A proposal to solve BetterDiscord (and other client mods)
BetterDiscord is a great extension that many people use, but it violates the Discord ToS and even used to cause security issues. It's one of many client mods that exist that aim to enhance Discord's functionality. They're all commonly used for plugins and themes, but the only way we can get rid of it is if we make the changes that people want.
Many client mods come with a built-in plugin and theme store. I do think Discord can pull this off themselves, and encourage more developers to get into coding in the process.
When I imagine it, people could upload plugins and themes, likely via a webpage on the developer portal. These said plugins and themes can either be used by themselves (which would not allow it to be used publicly), or go through a process to allow it onto this special store, likely requiring themes to be approved or declined by Discord. Some client mods already do something similar to this, but they generally go through less scrutiny.
Similar to reporting users, reporting plugins and themes should also be possible, as a way to tell Discord that certain plugins and themes violate the rules.
BetterDiscord comes with a server list, and this was originally mentioned, but has since been removed from the post (and honestly, it's fairly cringeworthy to read years later. It also now actually exists, thanks to Server Discovery.)
Lots of changes would need to be made to make this work, and may be far-fetched, but if this was implemented, most of us wouldn't need BetterDiscord.
We love Discord and don't want to violate the ToS, but we want more customization. If this was implemented, we'd have that ability.
Thank you for reading!
OTHER QUESTIONS
Why is BetterDiscord/BeautifulDiscord/Powercord/etc. against the ToS? Client modifications aren't monitored by Discord, and Discord is trying to keep the platform safe for everyone. Regardless of if it's open-source or not, Discord isn't able to always monitor the clients every single day to check for malicious code. It'd be a bad look if they were allowing clients and plugins that was actually trying to steal user accounts. And from a business perspective, it'd make sense why it's not allowed. (This question originally stated it was a security issue, but I don't see it that way anymore.)
Why can't this be limited to Nitro or Nitro Basic? BetterDiscord was offering plugins and themes entirely for free, as does BeautifulDiscord and Powercord. If almost all the themes and plugins are locked behind a paywall, this will merely bring people back to BetterDiscord. Why use the paid option when you can use the existing ones for free? I'm not against themes just for Nitro users, though. In fact, Discord is currently offering extra themes for Nitro users, and I actually think that's fine - although, I also think it's a pretty clear cashgrab. Many other services offer plenty of extra themes besides light and dark for free.
Why do you have hope this will even happen? To be fully honest, I don't. The mere thought that this could even happen in the slightest is thanks to Stickers and Server Discovery. Stickers used to partially have the payment model that I'm requesting-- some stickers were locked behind Nitro and Nitro Classic, others weren't. The difference is that all stickers were paid in some way. Server Discovery is basically an official server list, and it's being managed incredibly well. Additionally, some Discord employees have publicly created client mods for other services before, and one even helped make a few of these client mods more secure, to the point where the security issues were minimal. I believe that if Discord genuinely wanted to do it, they could.
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I really like the idea pls add it like pls
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I am for this idea but please leave the themes and plugins free (like other comment said, they will come back to betterdiscord)
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Plugins should definitely be kept for everyone imo. The themes I think could be kept for nitro users though, since it gives more value to the premium service. After all, there really isn't much of an incentive to get it.
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The problem with gating anything behind nitro is that people will just go back to using BetterDiscord for whatever features get locked. Frankly, I think most people use betterdiscord primarily for the themes, so gating those is the worse of the two to gate (the best solution being neither, as I've said.)
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man I just want a nice theme on discord and not have to get banned for it I don't care about plugins or any of that I legit just want a nice background and colors
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I think this is a really interesting idea. It's really well thought-of but I don't think Discord would enable custom plugins, for a variety of different reasons. To an extent, they could add more onto the Discord API on what it could do, then therefore making plugins possible. Themes sounds possible, and the theme-store-approval idea would go in perfectly with that.
Discord could make their own themes and plugins as well, having exclusive features being available only to nitro and nitro classic subscribers (I know nitro and nitro classic is paid, but this has to benefit discord in some way, alright?). Yea that pretty much sums up my opinion.
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Honestly, plugins are probably the dangerous part from Discord's perspective. Javascript code that anyone can run is a bit sketchy, so if it is permitted at all it would most likely go through manual verification.
But as I was reading janeberru's comment, I came up with an idea: For that theme store, there's free themes, and there's themes you have to pay x amount of money or platform currency in (and nitro users would either get x dollars off, everything free while they have nitro, or simply get a free x amount of platform currency each month on top of their benefits). The paid themes have a cut of the profits given to the creator, encouraging people to make cool themes. The rest goes to Discord, of course. Perhaps a rating and report system on this store would be helpful too.
Edit: I'm dumb, and didn't actually read OP's post. I literally just restated what he said but with the creators able to set a price for their theme.
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hi
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That would be the best compromise yeah.
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YESSSSS
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I agree, I really want to change up the background to something different but I'm not about to risk my account and years of stuff and connections to do it. This is a simple addition that TONS of people are asking for. You say you don't want people to use better discord, fine, that's understandable. But look at the reason people are using it, why not just implement themes and custom themes into discord. Worried about NSFW? No one is except the user is going to see it so it doesn't even matter, or just add a filter. Honestly, this is another way for you guys to make money if there was an official themes store. You could also have in-depth customization that individuals could save as presets/themes after they've made lots of changes. The possibilities are endless. The point is that people are asking for this and have been for a long time, and you ignore them. I understand you guys need to make money and are running a business, but I pointed out you could have a theme store. I personally don't understand given the circumstances why this hasn't been done yet. You guys also say that you don't want us downloading BD because of potential malware, which is understandable. But if you wanted to protect us so badly then why not just implement the themes into discord so people stop using BD and getting viruses and data stolen. I'm not downloading BD because I don't want to get my information stolen or violate ToS, but I know a lot of people don't care about that stuff and take those risks. You want them to stop taking that risk? Add themes. What do you lose by adding themes? Nothing. The vast majority of people ask for this and give us other features that are basically useless. Discord has come a long way I'll admit but this has been being requested for over three years, there's no excuse. Either tell us that it isn't ever going to happen, AND GIVE US REASONS, or make it happen. People are tired of waiting and frankly, you turn away users by ignoring the people who use your platform. Programs like this are built on the community, if you disregard it you lose the community you lose the platform. No one wants that to happen, we love discord, but by ignoring such an easy request you begin to run this risk. And if there are other requests like it then the problem grows and you end up losing support. All we are asking for are some theme changes to change up the mood of the platform we spend so much time in. We want to feel cozy and nice and sometimes that requires a different look that isn't provided. Hear our request please or tell us why you won't.
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I fully agree with this. Discord needs to step up their game. They know people have been asking for things like themes for ages, yet they seem to be too comfortable to actually do anything about it.
And yes, while I have Nitro, I do NOT think it should be gated behind nitro.
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BetterDiscord is a great extension that many people use, but it violates the Discord ToS and can cause security issues.
Just letting you guys know that most if not all of the security issues related to BD have been resolved
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Agreed
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I'd like to say the concepts and discussion points of this post are new, but it's not. Several of us came at this in the forum a couple of years ago (for my part, I laid out a pathway in another thread to generating a mutually beneficial revenue model and a marketplace that would legitimize and ensure audits of code prior to integration; a semi-walled garden approach like the Apple App Store). I'd even offered to consult at no-fee to help them mapout the framework and economics. There was a little bit of traction with the ideas, but in the end, we've still seen no movement. It culminated in this consolidated thread (basically three-four of our threads got unified into one umbrella): https://support.discord.com/hc/en-us/community/posts/360033632831-Official-Discord-plugin-support
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Definitely agree, especially after the most recent UI change. It's horrid! And before you say it, NO, I WILL NOT GET USED TO IT!
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if theyre gonna say it's against ToS they shouldnt be driving people to use it like they did with this dogshit rebrand
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Yes, kqzo, 100% agree
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Sad that it will be only available to nitro users
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It's a really good idea but sadly I don't think they'll ever add custom themes/plugins even though I've wanted this since I downloaded Discord for the first time..
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Discord Please just allow BetterDiscord is open source and they check all uploaded plugins for malicious code. Sooooooo they only thing wrong with it is that yall think its unsafe. And cant u just change the tos to say that yall are not responsible for any harm done to the users device caused by 3rd party clients?
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I've already given my two cents on this topic but after waiting this long I'm willing to just sign a petition for this to be implemented.
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Literally so true. Not only would diffrent themes be cool, there would also be themes to actually help people (like me) who sensory-wise, cannot handle light colors. (and for me somehow discords dark theme doesnt help my SPD a single bit heheh) but yeah, real great suggestion.
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This is a great idea, I love customizations, it would be so good if the discord added a menu for themes, just like the betterdiscord proposes. ✌😍
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I love this idea so much. I hope it gets added.
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I'll be honest, I'm all for this idea. But it's quite disheartening that no one at Discord have said anything in this thread.
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I honestly can't wait, it'd be an amazing feature for my steampunk-themed server!
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i would love this, BetterDiscord looks rly cool andi wish i could have it
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I would really like to see this in discord! And please for god sake dont make it a nitro users only feature or even more people will shift to better discord. And also, make the better discord themes compatible with discord.
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This is a great idea! Discord really should add this, I am waiting for such thing now for ages.
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