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submitted 1 month ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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[-] [email protected] 54 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

It’s because it isn’t a silo?

Discord, Slack and a bajillion similar apps do not meld with other apps. Email just happened to hit critical mass before “let’s try to get a monopoly” became the slogan of all tech, and collectively Big Tech is too stupid/hostile to replace it with some cooperative protocol.

iMessage is another pure example of this.

[-] HobbitFoot 17 points 1 month ago

There are tons of open messaging protocols that have been replaced by closed ones. For instance, Discord shouldn't be a thing since IRC exists, but Discord exists and is very successful.

For some reason, likely tied to how it is used, email survived as an open protocol.

[-] [email protected] 33 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

For instance, Discord shouldn't be a thing since IRC exists, but Discord exists and is very successful.

IRC lacks a massive amount of features that discord users typically want. Screensharing, VCs with group and camera support, built-in history (don't need to use a bouncer like on IRC), built-in online GIF searcher and sender with one click, huge community of bots that use discord's API to do anything from games to moderation.

It isn't even close.

[-] [email protected] 7 points 1 month ago

ICQ and AIM managed to draw a huge crowd in the early (ish) days of home Internet.

It's not about features...it's about ease of use.

Also, IRC wasn't as decentralized as email to begin with, there were several isolated networks that would not communicate with each other (dalnet, EFnet, undernet, etc)

[-] [email protected] 7 points 1 month ago

It's not about features...it's about ease of use.

Its absolutely about both features and ease of use. If your program doesn't do what people want from it, then good luck.

Its also irrelevant to talk about considering I have used IRC and highly doubt that people are going to consider it easier to use than discord.

[-] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago

Yeah I'm giving the ease-of-use points to Discord.

I'd agree that both are big, sure...but ICQ and AIM didn't have attachments or GIFs or screensharing, They barely had text formatting. Yet they were still bigger than the semi-decentralized (but at least standards-based) IRC. The features weren't the big lure, it was the ease of use.

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this post was submitted on 18 May 2025
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