but discord is simply less accessible than any other option. I can't even login without identifying 25 bicycles lmao

Putting everything on discord makes information unsearchable via search engines, which is objectivily not great. This recent habit is contributing to killing the web.

On a more subjective note, I just don't like it. On the top of my head : Confusing interface, wont' shut up about nitro, requires a phone number.

Opinion: Not if that community advertises itself to know/care about open source. Using a proprietary, privacy unfriendly service which uses predatory marketing to get people to spend money on bs stuff and arbitrarily paywall functionalities is both anti open source and anti people. Its enabling those companies. One could maybe argue for a strict bridge which only server to connect those who resist foss platforms.

Counterpoint: If said community is about a certain type of software, decisions over the type of platform matter more than popularity within teenagers. Coherence is important.

Well, i can't be there because the only provider doesn't accept my (mandatory) phone number.

trying to build a community

I honestly think that's the big part there. You can build a great app but it doesn't matter if no one is using it and you don't get feed back or it's not shared around.

So, here we are trying to use the newest virtual 3rd space to create a community so that there is people will feel engaged in the product and share it around to add more.

But that's also an issue with discord. It wants to be a social space more than a useful space and it usually gets entirely dominated by a few users with others less inclined to add in. It's also accessible but not easy necessarily to stumble into if you are outside of the community trying to look into it more.

It just does the wrong job, slower and less efficient than old school forums or wikis, but it's the tools we have to use in this less efficient connected Internet of the now.

Set up a Matrix space, bridge the channels to Discord. Everyone wins.

(But don't use IM outside of its useful scope regardless)

if you're trying to build a chatroom then any chat software goes but if you're trying to build a community you should probably use something searchable and indexed, like real community software

also i find it laughable that users must already be on such platform, by your logic all communities should be mailing lists

Lot of bridge bots for linking Matrix and Discord along with IRC

When you are trying to build a community

...Don't use community software, got it.