So You Want To Write An Open Source Discord Replacement

@0xabad1dea@infosec.exchange @isotopp@infosec.exchange @enejjohhem@mastodon.social like not to get all Political but we are seeing attempts to backslide on LGBTQ+ rights and censor queer content in many countries around the world. we can't just design another messaging platform that easily hands over conversation logs from "Undesirable" communities to the authorities.

Aye, federation is no silver-bullet against enshittification/EEE tbh (just ask *checks notes* oh, XMPP). Great (ish) if you have 50 niche projects and 10,000 servers on a shared protocol, but even the fediverse barely manages that (and certainly not well). But it also only really protects against the host going all – users can (in theory) flee the sinking ship (in theory – product finishes may differ from promotional images, terms & conditions apply, users may only seek redress through non-binding arbitration (while stocks last)). But if you're self-hosting and the project goes all "I think I'd prefer the 24ct trim on the next yacht", you're a bit fucked either way tbh (along with everyone else who uses that project/fork/spoon). And before that, you've got to get your 50 niche projects (and 1 or 2 not-niche projects to coalesce around, because let's be real) to agree to a single protocol. Which, at least when twitter went all goose-stepping, AP was already there.
But all we've got now is XMPP and, like, idk lads, we're probably asking a bit much of it to become an actual Discord replacement, even without voice/video. Don't get me wrong, I'd love it to happen, but we're kinda trying to build the runway here while we're already being flung down it at 500kts.
"But I don't want to have a bazillion different accounts on different sites!" tbh I don't give a shit. I have a password manager. What I absolutely do not want, however, is a bazillion different apps. That shit stacks up fast, and I don't really expect the vibe-coding crew to be too circumspect about resource efficiency. "Well then just use a web-browsURK *wheeze*" Any other questions? Not-stupid ones, I mean.
PS: People suggesting things with per-user pricing structures somewhat catastrophically fail to grasp the last point in the OP.

@pup @0xabad1dea @isotopp @enejjohhem is there precedent for governments subpoenaing chatroom servers in order to Get pseudonymous queers who aren't planning anything other then the continued existence of the specific community represented by that chatroom? serious question.

@pup @0xabad1dea @isotopp @enejjohhem i'm not trying to like attack you with a rhetorical question, one of the communities i'm in is planning for what happens if they migrate to a different service and i need to know if this is something we should be preparing for.