the gp is not saying discord is a better protocol, they’re saying 1) no one cares about activitypub as a protocol because it has one de facto implementation that deviates from the protocol and 2) making something new is easier when the goal is making something people actually use
irc died and discord boomed because there was a user generation change. an explosion of new users eclipsed the few irc old timers.
discord is garbage any way you look at it. dont try to sell it as fixing irc. lol.