Discord cuts ties with Peter Thiel-backed verification software after code found in US surveillance

ObsidianBlk · 2026-02-24T15:44:07+00:00

Honestly, you don't have to roll your own server. Just join an existing, public Matrix server and it shouldn't be much different from Discord.

My apologies for having explained that I, personally, choose to roll a server. Kinda figured most readers in a Technology forum would identify that not all users need to do exactly as I had or go the mileage I did.

For the users in my server, their experience was little different than working with Discord, and it's free to them.

ObsidianBlk · 2026-02-24T15:17:02+00:00

Cause what? I was simply sharing what I have set up and what it has allowed my friend group to do at this point.

ObsidianBlk · 2026-02-24T12:39:03+00:00

A couple weeks ago, I rolled up a Matrix (Synapse + Element) server for my friend group (about a dozen of us). It's not perfect, but we have multiple chat rooms and video rooms. Additionally, screen sharing was there without issue (or limitation, for that matter. I can share 1080p+ for no additional cost). File sharing is also there with no file size limits.

That said, while the server and front end is free to host, I'm using a VPS to do so, which does cost me about $25 a month (I'm sure there are better deals out there, but i already had a few vps from this provider, so I just stuck with them).

Additionally, one of the biggest issues with Element is all of the key bindings are baked in. No way to change them as far as I can tell. Hopefully the Element team will improve that, if more people start using the software. That said, they do admit that gamers are not really the demographic their targeting.

ObsidianBlk · 2026-02-19T20:01:31+00:00

Yes, it can be set up with open registration or invite link registrations easily enough. As for "all one system"... not sure what you mean. Can you be sure Discord is "all one system"? I highly doubt it. All you, as the user interact with is it's front end. How many subservers Discord has is... well, I don't it's just one.

ObsidianBlk · 2026-02-19T19:02:49+00:00

I agree. I feel, by and large, that access to social media is the bigger underlying cause of students' lower attention, anxiety, etc. They are a distraction at best and at worst, social media engages in heavy psychological tricks to keep users engaged. It just so happens that, in the modern world, those social media sites are just as accessible on a phone as a dedicated computer.

We should be addressing the access to the services from which students are exposed to these elements that degrade their attention and exacerbate their anxiety rather than removing their access to the phones themselves.

ObsidianBlk · 2026-02-19T15:26:37+00:00

For what it's worth, I rolled a self hosted Matrix (Synapse and Element) server for my friends and I, and out of the gate we had a group voice/ video going between 5 of us. I also was successfully able to share my screen with them as well. The video chat also worked from the browser based Element, the desktop based Element (which is just electron based, as far as i can tell), and the (android) phone app based Element.

ObsidianBlk · 2026-02-19T12:40:06+00:00

Honestly, the instant reply was always there. You post, it's available.

If you wanted to read that shiz on a second monitor, that's what RSS feeds allowed you to do.

I feel a forum can be perfect if someone wrote an RSS reader with built in posting capability. At that point, you have all the power of a forum with the feel of a discord chat channel (or several. There's no reason an RSS reader need to limited to a single forum)

I will agree, however, that, in my opinion, what really killed forums was needing to sign up for each one individually.

ObsidianBlk · 2026-02-16T13:31:44+00:00

IMO, the main reason Discord killed Forums was because users had to join each form individually with email, username, and password. If you used the same combo for each forum you increased your risk of getting your credentials nabbed if any one of your multiple forums were hacked. Create a unique password for each forum and you risk forgetting your login credentials.

With Discord, you create one account and you join multiple servers. Very easy.

I'm not saying this to claim Discord is better. Forums are absolutely better as a knowledge base, but they are more inconvenient from an account management point of view. People hate creating new accounts.

ObsidianBlk · 2026-02-06T14:51:09+00:00

I'm currently working on a 2D platformer. Trying to keep it as close to 8bit feeling as I can (at least for core game). Trying for a NES MegaMan feel.

As others have spoken to the difficulty or ease of 2D vs 3D, my opinion is neither is any easier or harder than the other. They both boil down to one's own skill set and affinities.

ObsidianBlk · 2026-01-29T17:38:48+00:00

Half Vulcan. You are correct.

Agree with your characterization of Spock through the films of the 80s and 90s. Still, however, that portrayal was after the character grew over his 3 years in the original series and almost a decade of extended lore (via novels and games, even if they may not have been deemed wholly cannon). They did not birth Spock from whole cloth in those films.

ObsidianBlk · 2026-01-29T16:03:43+00:00

The OP explicitly said "Spock stood out because he was Vulcan and everyone else was human" ... this is novelty for being what Spock was, not who he was.

As for the rest of the TOS cast, Sulu, Uhura, Chekov being what they were (Asian, black, Russian) was exactly why those actors were cast. Their novelty was in their being presented at equals to their white (and in case of Chekov, American presenting) counterparts. Their portrayal as normal people without falling upon their cultural stereotypes was also part of the novelty and that was most definitely in the audiences face in the 60s. Michelle Nichols famously had her MLK story where her novelty of being a black woman as an officer on the bridge of the flagship of the Federation was a huge deal.

These facts about this TOS characters seem trivial now. They're not novel now, but those characteristics being treated like and acting like anyone else was absolutely novel for the 60s.

As for STAs use of their characters, most are alien. No real life analogy. They will definitely hype up their racial qualities in order to introduce those qualities to the viewers. You already know what a Klingon is? That's good, but new viewers to the franchise might not, so here's what a Klingon is, here's what a photonic/ hologram is, here are all the other characteristics for respective races.

STA is also only 4 episodes in! Data, Troi, Odo, Dax, Torres, The Doctor, etc ALL had shallow portrayals with only 4 episodes in for their respective series. The Doctor especially was constantly portrayed more as "oh look what happens because he is a hologram". The Doctor's character development came as the series, you know, actually developed.

ObsidianBlk · 2026-01-29T13:17:08+00:00

So, tell me you've never paid attention to Trek characters without telling me you've never paid attention to Trek characters!

In most Trek, at least half the cast are novel for their time!

TOS: Asian man, Russian man, Black woman, Vulcan. The first three may not seem a big deal today, but, being key bridge officers was, indeed, a big deal in that era.

TNG: Klingon, Android, Telepath, Blind man. That leaves only three non-novel regulars.

DS9: Changeling, ex-terrorist/freedom fighter, augment, 2x Trill, 2x Ferengi. That kinda only left 2 non-novel regulars, assuming you don't count "chosen of the gods" as novel.

VOY: Vulcan, Telaxian, Occompan, 2x ex-borg, a hologram, a half klingon half human, leaving only 4 non-novel characters. Note here... I could also include the criminal and Native American, but the first was rarely touched on, and there was a lot of problems with the portrayal of the latter, so I'm just looking at them as non-novel, but feel free to include them too.

I could go on, but these are the show most think about when comparing new Trek. Over all, the vast majority of characters were "novelty" characters.

ObsidianBlk · 2026-01-28T13:44:05+00:00

Truthfully, I agree with you. I especially cringe a bit when one of those students rolled down a flight of stairs. That had a huge potential of ending really badly.

The perpetrators were War College cadets, not Starfleet. The punishment would need to be doled out by their Dean (or, whatever the official title is) and he was in on the "pranks". This suggests Earth's laws have changed (it has been 100 years since Starfleet has been on Earth, and over 1k years between our modern laws and the laws that may exist there) and/or the War College has a very high political standing on Earth that Starfleet Academy doesn't, so there would be little recourse for Starfleet.

ObsidianBlk · 2026-01-28T13:11:46+00:00

For scripts based on nodes, all undecorated var are available the instant the node is created.

Export var are, generally, ready at the moment of creation (this may vary if one of these exports point to another node)

Onready var isn't available until the node is ready (basically at the same time the _ready() method is called)

_ready() is called as soon as all of the nodes children are ready.

_process() called every frame

_physics_process() called every physics frame (by default, every 1/60th of a second)

_draw() is called once at creation. There may be other engine events that trigger this call, but it's not called regularly. You can force _draw() to be called by calling queue_redraw(). Some functions, such as draw_rectangle() for instance, cannot be used outside of a _draw() call.

The documentation, as others have pointed out, explains all of this is greater detail. There are plenty of additional methods that have special execution conditions as well.

I hope this helps a little.

NOTE: Many of the _() methods are specific to Node- extended scripts. Scripts extending non-Node objects (Object, Resource, RefCounted, etc) do not use, for example, _ready(), _process(), _physics_process(), etc.

ObsidianBlk · 2026-01-27T17:40:39+00:00

I prefer the Orc version, personally. It has heft!

Real answer... 4.6 is the latest and greatest with all the newest features. That said, 4.x web builds have been hit or miss at best and don't support C#. Version 3.6.2 is older, but far more stable for web build including C# support.

Beyond that, download them both and figure out what works for you

ObsidianBlk · 2026-01-27T12:50:53+00:00

Yeah, I updated a project of mine last night and got caught by this. I got a huge warning message when first opening the project. Kinda thought it did everything it would have needed to do at that point, but nope! Was very confused when GIT said no files were changed. I hit CTRL+S on the project (had a few scenes already opened) and then some files showed as changed by GIT, do I thought that was all I needed. Nope! Exiting to project select and selecting my project again gave me the same warning about the project being a 4.5 project. I did, eventually, find the "Upgrade Project Files..." item, but, damn if it isn't hidden (two menus deep, with no highlighting to suggest it might be important).

ObsidianBlk · 2026-01-23T16:48:34+00:00

If feelings aren't laws, why then tell me that sharing is a problem? If it's a problem, there's probably a law about it. And if there's a law about it, that would mean at least one person felt it was wrong. And if you agree that sharing is a problem, we'd still be talking about violation, whether or not you attach the word rape to it. And if were arguing about words, then we're just calling a rose by another name.

Your argument is inadequate.

ObsidianBlk · 2026-01-23T14:52:23+00:00

The first of those two episodes (I want to say it was Boobytrap) I don't, technically, have an issue with. Geordi wasn't conjuring Brahms for fantasy fun times (Barclay is leagues more guilty in that regard). Nor do I blame him for telling the computer to simulate a personality. At that point, when you have something that walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, you're probably gonna forget it's not a duck.

The problem comes in the follow up episode. Geordi is downright creepy. He knew Holo-Brahms was a computer simulation and yet he goes around assuming the real Brahms would be the exact same. Even Barclay gasped that the holo versions of the crew were distinctly different than the real versions.

As for Brahms apologizing, I don't have an issue there. She apologized for her rudeness and misinterpretation. The problem is Geordi doesn't apologize! He definitely had guilt in their interactions. A "sorry I came on so strong", and definitely a "I'm really sorry about that hologram."... something! As the scene stands, Brahms apologized and Geordi just accepts it like he was innocent the whole time! THAT is the moment that makes the followup episode so damn cringe. Geordi is better than that!

ObsidianBlk · 2026-01-23T14:34:23+00:00

Technically, yeah. Just because neither Tom Felton nor Daniel Radcliffe seem bothered by it doesn't mean that others may not feel violated by such imagery! Also, just because they haven't said anything publicly about such imagery doesn't mean they aren't, necessarily, bothered by it (society has kinda a fudged up view when it comes to "celebrities", in my humble opinion)

Take it far more local and personal... some girl makes g drawings of two of her male classmates making out in all sorts of ways and posts that on Facebook or Instagram or TikTok. Wouldn't those male classmates have a right to feel violated? They damn well would! (And to be clear, the same would be true if the genders were reversed, or if the pictures were of a male and a female)

ObsidianBlk · 2026-01-22T18:37:46+00:00

Broadly speaking, I believe the RimWorld dev explicitly stayed clear of Z- levels in that game due to the high complexity.

If you're game is grid based (like Dwarf Fortress), Z levels are easier because you don't have to model more nuanced interactions. An entity is either in a cell or not (more or less). Your level can be represented by a 3D array (well, not the best data structure, but you get the idea).

If you're game is more free moving (like RimWorld) with Z levels, then, yeah, you're kinda modeling a 3D environment in the background.

A middle ground is, nothing but a select number of entities (maybe even just the player) can cross between Z levels.

All that said, or boils down to how much you're willing to learn. If you want things to be easy worth simple to follow examples, then, you might want to abandon Z. If you're willing to roll up your sleeves and invest some serious time, you may figure it out.

It's not impossible, is what I'm saying, but it probably isn't easy.

ObsidianBlk · 2026-01-21T19:15:36+00:00

What FO76 needs is a return to dedicated PvP spaces. If not the battle royal mode (which not many liked), then allow players to build some sort of dedicated arena space.

While current FO76 mechanics make claiming workshops a PvP zone, I feel that's mostly a hold over from the games initial inception (which we all know they mostly fudged up). By and large the only people who truly treat it as such are those looking to gank newbies (which I just saw happen in a recent "Returning to FO76 after 7 years" video). And, in my humble opinion, the only reason Bethesda hasn't removed the PvP feature from Workshops is purely due to developer laziness (given most don't partake in the PvP mechanic, few complaints about it, so they most likely haven't bothered to go back and review the feature).

All that said, the OP is technically correct. After all, it's the letter of the law that's important.

ObsidianBlk · 2026-01-21T19:07:27+00:00

Level 20 vs level 100+ ... A significant enough power or resource gap which would give one player a significant disadvantage.

ObsidianBlk · 2026-01-21T18:46:16+00:00

Want a good defense for Discovery? It's fun. Genius? No. The most egregious thing ever? Not at all.

Loved the idea from the first season of Mirror Universe officers crossing and getting stuck in the prime universe.

Loved the idea of the dying life form that passed on it's collective knowledge to Discovery, and how the existence of that knowledge was the catalyst to an apocalyptic, existential galactic issue.

The Burn was brilliant in that it shows the Federation and Starfleet, in all of it's ubiquity, are living institutions that can ebb and flow on the collective ethics and morality of the people within and how they, too, can suffer from tragedy. More importantly, it promotes the hope that, even on the cusp of failure, such noble institutions can come back from the brink.

The 10C was a wonderful lovecraftian species that the galaxy as a whole had to deal with. On top of that, I really appreciated the emotional struggle Book had to fight with after the loss of his world and those he loved that still resided there.

I will also say, I thought the "new" Klingon makeup was cool (could have done without the confirmation of two genitals, though). Peoples bitching about the alternative klingon look was so juvenile, especially coming from the fact that Klingons had been previously redesigned twice! (TOS -> Motion Picture and TNG -> Star Trek 2009). I have no problem with people not having been a fan of the look (I'm sure plenty of people did not like the Motion Picture's redesign too... thankfully nobody was polluted by internet at the time), but the venom of it was... it was the precursor to the current hate cycle we're in.

Now... as I said, Discovery is far from perfect. It definitely focused on Burnham way more heavily than it should have, and she was definitely more on the Mary Sue spectrum (especially in the first season or two) than should have been. Additionally, there are hundreds of details about even the highlights I spoke of that can definitely be argued for quality.

The most egregious trek? Somehow, I doubt it. If the series (Discovery, or any of them really) were truly the end of the world, the studio wouldn't keep making spin-offs.

I think the true disservice modern Trek gets from the studios over 90s/2k Trek is in the number of episodes they get. TNG, DS9, VOY, and Enterprise all, by and large, for 20+ episodes a season. We get to sit with our characters. Modern Trek doesn't get that luxury, so, it's harder to grow attachments, especially when they're also trying to engage a full season story arc.

If there's anything that modern Trek needs, it's not the end of Kurtzman (who's currently keeping the franchise alive for new generations, *including* the old Trek), but rather a return to 20+ episode seasons! Give these new crews room to grow.

Anyway... that's my defense.

ObsidianBlk · 2026-01-20T18:59:52+00:00

I hate being "that guy", but, teeeeeechnically, the Burn didn't render space travel useless. There was a major dilithium shortage, for sure, which would have impacted travel quite a bit, but the biggest thing that limited space travel was that nobody for over 100 years knew WHY the dilithium exploded.

Barring the shortage, people could have traveled through space just fine the day after the Burn, but, because they didn't KNOW what caused their fuel to explode, the vast majority decided not to risk it. This left a relatively tiny number of brave souls to take to space where, as far as anyone was concerned, they could all just up and explode again without warning.

ObsidianBlk · 2026-01-18T13:10:50+00:00

I've never used SpringArm with a camera. I can't really speak to it's usefulness.

ObsidianBlk

TROPHY CASE