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Over the years, when Discord first was introduced, and I learned of it, I tried it and watched it grow into what it is today. For those of you that know me, you know how much of a fan of Discord I am, or, better said, the lack of fandom I have for Discord. My despise of Discord for most just goes over their head, for they see the "Free" price tag and that's it, and believe every tag line they throw out without reading deeper into the fine print. Overall, like everything else, you need to "trust" that what they are saying is the truth.
For those of you that think I am writing this because I hate Discord, just know this, I do like Discord, I just dislike certain aspects of it, and what they say/do. I just strongly dislike some things that they did and the misconceptions that people have with them, (which is not totally their fault, but, they do play a role in it), and how those misconceptions is perpetuating into more and more false information by the "fanboys" of the app. Trust me when I say, you "fanboys", well, you guys are the worst since you are very close minded and even sometimes in your own words, show you as a hypocrite. (Just had that with my sisters boyfriend. He's an Apple fanboy and is an advocate against the right to repair, but, he likes to repair his own stuff that he buys.).
Anyone caught the problem with his argument? 
Overall, this post is not to scare you or even change your opinion on Discord, but more to inform you on some misconceptions that I hear from many of you and gets perpetuated as fact. I will list the false claims that people are saying because they don't know the truth, only heard the half-truth that is said by the company. Mind you, these are things I have been told by others, and I am not talking a small sample size, I am talking about dozens of clans and hundreds of people that I have talked to over the years.
Okay, I will go through them in order and I will try keeping this short.
Discord doesn't collect your data. - Yes, even in their own privacy page they say partially what they collect. As far as I can see, they don't give a full list of the data they collect, but here is the short list:
There is more, but they don't have a full list, but believe it as to be like other sites/apps that store like phone numbers, addresses, and maybe scrape information off anything you link to them. Also, they do scan your computer to see what apps are running, so I am sure they probably have a list of that stored somewhere. For those of you that don't think they are doing that, just think, how do you think it knows what game you are playing?
For more information, check out this page:
That is what is in your Discord Data Package that they give you access to, which will show most of what they gather.
Discord doesn't sell your data. - This is true, but false at the same time. They may not directly sell your data to others, but, by their own carefully worded privacy disclaimer;
In layman terms, anyone that is a subsidiary or an "affiliate" may use your information to push ads to you. Now, they don't say how to become an affiliate, so you have to think, is it a paid service to become an affiliate with them? It's just a loophole that allows them to still sell your data without directly saying they are selling your data. They also mentioned before that they also only share to "trusted partners", but again, who are those "trusted partners" and how did they become the trusted partners"? This was the big ordeal with Facebook over the past couple of years when Mark had to go in front of congress and there was the topic that they needed to fix their TOS to make it more readable to the "average" person that it not a lawyer.
Overall, you just have to not trust everything that is said and take it at just face value that it may be BS. If they make any money off any data that they collected directly or indirectly, is still selling data, but for the most part, I do believe they are not just going around selling it for money, but, giving it to things like analytics, possible investors/investors that will use your data for maybe targets adds, or who knows. The nice thing is, Discord did add in features to turn off data being collected, Just go into their settings and for toe "Privacy & Settings", and you will find it in there. I don't know if there are other options around, hidden like Microsoft does, but as far as I know, that's where you would change it. Does this turn off all tracking, I don't know that either, you just have to "trust" them.
Discord doesn't store data that it collects. Really? Just go to their privacy page on their site.
All social media platforms collect and store some sort of data, even this site we are on now. We have the data that you provided us and that is stored in a database. What ever you put there is public and can be scraped by anyone, but, we don't sell your data here, hence why we are barely afloat each year.
Discord is 100% safe and secure - This is the one that irks me the most. First off, there is no such things as 100% safe and secure. That is just an illusion that companies try to paint to give a false sense of security. Heck, even VPNs have been hacked and data leaked, don't believe me, do a simple google search. If you ever see a site that is saying that they are 100% safe and secured, don't believe it and go into it knowing that though as of now, they may be 100% secure, that doesn't mean tomorrow it will be the same.
Another reason I say this is because of it allows the downloading/transferring files, clicking on links, and so on. Someone/a bot could come in, post a link, or make a file available for download, and it could be malicious, but does that make it any more dangerous than lets say, our site, Twitter, Facebook, ect...? The answer is no, but to say it's 100% safe and secure is just a lie that gets perpetuated way too often and should never be said about anything.
Here is a good article I just found on Google:
My Conclusion:
Overall, those are the most common things I have heard from people spewing out this as facts, without doing their own research. All this information, Discord has publically available on their website, you just need to read through what is a very long and sometimes misleading ToS. When I say misleading, they use tags lines that mean 1 thing, but in the fine print after it, it provides holes to the statement that allows them to do it in another way. Overall, just don't believe the tag lines, read deeper into it.
But other than that. For what it is, it's not a bad system, just IMO, I like to see a basic voice and chat version, or a way to just have those two options instead of this bloated Skype repeat all in one system. Hence, why I still use & like TS3. I also like to see more control over the panels of the system, like adjusting the left and right panels instead of shrinking the center.
Also, please, stop saying it's 100% is safe and secure. Nothing is ever really 100% secure & safe, not even your own house, so why would this be the exception. It's all just propaganda to get you to use it. Instead, just say that it is safe to use currently.
For those of you that think I am writing this because I hate Discord, just know this, I do like Discord, I just dislike certain aspects of it, and what they say/do. I just strongly dislike some things that they did and the misconceptions that people have with them, (which is not totally their fault, but, they do play a role in it), and how those misconceptions is perpetuating into more and more false information by the "fanboys" of the app. Trust me when I say, you "fanboys", well, you guys are the worst since you are very close minded and even sometimes in your own words, show you as a hypocrite. (Just had that with my sisters boyfriend. He's an Apple fanboy and is an advocate against the right to repair, but, he likes to repair his own stuff that he buys.).
Anyone caught the problem with his argument? Overall, this post is not to scare you or even change your opinion on Discord, but more to inform you on some misconceptions that I hear from many of you and gets perpetuated as fact. I will list the false claims that people are saying because they don't know the truth, only heard the half-truth that is said by the company. Mind you, these are things I have been told by others, and I am not talking a small sample size, I am talking about dozens of clans and hundreds of people that I have talked to over the years.
- Discord doesn't collect your data.
- Discord doesn't sell your data.
- Discord doesn't store data that it collects.
- Discord is 100% safe and secure
Okay, I will go through them in order and I will try keeping this short.
Discord doesn't collect your data. - Yes, even in their own privacy page they say partially what they collect. As far as I can see, they don't give a full list of the data they collect, but here is the short list:
- username
- email address
- any messages, images, transient VOIP data (to enable communication delivery only) or other content you send via the chat feature
There is more, but they don't have a full list, but believe it as to be like other sites/apps that store like phone numbers, addresses, and maybe scrape information off anything you link to them. Also, they do scan your computer to see what apps are running, so I am sure they probably have a list of that stored somewhere. For those of you that don't think they are doing that, just think, how do you think it knows what game you are playing?
For more information, check out this page:
| Please login to see this link Get registered or Log in |
That is what is in your Discord Data Package that they give you access to, which will show most of what they gather.
Discord doesn't sell your data. - This is true, but false at the same time. They may not directly sell your data to others, but, by their own carefully worded privacy disclaimer;
Also, if you provide information in order to obtain access to the Services, we will use your information to provide you with access to such services and to monitor your use of such services. The Company and its subsidiaries and affiliates (the “Related Companies”) may also use your information collected through the Services to help us improve the content and functionality of the Services, to better understand our users and to improve the Services. The Company and its affiliates may use this information to contact you in the future to tell you about services we believe will be of interest to you.
In layman terms, anyone that is a subsidiary or an "affiliate" may use your information to push ads to you. Now, they don't say how to become an affiliate, so you have to think, is it a paid service to become an affiliate with them? It's just a loophole that allows them to still sell your data without directly saying they are selling your data. They also mentioned before that they also only share to "trusted partners", but again, who are those "trusted partners" and how did they become the trusted partners"? This was the big ordeal with Facebook over the past couple of years when Mark had to go in front of congress and there was the topic that they needed to fix their TOS to make it more readable to the "average" person that it not a lawyer.
Overall, you just have to not trust everything that is said and take it at just face value that it may be BS. If they make any money off any data that they collected directly or indirectly, is still selling data, but for the most part, I do believe they are not just going around selling it for money, but, giving it to things like analytics, possible investors/investors that will use your data for maybe targets adds, or who knows. The nice thing is, Discord did add in features to turn off data being collected, Just go into their settings and for toe "Privacy & Settings", and you will find it in there. I don't know if there are other options around, hidden like Microsoft does, but as far as I know, that's where you would change it. Does this turn off all tracking, I don't know that either, you just have to "trust" them.
Discord doesn't store data that it collects. Really? Just go to their privacy page on their site.
When you interact with us through the Services, we receive and store certain information such as an IP address, device ID, and your activities within the Services. We may store such information or such information may be included in databases owned and maintained by affiliates, agents or service providers.
All social media platforms collect and store some sort of data, even this site we are on now. We have the data that you provided us and that is stored in a database. What ever you put there is public and can be scraped by anyone, but, we don't sell your data here, hence why we are barely afloat each year.
Discord is 100% safe and secure - This is the one that irks me the most. First off, there is no such things as 100% safe and secure. That is just an illusion that companies try to paint to give a false sense of security. Heck, even VPNs have been hacked and data leaked, don't believe me, do a simple google search. If you ever see a site that is saying that they are 100% safe and secured, don't believe it and go into it knowing that though as of now, they may be 100% secure, that doesn't mean tomorrow it will be the same.
Another reason I say this is because of it allows the downloading/transferring files, clicking on links, and so on. Someone/a bot could come in, post a link, or make a file available for download, and it could be malicious, but does that make it any more dangerous than lets say, our site, Twitter, Facebook, ect...? The answer is no, but to say it's 100% safe and secure is just a lie that gets perpetuated way too often and should never be said about anything.
Here is a good article I just found on Google:
| Please login to see this link Get registered or Log in |
My Conclusion:
Overall, those are the most common things I have heard from people spewing out this as facts, without doing their own research. All this information, Discord has publically available on their website, you just need to read through what is a very long and sometimes misleading ToS. When I say misleading, they use tags lines that mean 1 thing, but in the fine print after it, it provides holes to the statement that allows them to do it in another way. Overall, just don't believe the tag lines, read deeper into it.
But other than that. For what it is, it's not a bad system, just IMO, I like to see a basic voice and chat version, or a way to just have those two options instead of this bloated Skype repeat all in one system. Hence, why I still use & like TS3. I also like to see more control over the panels of the system, like adjusting the left and right panels instead of shrinking the center.
Also, please, stop saying it's 100% is safe and secure. Nothing is ever really 100% secure & safe, not even your own house, so why would this be the exception. It's all just propaganda to get you to use it. Instead, just say that it is safe to use currently.
