alt.hn

2/9/2026 at 9:51:28 PM

Discord faces backlash over age checks after data breach exposed 70k IDs

 https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/02/discord-faces-backlash-over-age-checks-after-data-breach-exposed-70000-ids/

by MysticOracle

2/10/2026 at 9:12:34 AM

This will be Twitter VS Bluesky once more. It does not matter if the power user moves over to another platform or not. It does not matter if the average user moves or not.

Its content creators that move masses. And if those do not move nobody will. I've had Bluesky for about a year now and pretty much abandoned it some months ago because only like 5% of the people I follow post/crosspost to Bluesky.

In Discord's case its mainly project wikis, forums and video game focused servers + their admins that should move. If they remain on Discord everyone will keep on Discord.

I myself am within multiple servers (that are strictly non-pornographic mind you) that due to the main content/game/media they focus in and the social behavior they cultivate, will most likely be rated non-teen safe.

Most shooter games are Rated R/PEGI-18 f.e. and they have tons of big Discord servers.

by DoctorMckay101

2/10/2026 at 11:19:12 AM

Considering Discord is building a "teen council" to groom and shape the future of Discord, I've got some bad feelings as to the floodgates of crap that's going to open up.

Kids are going to be too impressionable to free crap and pandering to advertisers to fall for literally anything Discord will dangle in front of them. They already do it for Orbs and Quests, so...

by kotaKat

2/10/2026 at 1:40:51 PM

I know this isn't what you meant, but "groom and shape" is a hell of a phrase to use in this context.

by slackfan

2/11/2026 at 4:10:09 AM

Not keeping peoples data safe is one thing

However, as I have seen in my country Australia under the new social media ban, our Government has mandated social media companies to use age verification technology. As part of this they have mandated that Government ID verification cannot be the only method. As such the social media giants have implemented age verification technology through the type of information you have posted on your account and potentially facial scans.

I struggle to know what else these companies can do if they are mandated to implement age verification. However, they should not be storing Government ID, there should be a broker.

by NoPicklez

2/10/2026 at 6:51:01 AM

Is discord the new Digg? How many people will leave the platform?

by ipaddr

2/10/2026 at 7:11:37 AM

Probably not many, I wouldn’t say there’s a super compelling alternative.

Reddit only absorbed Digg because it was more customizable (subreddits) than Digg, didn’t have any real limitations, and catered towards the same “power web user” profile with the OG design (now old Reddit).

Additionally, the co-founders had strong free speech stances, even to the point of /r/jailbait.

What realistic alternative is there to Discord that’s easy to use and not a downgrade?

by dannyw

2/10/2026 at 10:05:51 AM

Reddit became popular largely because Digg alienated its user base with a 2010 redesign (Digg v4) that prioritised publisher-driven and sponsored content over organic, community-curated submissions, driving a mass exodus of users to Reddit practically overnight. So let's stick to facts.

Why do people make claims about stuff they clearly know nothing about.

by Citizen_Lame

2/11/2026 at 6:39:34 AM

I was part of the exodus too, I spent hours everyday on Digg before switching to Reddit. I remember, and Digg staff’s nonchalant/hostile responses to the community also hurt.

I wasn’t trying to provide a complete biopsy, I’m just explaining that the exodus (I agree with you on the cause) was only practical because there was a viable and user-friendly alternative.

by dannyw

2/9/2026 at 9:57:33 PM

[dupe] Discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46945663

by ChrisArchitect

2/10/2026 at 2:12:11 AM

Not a dupe. The data breach information is important. The other article only mentions it at the end.

by novia

2/10/2026 at 2:22:25 AM

Discord is so cooked. It's Reddit all over again. And that place is utter trash now. Mods and Admins not even following their own rules, zero accountability.

by BloodyIron

2/10/2026 at 2:39:59 AM

Sadly Reddit hasn’t been meaningfully replaced yet. It’s a place filled with of censorship, power hungry mods, arbitrary rules, and groupthink to the extreme. I long for an alternative. Something civil like HN and community like Reddit.

by illusive4080

2/10/2026 at 3:01:18 AM

I miss the decentralized web and phpBB forums. If you didn't like one community, it was super easy to find one you did.

by tonfreed

2/10/2026 at 3:35:50 AM

A lot of traditional forums are still active. :)

Just the hype seeking people left to Discord and Reddit to be able to lament about how these new places are awful and crying about phpBB and vbuletin being dead.

by m4rtink

2/10/2026 at 7:13:09 AM

Traditional forums may not have grown as much as social media, but they’re definitely still alive and vibrant.

And honestly, higher quality conversations and community than Reddit and discord.

by dannyw

2/11/2026 at 2:54:10 AM

Must have just been the ones I liked that died. Will have to go looking

by tonfreed

2/10/2026 at 2:43:09 AM

We'll see how the future unfolds. Until then, I have plenty of other things to do. And I bet you do too :P

by BloodyIron

2/10/2026 at 7:26:27 AM

Such as it is I can’t think of any other forum even close to Reddit. HN is civil because of solid moderation and “censorship”.

by dyauspitr

2/10/2026 at 2:29:39 AM

On Discord Mods and Admins are just other users. They're not Discord staff or employees. (Reddit is different, admins are Reddit employees).

by arcologies1985

2/10/2026 at 2:38:22 AM

I was giving a similar, but tangibly different, example of enshitification. It doesn't have to be a 1:1 translation to be a relevant example.

by BloodyIron