Not going to bury the lede here: omg.lol is dropping Discord as a chat option, effective Friday 9/19.
For a couple of years now, omg.lol has offered a Discord “server” as part of our chat network, with channels bridged to our main IRC server. It’s been a pretty nice setup overall, and certainly one that’s been convenient for those who were already connecting with other people and groups on Discord.
Unfortunately, it’s become clear that Discord is not a safe option for chat, and this is deeply concerning at a time when members of marginalized groups are especially vulnerable. Between user data being hosted in the United States and Discord’s apparent willingness to promptly hand over your communication to any agency that requests it, I can’t in good conscience continue to offer it as an option for omg.lol members.
Staying private
No online communication tool is perfect, and any option that doesn’t use end-to-end encryption is going to be inherently insecure (no matter how they try to spin it). But the omg.lol IRC server is leaps and bounds ahead of Discord in terms of privacy, being hosted in Europe, and—most importantly—operating in such a way that no record of communication is maintained on the server itself. With IRC, all of your communication lives in your own client.
Staying independent
Another thing that’s always bothered me about our use of Discord is that it’s a weird outlier within the omg.lol ecosystem. In a setup that is otherwise completely independent and self-hosted, Discord sticks out like a VC-backed corporate sore thumb. In a space that’s otherwise free of any advertising, the constant nagging for Nitro subscriptions and Boosts and Orbs (lol, seriously, what?) runs irritatingly contrary to what we stand for here. We just don’t need it.
Staying connected
If you’re a Discord user who wants to stay connected with the omg.lol chat space, don’t panic. You can easily use IRC, either with the client of your choice, or you can use our web client (powered by The Lounge). For access, pull up your address on home.omg.lol and click the “Socialize, lol” button. From there you can generate an IRC password (or reset your existing one), and you can log into IRC with your omg.lol address and that password.
If you’re wondering about voice chat and screen-sharing, rest assured that we have that covered. We just set up a self-hosted Jitsi server, which will make it easy to have the same kinds of voice channels that we’ve always had in Discord.
This is also a great time to remind you that we also have a Discourse forum at discourse.lol, which is great for less real-time conversation in a traditional web forum.
A final word
I realize that this change will come as a disappointment to folks who love Discord (or who just don’t like change). And I totally get it. We’re living in complicated and frustrating times, and I’m trying to navigate things as best I can. Balancing convenience, individual preference, and safety is no easy task—and I’m certain that it can’t be done in anything resembling a “perfect” or “ideal” way. All I can do is make what I feel are the best decisions I can make at any given time based on the factors that feel most relevant and most important. If you’re upset with this decision, I hope you can at least understand the intention behind it, even if you don’t agree with the outcome.
As always, thanks for your continued support of omg.lol and the small, weird, and independent internet!
— Adam