Unfortunately we’ve allowed ourselves to use proprietary venture capital built apps, which inevitably will bring with it enshittification that makes continuing to use it against our own interests, but by then the network effect makes it like being caught in a sticky web that’s hard to escape.

We can only avoid this from happening again and again by using open-source libre software that allows for self-hosting and federation, just like Lemmy and Piefed, which makes them virtually immune from enshittification.

In this case, we need to migrate our friends and family one last time to something that will let us relax almost permanently for once.

Right now, our best option for a Discord alternative is Movim, which uses XMPP as its back end, an old, open, and proven framework. It has the essentials like group video calls and screensharing (without audio, yet), and is currently working on implementing discord-like channels with rooms.

The Dev has been working on it since 2010, and only receives $48 a month from their patreon. If you’d like to support the development of a truly federated, E2EE discord alternative, I’d highly recommend anyone reading this to consider helping out with a donation, if you can’t contribute with coding help.