Discord will switch to temporary file links to block malware delivery::Discord will switch to temporary file links for all users by the end of the year to block attackers from using its CDN (content delivery network) for hosting and pushing malware.

  • gridleaf@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Can we please stop building everything around Discord? It has its place as a chat app, but it’s become like a web parallel to our own, except owned and operated by a single company. It’s an information black hole, completely closed off from the rest of the web, unscrapeable, uncrawlable, unarchiveable, and borderline unsearchable. It has everything that is wrong with the web today. When the company dies, all information in the app dies with it. There’s no Internet Archive for Discord.

    • ashok36@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      I agree. It’s a handy chat app but it’s not a replacement for actual forums and, God forbid, an actual support page for a project.

    • Kayn@dormi.zone
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      1 year ago

      This is not easy when everyone you know is already on Discord.

      The network effect is active in full force here.

      • Sparking@lemm.ee
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        1 year ago

        Its a good point. Eventually discord will find some way to enshittify, I am sure.

          • Sparking@lemm.ee
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            1 year ago

            I guess that is what they are doing, but this particular change seems pretty reasonable to me. Discord can’t simultaneously be a chat application and a repository for all memes for all time.

            Just goes to show that VC funded services are not sustainable infrastructure for anyone.

    • Salzkrebs@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      My university forces its students to use Discord for computer science. They even forced me to use my real name (otherwise they would’ve kicked me from the channel). It’s a privacy nightmare so I hope they will switch now since they were using it to host weekly exams.

      • markon@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        It’s so hard to delete anything on Discord it’s in the permanent record. It’s upsetting. I use it too, but it is a nightmare privacy wise and it has all sorts of consequences.

        • Salzkrebs@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          Since I live in the EU, it shouldn’t even be legal to force students into Discord. I really hate being that guy but if they do this shit again I will refuse.

    • ITALIEN@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Admittedly I really like Discord’s user interface. Love the servers that can be organized by channel and channel type, have permissions sets for different roles, etc. All that good shit. What I don’t like is the total control of one entity and lack of privacy. I’ve been looking at Matrix but it still has a ways to go before I could ever think of completely dropping Discord.

      • r3df0x ✡️✝☪️@7.62x54r.ru
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        1 year ago

        I think at a minimum someone would need to create a semi automated client for Matrix that would have a better interface and then handle the technical changes and configuration automatically. Spaces can use used a “servers” but it involves creating rooms and then adding them and the process is complicated.

    • r3df0x ✡️✝☪️@7.62x54r.ru
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      1 year ago

      Technically someone could just make a headless browser and then scrape everything that way, Advancements in AI will make headless browsing easier and companies like Facebook won’t be able to block automation by changing the HTML multiple times per day.

    • Nobsi@feddit.de
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      1 year ago

      What are you talking about?
      It’s literally a chat app. If all discord servers die today, nothing of value will be lost.

      • waitmarks@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        unfortunately no, there are several communities where if i ask for some specific information, i am told to go onto the discord because there are guides and information there. specifically, i have noticed this a lot with mechanical keyboard communities, but i know it’s happening elsewhere too. I simply don’t understand it myself, trying to find something on these is like trying to find something in a twitch stream. it’s infuriating.

        • JohnEdwa@sopuli.xyz
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          1 year ago

          So, so many modding projects live entirely on discord. I hate having to join a server just to download a single goddamn mod, and then you can’t find any info about them because google can’t index the discussions.

          • r3df0x ✡️✝☪️@7.62x54r.ru
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            1 year ago

            Technically with headless browsing, nothing can’t be indexed. That is at least unless people start getting brain implant and then Big Tech gets to control everything you experience and there’s no analog gap where things can be copied.

        • iforgotmyinstance@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          It’s better flat out. Centralization isn’t evil in an of itself. The dogma pushed in this comment section is hilarious.

          • r3df0x ✡️✝☪️@7.62x54r.ru
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            1 year ago

            It creates a single point of failure if the administration ever goes bad.

            The “server” nomenclature is also misleading. It’s not a big deal and I think it works pretty well for what it’s supposed to convey.

  • Zarxrax@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Yeah… In sure malware is the reason. It’s not that they don’t want people using discord for file hosting.

    • lea@feddit.de
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      1 year ago

      Files are still stored permanently and links inside the client stay permanent as well, only links accessed externally are affected. I don’t like Discord either but anyone relying on it as their personal free CDN had it coming for them.

    • tsonfeir@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      Still, it’s not a file hosting platform. 🤷‍♂️ it should have been temporary to begin with.

  • blackfire@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    This is good. At my place we actually already block any discord cdn links on proxy and emails as they were getting a pretty bad threat vector.