this post was submitted on 09 Feb 2026
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Discord genuinely thinks they got the users by the balls... Thing is, people move platforms extremely easily. It happened to MSN Messenger, it happened to Skype, and it'll happen to Discord too.
For those who are looking for something very similar, look at Stoat (formerly known as Revolt). Their URL is https://stoat.chat/.
LOL WTF are you talking about? The only reason these platforms are able to abuse the absolute shit out of their users is because they refuse to leave. If there's anything we've learned in the last 3-4 years it's that users absolutely do not leave platforms no matter what (at least not in any significant numbers). Not Reddit, not Xitter, not Facebook or IG or Threads, not Windows, and not Discord.
People left MSN Messenger and Skype before, my dude. There's just so much the average user can take.
Remind me: how many million users did those platforms have?
Enough to matter.
Except it doesn't. Twitter and Reddit etc. has done everything they can to drive users off their platforms and still they don't leave.
Actually, they did. 90% of Twitter's activity now is bots. The only people left are either artists who are completely delusional about their numbers (they have like 13k followers but barely get 200 likes), or mega nazis. Everyone else is no longer there and has moved to places like Bluesky or Mastodon. In fact, I myself never made it past 150 followers on my old twitter account and I had that one for 12 years. My current one has 82 followers and never climbed past that. Bluesky tho? I already have 170+ followers in less than two years of owning the account, and many other artists reached their Twitter follower count in a tiny fraction of the time.
A good portion of reddit threads are also riddled with bots, so it LOOKS like nobody left.
LOL is Joe Biden a bot? Clinton? Obama? Corey Doctorow? Molly White? Every politician and public figure in existence? Where's your evidence for this?
You have multiple search engines at your disposal, my man. Just search for it. Also, almost every single post of those politicians has thousands of bot replies and the pattern is always there every time someone with a high follower count posts.
Ah ok, thanks for confirming you have no evidence.
I'm not your nanny. Google it. The actual estimates back in February 2025 were around 70%. Right now it's probably even worse.
I'm not Googling anything because (I don't use Google and) I already know you're wrong.
Okay, keep on believing that real normal people are still on twitter. I'm sure you'll have fun with denying reality about how everyone you see in there is either a meganazi or a bot disguising as one with the occasional furry artist who deluded themselves into staying.
Ah yes the notorious meganazi bot Joe Biden...
On one hand yeah sure, people ditched Skype and MSN as soon as something better came along but that was a long time ago. Discord has sadly been the go-to for people for over a decade. Many users literally grew up with it. They are conditioned. A lot has to happen for them to leave their comfort zone. It‘s like asking someone to stop drinking coke or get McDonald‘s after they‘ve had it for their entire life.
I‘ll say this probably won‘t be the straw that breaks the camel‘s back but there is a silver lining. Discord will lose revenue over this and might change course quickly. This already rolled out in Canada and from what I‘ve heard many users cancelled Nitro at least. That‘s a start. Discord may also try to milk remaining users even harder as a result very soon and that will definitely put them into a down spiral.
One problem will be that there are way too goddamn many software projects that use Discord as a shitty replacement for a blog and documentation, and they’re gonna be a pain to move to proper content platforms.
Sometimes the only way thru is shitty. And those devs might have to learn the hard way not to overcentralize- or to not use a damn chat software for what is way more suited to forums.
I’ve been complaining about this for years. Hope we’re finally starting to see the end of it.
"Look, Discord requires me to upload a pic of my face or ID, to which i can't legally agree to. Please provide another channel or i can't contribute."
That’ll work for individual users, but getting all that chat history out will be a problem for the owners once the users dry up.
And I’m sure Discord will do their best to make it impossible.
Serves them right for picking chat software in the first place, let alone one they don’t control.
I'm in like a hundred of those. Honestly, they're not that useful. Burn it all down and start over.
They absolutely have their users by the balls and I guarantee most people will continue to use the app after this, unfortunately.
Yeah, my group of friends will be very resistant to moving away from discord. They're all aware of the issues with it, but It's too convenient of a platform. Personally, I will give up most of the comforts to not be under the thumb of a corporation, but I'm an outlier in my friend group with that perspective.
I'm in this boat too. Most of my online friends I only really get to talk to via discord. Not sure what I'm gonna do, because they won't end up budging.
I did. That’s my opinion, most people won’t care I care, but most people don’t.
Mass migration like that occurs (from my memory at least) when the newer alternative has much better functionality, performance, and ease of use compared to the status quo service and has a low barrier to entry (sign up is quick and straightforward). Do any of the decentralized Discord alternatives fit these criteria (honest question, not rhetorical)?
Well, Stoat has the same features as Discord, including many premium ones for free, the ability to write HTML/CSS for your own server, with the only thing missing being video feed. Otherwise, it functions the same while being much faster.
Also sign up is very quick, but right now they're getting hugged to death, so sign up emails might take a while to arrive.
Sign up is QUICK? It's been more than a hour. I've tried through the app, through the web, it hasn't sent me back NOTHING for verification. Still not signed up. What's quick for you? 10 hours to sign up?
I literally fucking said they got hugged to death. Why are you mad at an app/website that literally had its email crash from everyone trying to sign up at once??
If they can't handle this small surge in volume, they are too small to handle any issues that might come up down the road. Not trusting my web of friends with an app like this. Because I have to onboard OTHERS onto this mickey mouse unreliable operation, that's why. Downvote me for all you want but THAT is a simple fact that exposes them for what they are. Amateurs not ready for it.
Revolt (suppose stoat) had problems with noise cancellation and people complained to me the UI wasn't intuitive.
I just went through an EXASPERATING experience installing and signing up for Stoat. It DOES NOT WORK. Don't recommend it.
Sounds like everyone and their dog trying to sign up at once due to this Discord news is overwhelming them, give it a while and try again later. I'm waiting a bit before I try. im_doing_my_part.jpg