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European alternative to Discord: Stoat.chat (stoat.chat)
submitted 7 months ago by to c/buyeuropean@feddit.uk
33 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

It's also made to be decentralized. Seems voice chat works already. Screenshare and video chat don't seem to be released yet, but I was told that if you host your own instance, you can turn them on (vidchat and screenshare are probably still in beta/are experimental features I assume). UI layout is comparable to Discord.

Me and a friend are considering installing an instance on the server our peertube instance is installed on.

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[โ€“] 4 points 7 months ago (1 child)

โ€œUI layout comparable to Discordโ€ is not a selling point. Will check it out though and see how it evolves compared to Matrix. Thanks for posting.

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  • [โ€“] [S] 9 points 7 months ago (2 children)

    A lot of people do not like the layout of Matrix. A lot of friends hate Matrix and absolutely do not see it as an alternative to Discord.

    Also I hate it that everytime I bring up Discord on the Fediverse, people bring up Matrix, even though they are only vaguely similar.

    Imagine you talk about Mastodon and someone constantly says "But Friendica is better. They are both microblogging sites."

    That's how it often feels here.

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  • [โ€“] 6 points 7 months ago (1 child)

    Matrix is an interoperability protocol (like activityPub, which mastodon, friendica, Lemmy, pixelfed etc.. all use to communicate with one another) rather than the actual application being used.ย  ย 

    ย ย 

    The UI you're describing is probably Element, which is the most common matrix implementation used, though others do exist. A good example is probably rocket.chat; they've leaned harder into the discord like feel, whilst making use of the matrix protocol.ย ย 

    ย ย 

    As forย Stoat chat; It's a rebrand of revolt chat, who have previously resisted calls for federation due to the perceived complexity of implementing (or creating their own i guess) protocol. That's not to say it doesn't have it's uses; but it would be silly to assume people won't try to steer you towardsย  federated services on the fediverse ๐Ÿ˜‰ and stoat don't seem to have changed their stance on the matter.ย 

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  • [โ€“] [S] 1 point 7 months ago (1 child)

    A "bot" or something can maybe be made to bridge to Matrix protocol stuff as they already have ones that bridge to Discord and Guilded. Someone just needs to make it.

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  • [โ€“] 1 point 7 months ago (1 child)

    The bridge for revolt/stoat has been around for some time now. You might still need to search for matrix-protocol-revolt (or something like that) rather than stoat; as the name change is fairly recent, and may not have been implemented by the team responsible for matrix.

    That being said, native federation support is always better. The bridge will require you to run a matrix backend like synapse alongside stoat chat, (so two different chat services rather than just one running) at which point you might as well just look at a discord designed frontend for matrix instead.

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  • [โ€“] -1 points 7 months ago (1 child)

    I don't get this. To me, Matrix looks a lot like discord. I use Element X, and the UI looks the same. Maybe it doesn't have all the features yet, but I never used Discord for more than messaging anyway, so I'm not aware what Matrix is lacking comparatively.

    As far as I'm aware, there are different apps one can use to access Matrix, just like the case with Lemmy. So if you don't like the layout of one, why not just choose another?

    I mean it's cool that there's another option available; diversity might prevent enshittification and offer a backup if one sells out like so many platforms do (discord, reddit, etc.). But to say Matrix isn't comparable to Discord kinda flies over my head...

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  • [โ€“] [S] 2 points 7 months ago (1 child)

    If you haven't used Discord for more than messaging, then you haven't experienced it to the extent most others have experienced it. Matrix isn't like Discord. Comparing the two is like saying Twitter and Facebook are similar. Just because they have one feature/function in common doesn't mean they are alike.

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  • [โ€“] 1 point 7 months ago (2 children)

    What features does Discord have that Matrix doesn't?

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  • [โ€“] [S] 3 points 7 months ago (1 child)

    Roles, "bot" that automate certain jobs such as custom role assigning, radio/music "bots", screenshare you can do without needing an external program to do it, videochat without needing a bridge to Jitsi to do it, easier organization, easier embedding etc. You can't do shit on current Matrix frontends except for messaging and maybe voice chat. I would put Matrix frontends closer to Teamspeak or Slack than Discord. If you are seriously asking that question, I suggest you familiarize yourself with Discord instead of making assumptions.

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  • [โ€“] 0 points 7 months ago (1 child)

    Well I don't need any of those additional features, so I'm gonna go ahead and not.

    Matrix works fine for me. If you want all the bells and whistles, then I suggest you learn to code and make it yourself.

    I wasn't "making assumptions," I asked a simple question. No need to be condescending.

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  • [โ€“] [S] 4 points 7 months ago* (1 child)

    Well the problem is that every time I ask for or offer an alternative to Discord, I get people saying "Matrix" and they become increasingly condescending ALL THE TIME.

    Why can't people just come into a thread and say "oh cool another alternative to choose from". Instead I get "That's dumb. Matrix is all we need." or "Matrix is better than Discord" by people unfamiliar with Discord.

    I am just fed up.

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  • [โ€“] 2 points 7 months ago (1 child)

    Well I clearly said diverse options are beneficial, so this isn't a case of someone saying "Matrix is all we need." I simply asked what the difference was, literally giving you an opening to explain your position

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  • [โ€“] 1 point 7 months ago (1 child)

    I guess all the extra stuff for emojies Spotify and patreon ntegration screen sharing that you need their premium "nitro" for. Haven't used it in years so wouldn't know sorry

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  • [โ€“] [S] 2 points 7 months ago

    More than just that. Also there are third party clients for linux where you get certain nitro features without paying as long as they aren't essential nitro features that can get you banned such as streaming in more than 720p or getting more than 128 kbit/s in voice chat.

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