this post was submitted on 03 Mar 2026
16 points (100.0% liked)

askchapo

23234 readers
221 users here now

Ask Hexbear is the place to ask and answer ~~thought-provoking~~ questions.

Rules:

  1. Posts must ask a question.

  2. If the question asked is serious, answer seriously.

  3. Questions where you want to learn more about socialism are allowed, but questions in bad faith are not.

  4. Try !feedback@hexbear.net if you're having questions about regarding moderation, site policy, the site itself, development, volunteering or the mod team.

founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS
PorkrollPosadist@hexbear.net
replaceable@hexbear.net
VILenin@hexbear.net
SexUnderSocialism@hexbear.net
khizuo@hexbear.net
Wakmrow@hexbear.net
16
Looking for Discord alternative for communist org (hexbear.net)
submitted 12 hours ago by sexywheat@hexbear.net to c/askchapo@hexbear.net
11 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

The commie org that I am a member of is looking to move off of Discord given the fuckery with their age verification controversy and general insecure-ness about it.

A couple options have been put forward, mostly Discord clones because that's what people are comfortable using.

Personally, I am pushing for something that supports end-to-end encryption like Element/Matrix, but there are of course some drawbacks (it's a bit buggy/glitchy sometimes esp with video calls, and it doesn't seem to support whimsical emojis unless I am mistaken)

Is anyone able to provide some suggestions? Ideally I'd like to encourage something that is open source and supports encrypted messaging, but also user friendly if possible. I have used Element/Riot/Matrix for years and I know it can be a pain in the dick (especially for n00bs) with setting up encryption keys and whatnot, but IMO is probably worth the trouble.

What other options should we be looking into? Telegram? WhatsApp? AFAIK there is Pissraeli Pegasus (and probably other) malware that specifically targets broadly used applications even though they are touted as secure and encrypted etc.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] Soot@hexbear.net 6 points 11 hours ago* (last edited 11 hours ago) (1 children)

Signal is good, end-to-end encrypted, probably the best bet for an accessible secure option. Open-source, group chats, good calls, has very functional desktop + mobile apps, a variety of options for enhanced security (eg disappearing messages, extra-hops for call obscurity).

Stoat(/revolt) is open source, meaningfully secure, and very Discord-like. However, servers are not end-to-end encrypted and it's EU-hosted. Video calls are still beta.

Element does tick the boxes. Personally I've run into too many bugs and confusing issues to like using it.

WhatsApp very deliberately harvests all your metadata (though theoretically technically not chat contents (though who believes that)), it will harvest and log times you're online, when you send and receive chats, possibly even the length of those chats. This data is frequently subpeonad. I would not use it for anything secure ever.

[–] PorkrollPosadist@hexbear.net 4 points 10 hours ago* (last edited 10 hours ago) (1 children)

I would ABSOLUTELY not recommend Signal for org work. Personal communication, sure, but org infrastructure should be self-hosted, and MUST NOT require PII (phone numbers) for access.

It is better than SMS, but not sufficient. It has all of the same vulnerabilities as WhatsApp from an architectural point of view. Their reputation, and the availability of free software clients is the only major difference.

[–] Soot@hexbear.net 1 points 7 hours ago

Very good point, honestly I'd forgotten about the Phone number link.