Like IRC, but instead of controlling a server, channel or user account yourself you are in full merci of the auto ban bots on a closed platform. Instead of using one of thousands of thin clients you are forced to use one of their few thick ones, hungry for memory. And because nobody but discord can actually moderate, the platform is full of spam and scam. What they do against spam? Nothing, but requiring a phone number that works with their 2fa what automatically locks out people without a (supported) phone number, for a online chat.. what a time to be alive

Just like IRC, but doing everything wrong that made IRC great.

What's the problem with moderation? Not only can you do all the same kinds of kicking/banning you could on IRC manually, there's a pretty clean API that lets you write bots to do it, and plenty of third party bots able to automate common tasks if you don't feel like writing one yourself.

All the other points stand, and the platform is indeed full of spam and scam - because many "servers" are run and inhabited by kids who don't investigate any of the moderation options and/or actively participate in the spamming themselves - but it certainly doesn't mean it can't be done.

(IRC was full of spam and scam as well as soon as you stepped away from the better kept communities; and also things like DOS wars and hostile channel takeovers during network splits, which Discord seems so far largely free of)

Go into any crypto related community and wait a day until the spam bots start bombarding your with DMs. Sometime stupid, sometimes downright well done scam. Sometimes things you are expect to answer. No visual difference there if you don't know all the verification bots by name & Id. In my point of view it's a dangerous platform because of the lack of general moderation.

It shouldn't be the server owners problem to repeat the same lines warning against the same things again and again because they lack actual control.

"Allow direct messages from server members" is a setting you can control. You can toggle it per server, and also set the default for new servers you join. This is more control than the IRC protocol offers - you can globally ignore all private messages there, or permit them. (You can also block individual users, of course, which you could also do with IRC). Private message spam is also a thing on IRC (though there it tends to be the "lonely women in your area" sort rather than crypto).

This really feels like a social problem, not a technical one; and not one specific to Discord, though it sounds like you have encountered some particularly bad communities there.

> Go into any crypto related community

Lie down with dogs, and get fleas.

> What's the problem with moderation?

The OP mentioned a bunch of problems spawning from the platform's lack of moderation, among which there's spam and scams.

OP didn't mention discord at all. Do you mean my post's parent? They said "because nobody but discord can actually moderate", which is counter to my experience; therefore my post asking for clarification. I'm keen to understand what the moderation tasks are that discord can accomplish that the users who are discord server admins cannot; perhaps I will learn something new, or perhaps I may be able share something I know.

Certainly, as I mentioned, I do see problems with scams and spamming in some communities due to the admins of those communities choosing not to moderate, or not knowing/caring that it is possible, but those problems do not seem specific to discord - IRC also had them, as do other platforms. Hence my confusion.

I think what makes/made IRC great is not any of those things, but the people that use it. Most people don't use a platform for the platform itself, but for the people that use it.

How does Discord spam work? I only really follow one Discord community (which has a few dozen channels), and it feels like the people organising it are in full control. I certainly haven't seen any spam there. It's a nice place to hang out with like-minded people (which in this case means middle-aged people who grew up with WFRP).

If you go to more generalized (ie. Tech) or especially crypto related servers and you'll get flooded with DMs.

The spam is kinda neglaceable 8f you just ignore all DMs, the smart scam I've seen is outright dangerous tho.

So it’s like AOL and AIM but with more features.

not disagreeing with anything there. i use irc more, myself.

merely noting that the social interaction mode with other users is IRC style.

Stepped into that one

It's just like Slack, but for people without jobs. /s

So why not just use IRC? What makes Discord different/better?

'Everybody' is already on Discord and I doubt I can convince all of them to move to IRC. Plus voice and video chat.

Not having to use bouncers, being able to use it on multiple devices at once, SSL-only. Using IRC on a phone is a giant PITA.

I wouldn't wish having to use EFNet on anyone, either.

The audience, voice and video chat built in, more advanced bot support.