Allow third party clients, but not modifications to the main client.
Hear me out on this one, it's not like other ideas out there.
I've seen potentially amazing lighter versions of Discord that are currently ToS breaking, things like command line terminal versions of Discord could be amazing for people who really want to use less battery on their device and leave most of the battery just for gaming.
Now, I can understand it being a problem to let people directly access and modify the main client. People can gain access to testing features without permission, which is a no-go. HOWEVER, having a separate client entirely that just uses Discord's publicly available API to send messages and connect to voice chats could mean people making extremely flexible light clients that function how the users would like them to, without ever needing to access anything the big guys don't want us to.
The only thing that you (the big guys and/or the client developers) would need to regulate is clients that allow the use of connecting to bots or the use of self-bots, as that is still considered abuse of the ToS. (But seriously, why are self-bots bad? Why can't users be allowed to make custom embeds and stuff? I don't quite get it.)
Anyways, I'm here just hoping that this idea doesn't get merged with somebody else's. My idea is far superior to the ones already out there, not to mention all the others are recommending modifications to the main client whilst I am not. (Please almighty Discord Gods, do not merge this with another topic, I would cry.)
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Good idea. I'd love for this to be official at one point.
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There are a few instances where I'd like to have Discord in my terminal and it's unfortunate that it's against the TOS to use something like that. I understand some concerns potentially around abuse, but I do feel like providing an API to do it though allows for a more regulated experience versus people just hacking it into the client anyway.
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This is a really great Idea.
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Even Windows Live Messenger had third party clients. It's an embarrassment that Discord does not.
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> Who do you think you're playing? Discord *does* have thirdparty clients. In fact, quite many. Do you're research before putting yourself out.
But they're disallowed in the ToS. I'm not denying their existence, but you can still be banned for using them. I very much would like to be able to bridge my Matrix account to my Discord account.
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This is such a good idea. Forbidding 3rd party clients basically locks users into discord's UI design decisions, and a simple search on the forums here reveals that not everyone is always on board with the changes made.
Plus, not everyone likes the use of electron either. I'd love to be able to use a Gtk-based client, or whatever the windows-native-equivalent is. This would keep things looking good, but also produce a smaller binary with better performance. Experiments like this tend to get canceled or go on hiatus because of the risk of banned test accounts puts a strain on the developer's resources.
This also greatly affects matrix puppets, and other service bridges that would make discord a better platform overall, since even people without discord could chat on discord, but are technically just complicated 3rd party clients.
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>Umm I was talking to the other guy that said Discord doesn't have third-party clients.
I know and my point stands. This is a public discussion, if you want to have a personal discussion with that person, then DM them.
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There are various reasons that they do that, including abuse and competition issues.
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I see no issue with that. It's pretty dumb to not allow third party clients EVEN FOR OPERATING SYSTEMS YOU DONT SUPPORT. I was currently thinking of porting Discord to my TempleOS installation but im afraid that would get me banned.
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I really do hope they'll allow creation of third-party clients. It'll be really nice for people with low-end devices that just can't run Discord normally or literally for everyone who doesn't want to waste their computer resources on Yet Another "Native" Application Actually Runs In Electron. I'm not even talking yet about possible customizability.
Sure, it may enable easier access for bots, but does current situation stops them now? Approval process may help with that, or even better, ability to report someone not via form on website but built into app itself.
Situation with allowing public user API reminds me of homebrew on consoles: the way it installs itself may allow piracy, but the main purpose of it is not even close to that.2 -
It appears that Discord took the exact opposite approach and are now cracking down on third party clients.
People that use Pidgin, Miranda, Finch, etc. age getting their accounts disabled with "Discord Account Disabled for Suspicious Activity" messages.
Shame on you Discord!
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Looks to me like Discord is automatic'ly checking for clients that "do things the official clients wouldn't", and this is what catches most people in the nets. Majority of people whose stories I've read say that they got their accounts back after asking Discord's support team to point out where in the Term Of Service third-party clients are banned.
It's been months since I looked, but there was no language in the TOS targeting third-party clients. Modifications to the official clients were clearly banned, as were disruptive and abusive behaviours.
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Being able to use third-party clients (without the fear of a ban) would be great. The official client is very resource-intensive, it uses Electron - which is basically a slightly trimmed-down Chrome (Chromium to be more exact, but it's almost the same thing). Think about that - a whole another browser just for an internet messaging app? And it doesn't work like as if it was just a tab in your already running Chrome (if you use it) - it's its own, separate browser instance. Also - no custom themes. Not everyone likes your design.
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I agree with this wholeheartedly. As a developer myself, seeing the space of the Discord community, being hacked/scams is already bad enough with only the first party client, blocking third party clients for "security reasons" means NOTHING when the heart of the problem is within the platform itself. You have been able to use a multitude of different IRC clients for different IRC servers, why does Discord have to be different? Even Twitch of all places haven't terminated accounts for using third party Chat clients or extensions. Not allowing your users to do what they want with their client or client choice is restrictive and harmful in nature. Reconsider this Discord...
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