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Diffstat (limited to 'blog')
| -rw-r--r-- | blog/blog.atom | 8 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | blog/posts/building_a_regular_bed/index.md | 2 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | blog/posts/discord2/index.md | 82 |
3 files changed, 68 insertions, 24 deletions
diff --git a/blog/blog.atom b/blog/blog.atom index b12b2ed..2edb2e5 100644 --- a/blog/blog.atom +++ b/blog/blog.atom @@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ <title>isopod.cool blog</title> <id>https://isopod.cool/blog/</id> <link rel="alternate" href="https://isopod.cool/blog/"></link> - <updated>2026-02-16T00:00:00+00:00</updated> + <updated>2026-02-19T00:00:00+00:00</updated> <author> <name>Hannah Isopod</name> <uri>https://isopod.cool/me/</uri> @@ -17,8 +17,8 @@ <id>discord2</id> <link rel="alternate" href="https://isopod.cool/blog/posts/discord2/" type="html" title="Trying to Escape Discord: 2026 Edition"></link> <published>2026-02-09T00:00:00+00:00</published> - <updated>2026-02-16T00:00:00+00:00</updated> - <summary>In light of recent developments, here's this sort of knee-jerk write-up on every alternative to Discord I could come up with that's halfway worth considering.</summary> + <updated>2026-02-19T00:00:00+00:00</updated> + <summary>In light of recent developments, here's this knee-jerk and ever-evolving write-up on every alternative to Discord I could come up with that's halfway worth considering.</summary> <category term="discord"/> <category term="capitalism"/> </entry> @@ -252,7 +252,7 @@ <link rel="alternate" href="https://isopod.cool/blog/posts/stop_using_chromium/" type="html" title="Stop Using Chromium"></link> <published>2023-08-16T00:00:00+00:00</published> <updated>2023-08-16T00:00:00+00:00</updated> - <summary>An article about why you should quit using Chromium-based browsers, published as a standalone website for the purpose of automatically redirecting Chromium users to it.</summary> + <summary>An article about why you should quit using Chromium-based browsers, originally published as a standalone website for the purpose of automatically redirecting Chromium users to it.</summary> <category term="chromium"/> <category term="google"/> <category term="capitalism"/> diff --git a/blog/posts/building_a_regular_bed/index.md b/blog/posts/building_a_regular_bed/index.md index 20585f2..9a47b23 100644 --- a/blog/posts/building_a_regular_bed/index.md +++ b/blog/posts/building_a_regular_bed/index.md @@ -192,7 +192,7 @@ The rungs actually *did* start going anywhere when I put my full weight on them, This was also my first confirmation that my at this point irreversible aesthetic choices weren't completely unworkable dogshit. So that was nice. -Next was to improvise a nightsand out of scrap. My 2x6 off-cuts were the obvious choice for this, being the same depth as the sides of the bed, which is why I stained and sealed them along with everything else. I had five pieces available for this: four that were all different but similar lengths in the ballpark of 21-22 inches, and one smaller 13-inch one. Not wanting to bother cutting any of them, the plan I eventually came up with was to assemble them in sort of a ├──┬──┤ shape, with the two longest pieces as horizontal shelving, the shortest piece as some kind of stupid divider in the middle, and the remaining pieces on the ends. +Next was to improvise a nightstand out of scrap. My 2x6 off-cuts were the obvious choice for this, being the same depth as the sides of the bed, which is why I stained and sealed them along with everything else. I had five pieces available for this: four that were all different but similar lengths in the ballpark of 21-22 inches, and one smaller 13-inch one. Not wanting to bother cutting any of them, the plan I eventually came up with was to assemble them in sort of a ├──┬──┤ shape, with the two longest pieces as horizontal shelving, the shortest piece as some kind of stupid divider in the middle, and the remaining pieces on the ends. That jigsaw from before (you know, in the Kijiji bundle listing with the planer?) unexpectedly came in clutch to make the various mounting and cable-routing holes for the electronics I wanted to install here. It was actually the best thing to come out of that purchase — it was the only one of those tools that didn't give me any trouble at all. diff --git a/blog/posts/discord2/index.md b/blog/posts/discord2/index.md index daf0534..e74868f 100644 --- a/blog/posts/discord2/index.md +++ b/blog/posts/discord2/index.md @@ -40,7 +40,7 @@ Valve has the chance to do the funniest thing right now. Steam has had its own built-in text and voice chat solution for a good long time, and it's been improving as of late. It does have some major downsides: there's no video chat, screen sharing is limited to your Steam games, and messages are ephemeral, disappearing after two weeks. Plus, it's missing most of the Fun Stuff like user-defined custom emotes that you've come to expect from Discord. -Still, if you're looking for a chat solution to use while gaming with your buddies, Steam's built-in functionality is worth a look. In spite of its idiosyncracies, it's polished and mature, and it's even available on mobile, albeit through a separate app from the main Steam one. +Still, if you're looking for a chat solution to use while gaming with your buddies, Steam's built-in functionality is worth a look. In spite of its idiosyncracies, it's polished and mature, and it's even available on mobile, albeit through a separate app from the main Steam one. I wouldn't make a Steam account just to go here, but let's be real, you already have one. # [Zulip](https://zulip.com/) @@ -48,6 +48,54 @@ The best way I can describe Zulip is as a forum but with Discord vibes. It's a b The main downside with Zulip is that it's got some limitations unless you pay for a subscription (although let's be real, so does Discord), but they will seemingly waive that for open-source projects and in some other cases, and you can self-host it to get rid of most of those limitations if that's up your alley. +# <a href="https://fluxer.app/" id="fluxer">Fluxer</a> + +<p class="h2caption">Added on Feb 13, majorly revised on Feb 17</p> + +Hey what the fuck is going on with Fluxer? + +Full transparency, this entry has been updated and moved around a few times, and I no longer know how to feel about this fucking platform. I created an account to poke around on it, and once my registration was approved about a day later (fair enough, it's probably seen a huge influx of users lately) I had fairly positive initial impressions. I initially wrote about them at length here, then I heard someone say it was vibe-coded and dug a bit deeper, only to find that the project's Github repo is a month and a half old with a 9,000+ file initial commit and concluded it was indeed probably vibe-coded, because come on. That looks *insanely* sus. + +<figure class="media"> + <img src="vibecodedalert.png" alt="Screenshot of the initial Github commit for Fluxer, indicating that it's from January 1, 2026."> + <figcaption>"Bro is positively SAUCED off the agentic" —Live Isopod Reaction</figcaption> +</figure> + +But then I posted about this revelation on Fedi and someone who is clearly more qualified to be writing a post like this than me linked [this](https://blog.fluxer.app/how-i-built-fluxer-a-discord-like-chat-app/), a post on what appears to be the official Fluxer blog (which I swear wasn't linked on the official website until after I started Posting) addressing all of my concerns, indicating that Fluxer dates back about five years, with early builds being tested as long ago as summer of 2023, and further that the one guy behind it, 22-year-old Hampus Kraft, has an impressive résumé of projects in the same wheelhouse, as well as most of a computer engineering degree, and is very much not the stereotypical AI bro that I briefly painted him as. + +So here's everything I have to say about Fluxer, and I promise not to replace it with a wildly conflicting statement eighteen hours after publishing: + +Fluxer has good UI and UX design that's, as I originally said, *suspiciously* similar to that of Discord, and is therefore probably the easiest thing on this whole list to adapt to coming from Discord. It has a lot of the fun features you've probably grown accustomed to on Discord, like custom emojis, message forwarding, and what appears to be some pretty decent moderation tooling, although I'm not qualified to speak on that last one. The video features seem to actually be present and functional too, which is a nice touch. + +From my point of view, the most glaring omissions in its current state are forum channels, discoverability for public communities, account connections besides Bluesky, the soundboard, and several of the dumb fucking cosmetic features that Discord added to make people pay for Nitro. All but the last of those have been stated to be in the works. There's no native mobile app, but there is a PWA. I'm fine with all this. You might not be. + +Excitingly, federation is apparently planned for Fluxer in the future, with the hope being for it to be able to do what Matrix failed to. I'm interested to see how that pans out. Encryption is not currently a point of focus, with user experience being a main priority and encrypted DMs as a potential future addition. I'm begrudgingly okay with this — proper E2EE would make many features that Discord's userbase has come to expect anywhere from much harder to implement to straight up impossible. Tradeoffs. + +Fluxer has a paid subscription tier called Plutonium that closely resembles Discord Nitro, and recently sold out of Visionary slots, a $300 one-time payment tier whose primary benefit is a lifetime Plutonium subscription. To be clear, I don't blame Hampus for this. Hosting this stuff is expensive and developing it is hard, and it'll probably end up being a full-time job for him if it's not already, not to mention all the other people he'll probably have to hire to help out if this really takes off. The reality is that a project like this is unsustainable if it isn't funded somehow. + +Fluxer, its sole dev, and the company he registered about it are based in Sweden. The project is open source as of January 1, 2026, is licensed under AGPLv3, and Hampus is intentionally trying to make it easier to self-host. These are all selling points for me, as they should be for you. It has a Contributor License Agreement that requires permission to re-license the software under a commercial license, allegedly so that it can be sold to organizations that are unwilling or unable to comply with the terms of AGPLv3. **[Update, Feb 19]** [Not anymore it doesn't!](https://github.com/fluxerapp/fluxer/commit/3dce089fe2ea372d6f70c024fe060a2afefc4ce2) + +That blog post I mentioned actually addresses the vibe-coding allegations. I was gonna restate it here for you, but it would probably be best for you to read the post yourself. I'll even link [the relevant section](https://blog.fluxer.app/how-i-built-fluxer-a-discord-like-chat-app/#the-llmephant-in-the-room) for you. For the sake of responding to it, the very basics are as follows: + +While he does use LLMs for coding, Hampus makes a substantial effort to use them responsibly, evaluating their output like any other contribution, and believes that vibe-coding alone is not enough to make something like Fluxer. The truncated commit history is because development happened in private for more than 3 years, and he didn't want to make that public. He feels conflicted about his use of LLMs and sees it as a compromise to be able to get the project out at all without having to become beholden to venture capital to fund it. + +<figure class="quote"> + <blockquote> + This is my work, and it's hard-earned. If something seems too good to be true, it's because I've put real effort into making it good. + </blockquote> + <figcaption> + — Hampus + </figcaption> +</figure> + +I have complicated feelings about this answer. Long-time readers will be unsurprised to learn that, bluntly, I don't like vibe coding and I don't trust AI. However, I kind of see where Hampus is coming from, given the scope of the project and that it is currently just him making it. Is he trustworthy? I don't know. I'm not an especially good judge of character. However, he seems to know what he's talking about (at least a lot better than I would) and his heart is in the right place. I said myself that we can't afford to discount a compelling alternative due to ideological purity reasons, and I think this might apply here. + +In summary: I want Fluxer to be good, and I want it to succeed. I want it to be better than Discord, and in many ways I believe it already is. My impulse to suspect vibe coding was correct, but only partially, and the dev's justification is compelling to me. I like where his heart's at, and I like what I've seen firsthand of the product. I'm on there and intend to remain on there — my handle is isopod#0985 — and I'd be open to paying for Plutonium if the platform becomes a regular part of my comms stack. I strongly recommend that you try it out for yourself. + +On the minuscule chance that Hampus is reading this: Sincerely, thanks for all the work you've put into this thing. It seems like you're genuinely passionate about what you're building, and I respect that. Godspeed, and don't fuck this up. + +This whole fuckin' saga has been a lesson in doing my proper due diligence and *actually* looking into things before I publish my half-formed opinions on them as some kind of "public resource". My god, nobody hire me as an investigative journalist. Thanks to [sammypanda](https://aus.social/@sammypanda/116084368126714587) for linking me the article that blew my conception of this platform wide open for the second time. We now return to my usual level of journalistic rigor. + # [Osmium](https://osmium.chat/) <p class="h2caption">Added on Feb 15</p> @@ -56,7 +104,7 @@ Starting to think I was too quick on the draw publishing this a week ago. Osmium advertises itself as a "globally distributed community messaging and voice/video platform" with encryption "both in transit and at rest". What "distributed" means in this context beyond, like, the extremely standard practice of having servers in multiple countries isn't made clear, but the voice and video part seems to actually be fully up and running (looking at you, Stoat) and to their credit they do acknowledge that "encrypted both in transit and at rest" is different from end-to-end encrypted. -The main thing that gives me pause about Osmium off the bat is that it's still pretty small; the official "community" (server, in Discord parlance — Fluxer actually uses this term too) that you get automatically placed in upon signing up is sitting at about 700 total members as of writing, so time will tell how it scales. It's also very much early access software right now — the UI/UX polish and feature completeness aren't quite up to the level of Fluxer or even Stoat, and the buttons in the UI don't always... do anything. +The main thing that gives me pause about Osmium off the bat is that it's still pretty small; the official "community" (server, in Discord parlance) that you get automatically placed in upon signing up is sitting at about 700 total members as of writing, so time will tell how it scales. It's also very much early access software right now — the UI/UX polish and feature completeness aren't quite up to the level of Fluxer or even Stoat, and the buttons in the UI don't always... do anything. Also also, Osmium is not currently open source. The main dev, an individual going by [Folf](https://folf.me/), claims that the "client will be open sourced once things are stable", but that's far from the same thing as Fluxer's "open source and you can self-host the backend". @@ -156,39 +204,35 @@ LOL. LMAO. RIP BOZO <p class="h2caption">or your half-joking enterprise messaging software suggestion of choice</p> -Look, I'll use it if everyone goes there I *guess*, but I get the distinct impression that by and large these platforms would be *more* hostile to the outspoken presence of my ilk than Discord is trying to become. Also, the vibes are rancid, so I'd rather not. - -## [Fluxer](https://fluxer.app/) +Be real, you're not serious about this. All of these would be worse than Discord, and besides, I'm pretty sure you need to be an organization and license them or something in order to use them anyway. There's a half dozen things here that have this beat in every respect. Don't debase yourself by seriously entertaining this idea. -<p class="h2caption">Added on Feb 13</p> +Although, I can't deny that it would be funny. -I learned about this one a few days after initially publishing this article from a shitpost on Tumblr and felt it warranted a mention. Fluxer seems like a *suspiciously* complete Discord clone, complete with voice, video, a nearly identical UI, and a premium subscription that closely resembles Discord Nitro. +## DCTS -According to their website, Fluxer is developed by a Swedish company, is open-source with explicit support for self-hosting the official backend, and has an extensive roadmap of planned features, some of which are completely unheard of over in Discord land. +<p class="h2caption">Added on Feb 15</p> -**[Further update, Feb 16]** I created an account to poke around on it, and once my registration was approved about a day later (fair enough, they've probably seen a huge influx of users lately) I had fairly positive initial impressions, that I initially had here — I called it *suspiciously* complete up there, and apparently that was foreshadowing! Check out this initial commit date: +Apparently, this is an acronym for "Direct Communication Through Sockets", which strikes me as a bit of a misnomer since it's obviously not peer-to-peer. -<figure class="media"> - <img src="vibecodedalert.png" alt="Screenshot of the initial Github commit for Fluxer, indicating that it's from January 1, 2026."> -</figure> +DCTS is *yet another* open-source, self-hostable Discord clone like Sharkord. This one has an official instance, but you'll need to self-host it if you intend to do anything with it beyond putzing around in the official server. Fortunately, that's all anyone reading this will likely want to do, after scrolling up too far in the #spicy-memes channel and seeing the type of shit the lead dev thinks is funny. -One does not simply build something like this in a month and a half. Especially not with TWO whole contributors to the official Github repo. This REEKS of vibe-coding, so badly that I no longer feel comfortable recommending it. +Ignoring the political side, however, the UX is mediocre at best, the featureset is very basic, and the whole interface has a pervasive male-gaze anime girl aesthetic that appeals to a very specific demographic that I'm not in. All in all, if I was gonna spin one of these up myself, it'd be Sharkord, Fluxer, Mumble, or even Teamspeak long before I touched this pile of radioactive sludge again. -## [DCTS](https://github.com/hackthedev/dcts-shipping) +## Root -<p class="h2caption">Added on Feb 15</p> +<p class="h2caption">Added on Feb 18</p> -Apparently, this is an acronym for "Direct Communication Through Sockets", which strikes me as a bit of a misnomer since it's obviously not peer-to-peer. +Root is a fascinating specimen. It's a Discord clone in a slightly looser sense, that bills itself as a "platform for communities that do more". What this seems to mean in practice is that in addition to text and voice channels, a Root community can have "app channels", which occupy a role similar to Discord bots, except that they run "natviely inside the platform", so on Root's backend rather than relying on the dev to host it, and can present a totally custom GUI to users. These app channels aren't available to the general public as of writing, but they sound to me like a genuinely neat feature with loads of cool applications and seem to be the main thing setting Root apart. -DCTS is *yet another* open-source, self-hostable Discord clone like Sharkord. This one has an official instance, but you'll need to self-host it if you intend to do anything with it beyond putzing around in the official server. Fortunately, that's all anyone reading this will likely want to do, after scrolling up too far in the #spicy-memes channel and seeing the type of shit the lead dev thinks is funny. +Root currently has the basic trifecta of voice, video, and screenshare, but only the basics — Unlike Stoat, Fluxer, and Osmium, it doesn't even have custom emojis. Also, screenshare is broken on Linux. Talk about a Discord clone, lol. The interface is plenty polished, but it's also a completely different layout — everything's been moved around, and I'm not sure it's for the better. There's a bit of a learning curve here. -Ignoring that, however, the UX is mediocre at best, the featureset is very basic, and the whole interface has a pervasive male-gaze anime girl aesthetic that appeals to a very specific demographic that I'm not in. All in all, if I was gonna spin one of these up myself, it'd be either Sharkord, Fluxer, or even Mumble long before I touched this pile of radioactive sludge again. +Not only does Root have native desktop and mobile apps, it's also *only* usable via the native apps — there's no web interface. This may present a problem if you're worried about resource usage — after an hour the app had climbed to 1.7GB of RAM used — and on top of that, it just seems sketchy to me. I wouldn't be surprised if one of their avenues for monetization was collection and sale of user data. And they will need to monetize, since Root is [VC-backed](https://pressreleases.triplepointpr.com/2025/06/17/root-raises-9m-in-funding-to-build-a-next-gen-discord/). That alone is enough for me to recommend that you steer clear, but also of note is that the company is headquartered in Los Angeles, so if you're trying to get away from American tech, Root is an atrocious choice. # Conclusion I'd love to be able to give you some better news. I want so badly to be able to say that there's something obvious you can switch to that's just as good or better in the ways that matter \*cough cough TWITTER\* with encryption, and federation, and open source to boot, but as far as I'm aware this is kind of it. -With this decidedly sub-optimal state of affairs in mind, my call to action is this: Look into these alternatives — test them out, as a group if you can, see if one or multiple can work for you and your friends. If you're of the especially nerdy sort, contribute code to Polyphony or maybe Spacebar, and maybe see if you can make XMPP or (I guess) Matrix work. And finally, for the love of Glob, cancel your fucking Nitro. *Don't financially reward Discord for this shit.* ***I promise you don't need it.*** +With this decidedly sub-optimal state of affairs in mind, my call to action is this: Look into these alternatives — test them out, as a group if you can, see if one or multiple can work for you and your friends. If you're of the especially nerdy sort, maybe spin up one of the self-hostable options for your buddies, or contribute code to the projects on the list that are accepting it. And finally, for the love of Glob, cancel your fucking Nitro. *Don't financially reward Discord for this shit.* ***I promise you don't need it.*** <div class="buttons" style="margin-bottom: 1rem;"> <img src="discord-no-way-2.gif"> |