Discord and the COVID-19 buff

#1

Due to the recent outbreak and Discord wanting to be good guys, the Go Live feature in guilds is buffed from 10 to 50 persons per channel. What this means for us is we can teach people about Ubuntu MATE en masse, and while Discord has this buff we should take advantage of it to hold a virtual seminar with 30+ persons for demonstration of the system to interested parties.

Yes I get it's scummy to exploit this, but at the same time when opportunity knocks, do we let ethics restrain us or answer the door?

Figured I would edit this in because not everybody read every single one of my posts; I created a semi-official (read: not official at all) Discord community we're still appending onto. If you want to join it:

  1. Create an account using the official Discord app from https://discordapp.com or from https://discord.gg :link:
  2. Join server using this invite URL: https://discord.gg/sc9dv8P :key:

:link: https://discord.gg is a redirect to https://discordapp.com.

:key: If you already have a Discord account, use invite code sc9dv8P to join!

Once in, say hi and make yourself at home! If you still don't know what Discord is, the service is a closed-source, proprietary social network with an affinity towards gaming, which allows infinite log scrollback for guilds and groups, free user-to-user calling and free video casting (with limited framerate and resolution options). For ways to improve your Discord experience, check out the Discord Nitro section of Discord's settings to see what buffs you get for tossing them some coins.

Unless they've changed this recently, you do not need to commit finishing creation of a Discord account to check out the service, and from your web browser you can use the service unverified to check it out and see if you like how it functions. Chrome or Chrome-alike browsers recommended.

4 Likes
#6

Okay, I clicked "like" by mistake - I've just started the day.

Please consider this:
While the world and all its countries and all their populations go through this pandemic we will need the infrastructure of the internet to help us.
I respectfully ask you all to consider if you really need to use the internet for whatever it is that you want to do, do you need to use it now, or can your purpose wait a few months?

I expect that the ISPs (Internet Service Providers) are sufficiently prepared for "extra" load - however - the risk that makes a thing fail is often the risk that no one thought of in advance. There are many different parts of the infrastructure that could become compromised as countries close schools, universities etc. and organise teaching based on on-line systems and employers tell numbers of staff to work from home using the resources the internet provides.

This is surely a time for solidarity and self-restraint.

I myself am closely involved in trying to keep essential services (healthcare) up and running through this new challenge. I wish you all good health for yourselves and your families. We will get through this difficult time, lets all play our part as best we can. :slightly_smiling_face:

#7

Well... I am wasting time watching YouTube and seeing my friends stream video games via Discord all of the time anyway. This comment — this comment, above — smacks of vexatious accusation.

I've thought long about how to respond at this comment. And rather than looking at my efforts as wasteful of resources, how about seeing it as an opportunity? We can still teach about COVID-19, address it in solidarity or continue to have ourselves some fun with other people for sake of mental health while we continue to shut ourselves in, all while using the Internet and Discord in particular.

Solidarity, yes. Restraint? The hell do you mean, restraint when every educational institution along both sides of the United States is considering use of the Internet to continue education? If you are under the impression us using the Internet for fun with our doors locked is going to tie up the lines and make it less possible for them to administer education, that's not entirely fair to how available the Internet is as of present.

Do you really believe any major ISP isn't going to have spare hardware at that many distribution centres on hand to cause a major problem because they're receiving extra load? If everybody using the Internet all at once was capable of shuttering the Internet that effectively we wouldn't be here while people are trying to blast out japes about COVID-19, address families overseas and waste time watching cat videos so they have something else to think about other than this damned infection.

#8

Also worth noting: Some ISPs in the United States is limiting or otherwise omitting data caps they've previously imposed in light of enhanced Internet use for telemedicine, online education and remote work. This means, for well-managed ISPs there really wasn't a congestion issue in the first place and caps are blatant cash grabs.

While in some instances a poorly-maintained rural node will most certainly kill service for many who use it, to avoid the PR nightmare of emergency response being throttled like Verizon had issues with, they'll most likely fix it quickly if such problems are encountered, faster still since everybody else isn't on the road like they normally would be.

What this means, the entirety of this post and its information used to write it is that there is almost nothing to worry about. We're free to use the lines as we wish, and while there are all of these glorious advantages being given to us for coping with COVID-19 we should also be using them for advocacy, education and potential enhancement of existing systems to limit landfill load from disposed hardware and get people to their remote work faster than they've ever had before.

#9

Netflix To Reduce EU Bandwidth by 25%

I wish you all good health - observe social distancing - this will pass. :slightly_smiling_face:

#10

Forget toilet roll, bandwidth is the new ration: Amazon, YouTube also degrade video in Europe to keep 'net running amid coronavirus crunch

That should help :slightly_smiling_face: