Discord got big in online gaming because they offered a VOIP and text chat browser cliemt. Just copy or type the short link and you’re in in a minute. They also did free hosting which was huge.

Compared to Teamspeak or Ventrilo, literally just eliminating the steps of downloading a client, installing it, and typing in an IP address caused them to explode overnight. Also you could “host” without changing router settings (most kids/students have to ask their parents or jump through hoops for this).

Technically there was stuff like Skype but that never had the convenient team speak style chat rooms to drop in and out of freely.

Within months of suddenly getting popular, discord had a huge userbase that everybody was using already, and that momentum got us to the point where in some aspects its even replacing the role of wiki’s and forums even though its terrible at it.

See, this is an interesting question. Are they?

They certainly succeed in giving off that vibe. They seemingly have seen a lot of economic growth while Russia stagnated. I would probably guess that they are, indeed, more competent.

But, they’re an even bigger unknown than Russia. They’re notoriously opaque and at least sometimes cook the books when showing the outside world their economy growth, or stuff like their rate of fatalities during COVID.

They seem to have a much bigger GDP and a much more loyal citizenship than Russia. We think their technology is better than Russia’s, but not as good as ours.

But, we won’t really know if they are a paper tiger until we see them in a real conflict. They could, with the advantage of proximity, be unassailable by the west if they invade Taiwan. Or we might see themselves completely blunder trying to stop a rebellion in a small country. I don’t think anybody guessed Ukraine would hold up like they have, even with western supply lines.

“My work has included advising executives on DEI strategy and coaching leaders, as well as designing and delivering high-quality professional learning experiences for employees across all levels. I have published 12 books, over 100 peer-reviewed journal articles and academic papers, and more than 125 essays and op-eds in magazines and newspapers. Foundations have invested $22.2 million into my diversity, equity, and inclusion research, and I have procured an additional $18.5 million for my center at USC.”

This is from the bottom of the article, which can be read in full at https://archive.is/RRfmZ

This man isn’t an obscure nobody, he is a core member of the DEI movement and teaches his brand of thinking to students seeking DEI degrees and other professionals. He is truly representative of the state of the whole thing and you are grasping at straws to deny it. He even brags about how much money it pulls in and how many companies and newspapers he influences.

Hey! Who are you calling an idiom?

Good to know they uphold this text by not publicly murdering and raping random civilians in their homes and proudly sharing the video.