I don't mean to be dismissive, but I do have a few nitpicks:
> Complicated setup process. Any new member must also go through a setup process.
> Paid hosting. No one wanted to pay when there were free options. Especially true as servers grow.
To my group at least, the ability to self-host is a major bonus and provides peace of mind. For the record, I do use Discord for text channels. My group primarily uses and prefers Mumble for VOIP, and it is plenty cheap to host. Setting up a Mumble client as a user is not complicated, based on my experiences inviting folks to our server.
> Unclear benefits. Convincing one person was not enough, you needed to convince your whole group of the benefits of switching.
> Weird ideological reasons. Your platform was your tribal affiliation, switching means abandoning your tribe. Everyone looked down on people who didn’t use the same platform as them (even if it was jokingly).
How is Discord any different on these points? I'm really not seeing it.
> Complicated setup process. Any new member must also go through a setup process.
> Paid hosting. No one wanted to pay when there were free options. Especially true as servers grow.
To my group at least, the ability to self-host is a major bonus and provides peace of mind. For the record, I do use Discord for text channels. My group primarily uses and prefers Mumble for VOIP, and it is plenty cheap to host. Setting up a Mumble client as a user is not complicated, based on my experiences inviting folks to our server.
> Unclear benefits. Convincing one person was not enough, you needed to convince your whole group of the benefits of switching.
> Weird ideological reasons. Your platform was your tribal affiliation, switching means abandoning your tribe. Everyone looked down on people who didn’t use the same platform as them (even if it was jokingly).
How is Discord any different on these points? I'm really not seeing it.