In what ways does it look that way, if you recall?
I hear this semi-often, but I don't really get it. The base UI of Discord is pretty normal / looks just like every other chat app out there. Is it the ads for nitro and stuff like that were the issue?
I think the base UI of Discord is fine, but having used it for almost a decade at this point, the UI has gotten worse. Besides the ads you've mentioned, they've added a lot more clutter (random icons, rarely used features, hidden menus, etc.). When I look at screenshots from 2019, I weep.
There's a bit of clutter for sure, but I don't find it too objectionable. As the sibling comment mentioned, the super reacts are really annoying, and so are the ads, but it's overall alright.
Most of the clutter I would complain about comes more down to Discord making it really easy to bloat a server (and a cultural expectation to do so).
I’m in more than one Discord that has more channels than routine users. Like there are 4 people that use it on at least a weekly basis but there’s a meme channel, a pet photos channel, a news channel, yada yada. Managing notifications is a lost cause because the server owner redecorates the server every other week into new channels and what not.
Profiles have gotten weirdly wild, to sell Nitro stuff. Statuses, emojis for the status, now flairs from a server, profile pictures, etc.
Constant notifications for junk. Nitro is on sale, some game I don’t play has a quest, etc.
It’s fine, but it feels like Discord wants to be more than a carrier for voice and chat and I really just want them to do that. I don’t need “Facebook with VoIP”
> I’m in more than one Discord that has more channels than routine users.
Likewise, and I find it quite annoying too, but I don't think it's really Discord's fault. They default to one text and one voice channel, after all. The ability to add new channels easily is a good thing, but people do go a bit crazy with it.
> Statuses, emojis for the status, now flairs from a server, profile pictures, etc.
The server flairs are kind of odd, but aren't the rest of those pretty bog- standard features for a messaging app?
I do agree the notifications are annoying, though. At the same time I get it, they do need to make money somehow.
Animated server logos, colorful /gradient and tonally-varied usernames & avatars, the super emoji or whatever they're called, etc all feel like they're pushing more towards Twitch chat than anything else. Which as another commenter remarked, is essentially aligned with their original and biggest target demographic.
> Animated server logos, colorful /gradient and tonally-varied usernames & avatars
Fair, but all of these things are user controlled. If you're using Discord for work or something, presumably you don't have a bright flashing animated server icon and avatar, your server doesn't have gradient roles, etc.
The super emoji are spot on though, those are fun but were really dumb from the get-go, and waste space in the reaction UI.
Discord is honestly not great for work, but there are lots of other tools. I think they should focus on what’s made them successful, which is gamers and communities.
They should realize charging people $100/year per person for Nitro and $500/year for server boosts means that they don’t want to be advertised to and have their data stolen.
There used to be a commercially-made tv-b-gone device. Not sure if it's made anymore, but there's a DIY kit that appears to do the same thing: https://www.adafruit.com/product/73
I used to carry one with me everywhere (it was small enough to fit on a keychain). One night at a sports bar, I showed it to a friend. Before I could stop him, he pushed the button and every TV in the place went black, right in the middle of some PPV sports event. Anyway, he bought one on the spot.
There was a guy who sold a chip for that which you fitted to a car keyfob. In the olden days of the late 80s, Valeo used a pretty insecure not-rolling-code infrared thing for central locking systems.
Anyway you'd get a handful of old Rover, Peugeot, Renault, or Citroën (and a bunch of others) fobs from the scrapyard and fit this pre-programmed PIC microcontroller, and when you pressed the button it would cycle through a bunch of volume down, mute, and power off commands for most common brands of TV.
However the real genius one - and it was about 20 quid - was this. Remember Furbies? They would chatter away to each other, using infrared to communicate so they'd go in sync. Well, this one that transmitted the "GO TO SLEEP RIGHT NOW" command to any Furby in the room. Relatively expensive but worth it.
Wow, this is clever. Yeah, the headphone out can push out a signal like 1 volt at low current, but this is likely enough for the IR LED to "light up". I really like this idea.
There’s a TV-BE-GONE app for Bruce on the CardPuter and I think one for the Flipper Zero as wells. It will cycle through dozens of codes to power off the TV. It’s been fun to turn off random TVs, though I don’t do it much because I don’t want to be too much of a douche.
But VVV is aimed at developers; the OP describes a different use case, in which he also eloquently explains my dilemma, and that I'm sure of many others: we want to write for our blog, not develop our blog. I am very interested in his project going forward...
I don’t see that issue, really. If you don’t want to develop WP, then use a hosted platform or static builder. If you factor your time spent on tweaking this “simple” proposed setup, you’ll see that $20/month is actually a great deal.
Even when I was a WP developer, none of my personal websites were in WP, they all lived on static hosts that needed zero maintenance.
It is very common for a city/town to have at least one councilor on the police review board for their term, and while not perfect this is close to "elected". I already need to vote for school board trustees and a bunch of other positions I know/care nothing about, don't make me vote for all board compositions too.
Only if you rely on screens for your awe. If you can get away from light pollution, going outside on a clear night is one good way to experience awe. Substitute your favorite way to experience nature in person...
I do wonder how future advances in VR will impact this. On occasions VR has given me a true sense of awe, even in it's current, technologically-limited form.
If you can conjour up any vista and see it around you at true scale, running your hands through alien grass and smelling the alien breeze - will that make the claims in this article harder to refute?
However I can't help but feel it's a bit like arguing one should never see too much beauty in life because one doesn't want to become bored of beauty. I'm not sure where this argument leads other than "ration your dopamine"
Ultimately though, even if you were able to recreate every sensory element of an experience, you know that what you’re experiencing isn’t reality. You put on the VR glasses, you’re aware that you’re not ACTUALLY sitting outside experiencing a cloudless night
I think most people who see a painting or movie are aware that they’re not actually in the painting or in the movie. I’m not saying they don’t produce real emotions from people, but there’s certainly a difference.
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