In an apparent effort to boost revenues, gaming social media startup Discord plans to implement ads into its free service. The step is expected in the coming days after 9 years of ad-free experience.

I don't think people on this sub use it, but it's great news for us. The worse it gets the likelier people move on.

    • mamotromico@lemmy.ml
      ·
      6 months ago

      I’m constantly looking for something that could replace discord for me, I need something like the discord screen/gama streaming to consider changing apps.

  • Jo Miran@lemmy.ml
    ·
    6 months ago

    Looking at all those companies that moved their support to Discord.

    *removed externally hosted image*

  • guts@lemmy.ml
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    6 months ago

    Discord can do shit like this because they know many won't ever try to use an alternative. You need more than just "open source" "privacy" or "FOSS" to convince people.

  • Moonrise2473@lemmy.ml
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    6 months ago

    Resisting? It was a clear strategy: use VC money to give away something for free then charge/monetize to give back those investors all the money, with interests

  • rizoid@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    6 months ago

    I truly don't have a problem with ads being in a free service. My anger will be based on how annoying they are when they roll out.

    • snooggums@midwest.social
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      6 months ago

      The ads will become increasingly annoying snd intrusive over time based on every other website and app that has gone from free to supported by ads.

      Even if they aren't too bad at first, they will get worse. Just like the nitro ads that are already in discord.

    • underisk@lemmy.ml
      ·
      6 months ago

      people do pay for discord though. that was the entire justification for Nitro and Server Boosts. they made $440 million in revenue in 2022. they aren't publicly traded so there's no way to compare that with expenses, but i'd be pretty surprised if they weren't turning a significant profit.

  • CapitanStrider@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    6 months ago

    Goddamn I wish it wasn't so hard to convince friends that discord sucks. I'd rather just send SMS than use discord to communicate with my social circle.

  • ExtraordinaryJoe@reddthat.com
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    6 months ago

    I only use it to play games with 4 other people regularly and another 2-3 people sporadically. When it becomes a pain to use, well move on just like we did with AOL Messenger, Yahoo Messenger, Team Speak, and however many others we've used in the past. Something else will come along. It works great for now, but we aren't loyal to it. We're loyal to playing online with each other. I would honestly pay $5 a month for a decent program, should no free one be available, but I'm already cutting out multiple streaming services, satellite radio, and all sorts of other shit because commercials are too annoying.

  • powermaker450@discuss.tchncs.de
    ·
    6 months ago

    I think the only way to get an open-source Discord is to recreate discord (their backend).

    https://spacebar.chat/

    granted it's a slow process but it can pay off if done right. I contribute what little I can to the project, as my Typescript is not the best and Discord knowledge even less.