulations. (I think IRC is the same scenario in many servers.) References ---------- [1]: https://stallman.org/discord.html [2]: https://spyware.neocities.org/articles/discord.html [3]: http://wowana.me/blog/living-without-discord.xht [4]: https://usemumble.neocities.org/ [5]: https://www.reddit.com/r/privacy/comments/80l8se/discord_receives_government_requests_no_plans_on/ [6]: https://spitemim.xyz/posts/good-chat-service/