If another service such as Matrix can built similar screen sharing into their applications then I’d be able to convince my friends to make the shift. As it stands there isn’t really a 1:1 equivalent.
this post was submitted on 07 Mar 2025
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screen sharing in element is very good. just use element call under video call
I tested this today with a friend, and apparently it doesn't need to be a video call, just a regular voice call is enough to do screen share.
I didn't test with a group call though, so I can't tell if it only works with two people.
in regular call the screen sharing has a horrible framerate, but in element call it's smooth and high quality
Screen sharing in signal seems to work reasonably well.
it... works but it doesn't work nearly as well as discord for gaming screen sharing, at least with the bit of testing i've done with mh wilds
I only used it for desktop applications. That's good to know.
Bananas Screen Sharing may one day be able to replicate that functionality, though at the moment it does not pass-through application audio (The dev mentioned they hadn't implementet that because it's difficult to do on Mac OS, but seems to be viable for Windows/Linux), but it does pass through the microphone.
I expect MatrixRTC will be capable of screen sharing if it isn't already, so this is probably just a matter of time, so long as Matrix gets the sponsors they need to continue their work.
Jitsi + mumble combo, perhaps?
I would like to contribute labor to developing a discord alternative.
I also don't know shit about fuck. Is this not something that can be made open source?
You don't have to reinvent the wheel, open standards with similar or better capabilities already exist. Don't create another silo, contribute to making e.g. XMPP clients better.
This isn't surprising at all. Centralized services are expensive to run at a large scale.
It was bound to happen sooner or later. Oh well.
Time to move on to Revolt and / or Matrix/Element...
Matrix has gone open core, XMPP is safer
Can someone give me a TLDR?
Developers want to cash out. Company going public. Will most likely have to do some things to keep investors happy, involving what is now known as enshittification.
Thank you! I wasnt sure if i understood it correctly
The ads are so far sufficiently unobtrusive to still use the platform, and I've no need of Nitro, but should that change, I'll flee elsewhere.
Discord just last week shut down a server that was my main local friend group, and we had to scramble to reconstitute it. At this point, we're not even looking to advertise it. It's a low-volume server with only six left-of-Overton from the core group, but it taught us that you always want more than one method of contact, as a a rugpull can happen at any time off any whim.
but it taught us that you always want more than one method of contact, as a a rugpull can happen at any time off any whim.
Being on the internet long enough taught me instead (by having seen countless providers rise and fall since the early 00's) to self-host my comms and prefer open federated protocols. I switched to XMPP, I have no regret, everyone that matters made the move painlessly a decade ago or so.
"Discord just last week shut down a server that was my main local friend group, and we had to scramble to reconstitute it."
Damn, that sucks. How big was the server? Do you know why it was shut down?
Well, that remains a question. He didn't start the server, but it was shut down precisely two years after it was created. And the woman who started it maintains an active Discord account, so it's not on account of that. He messaged me at 3 a.m. from Europe asking for a link to get back in, at which point we both realised the server was just gone.
It was the six of us who've all hung out plus occasional random folks who believe the economy works for them. They didn't last long.
But pretty much all of these organizations have their own Discord servers, don't they?
So why would it matter so much what the parent company does? If some changes are seen as unacceptable one could simply just not apply them to one'a own server. (It's not like the Discord company could force anyone to run some particular software on their server. How would that even work.)
I don't understand why people care what Discord does. If they do enough unwelcome changes the people who run their own servers will simply detach from the parent company.
You can't host your own Discord server
What do you mean by that? Tons of organizations, groups and people publish that they have their own Discord servers.
yes, but they're still hosted by discord. Discord isn't open source or self hostable.
What do you mean, how could your own server be "hosted by discord"?
Have you ever used discord? The name server isn’t prescriptive. It’s not your own server. It’s just your own chat rooms
Have you ever used discord?
No, not really.
The name server isn’t prescriptive. It’s not your own server. It’s just your own chat rooms
Eh, you lost me there, what's that supposed to mean? How could my own server suddenly become not my own server if I started to use Discord?
Discord calls it a server but its really just a different term for a chat room. Discord does not allow you to host on your own infrastructure its all locked down and closed source.
The term server used to refer to a computer, running something like a web page. People connect to that specific server.
In discord, a server is just a name for a community, a label for your group. You can change channels, add new voice chats, change the icon, set up rules, bots to enforce rules, roles, pings for those roles, etc.
But at the end of the day those files are stored with discord, on discord's "servers" as in traditional server infrastructure. If discord decides all servers must serve a number of "sponsored posts" in general chat, for instance, you can't just not comply. Your server is part of their infrastructure. They can do what they want when they want. If discord decides to go paid only, you can't keep your server free, as another example. You cannot self host the actual files or software that makes up your discord server.
You did a way better job explaining it lol. That makes much more sense than my explanation did
Thank you for this very enlightening explanation!
While it doesn't make any sense at all that "a Discord server" (an online community hosted by the Discord company) is used to mean a totally different thing from "a Discord server" (a server which runs the Discord software), your explanation makes all the other comments here suddenly make sense.
I had to check that I hadn't dreamed this up on my own, but looking around now there are claims to having Discord servers all around, these were just the first handfull I now found:
"FreeBSD has a Discord server to socialize, get support, support others, learn, contribute, collaborate, and stay up to date on all things FreeBSD and Open Source."
https://wiki.freebsd.org/Discord/DiscordServer
"If you have questions that are not covered by the documentation, you can get in contact with us on our Discord server or create a post in the discourse forum."
https://github.com/go-gitea/gitea
"We're transitioning to our own discord server!"
https://github.com/OpenNeptune3D/OpenNept4une/discussions/111
"We’re opening our own Discord server as a replacement for our Gitter."
https://www.crowdsec.net/blog/crowdsec-on-discord
"I'm excited to announce the launch of our Discord server, VigneshDevHub, designed to build a thriving open-source community where developers of all levels can collaborate, learn, and work on amazing projects together!"
https://dev.to/vignesh-j/join-the-open-source-community-on-discord-4h40
"Our Discord server got a makeover."
https://finchsec-1672417305892.hashnode.dev/channel-updates-in-our-discord-server
That you're now telling me that none of them actually have their own Discord server is just bizarre. I can't be the only one who took those words at face value, simply assuming that they in fact had their own Discord servers.
What I mean is that it’s hosted on discord. I don’t know how else to say it. It’s not self hostable. Maybe someone else can explain better than I can
A “server” in discord is just like your own tenancy in a cloud. It’s your own little space but the infrastructure and platform is still owned and hosted by the cloud provider.
What is called a "Discord Server" isn't a server as we know it, it is more of a hub of services that all runs on Discord's systems.
They are not hosting it themselves. All infrastructure is fully controlled by Discord and they are subject to all Discord rules and decisions.
"Having a Discord server" doesn't mean what those words normally mean.
What's that supposed to mean?
It's more like claiming to own a subreddit, or a Twitter hashtag.
Mannnn what a pain.
Lets just all go back to BitchX, ok?
Great. I've been using matrix just for myself, but our local dance group went to discord because FB was being such a pain to deal with
I have been preparing for it to get better.