this post was submitted on 05 Sep 2024
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[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

That's a feature that was implemented what, 1 or 2 years ago when Signal's been around for a decade?

You can't possibly expect people to just jump from one social app to another that has such a relatively small user base and little familiarity. Entire Discord servers would have to jump ship and it would just be a nightmare for most people.

What Discord prioritizes, Signal treats as an afterthought. Things like group chat, video chat, GIF usage, etc, Signal has never really prioritized.

Discord's mobile and PC apps both allow users to select GIFs within the application, whereas only Signal's mobile app allows users to select GIFs within the application and Signal's desktop app doesn't allow for in-app GIF selection. If you're reading this thinking "who tf cares about stupid stuff like that?", you're completely missing the point because regular ass users care about stuff like that and they totally will say "fuck that" to an alternative if it doesn't have features like this. Why doesn't Signal incorporate in-app GIF selection for its desktop app? I'm sure it will be eventually implemented but dragging their heels like this for popular features and then having the nerve to ask "why aren't people flocking to us instead of Discord/WhatsApp" is such an out of touch question to ask.

When open source developers ask for feedback from regular users and their response to said feedback is"ACKSHUALLY it's your fault, not the application's fault", as it often is, it's no surprise that their software never gains traction. It's like a guy who wears cargo pants to a formal affair and then gets into an argument over attire because in his mind, cargo pants = more pockets = superior, completely oblivious to every other factor.

Another thing-- Signal requires your phone number, Discord doesn't. I know right away folks are going to rage about how Discord is the real privacy nightmare, not Signal. I don't disagree, but the average user is just going to be more wary about being forced to give up their phone number in order to use Signal, even if the software now allows them to hide it.