FA+
Shop
Skype, Telegram, and Exclusivity
8 years ago
General
Those of you who know me are probably aware that I have both a Skype and a Discord account. I use both pretty regularly. But what folks might not be aware of is that I also have a Telegram account that I use practically never.
This journal will mostly be a rant about Telegram, but stick with me.
Lately, last year, it's been my experience that folks have been moving away from Skype. Skype had a good run, but honestly, it's been dead in the water ever since Microsoft bought it and started hiking stupid things like banner ads over conversations. Since then, people have been sort of splitting between two new IM options: Discord and Telegram.
I like Discord. I used to have a font size issue with it, but they resolved that a few months back, and I can't really think of many complaints I have left with it, beyond a few features that Skype had that it's missing. Which I'm fine with, really. Discord needs to do it's own unique thing and it's happily embracing anyone that wants to jump to their platform.
Telegram, though. I have a serious problem with Telegram. Not the program itself, it works fine, it has some unique, fun quirks like stickers, and it doesn't drop my connection fairly frequently like Skype. My issue with Telegram is moral.
You see, in order to sign up with Telegram, you need to give them a phone number. You might think, oh, that's not a big deal, just put in your cell phone number. But you see, that's where my issue is.
I don't have a cell phone.
This resulted in me having to circumvent the entire system by using a texting site that I was lucky to even know about. (textnow.com in case anyone else needs it). Okay, your next thought is, alright, you found a way around the system. Congratulations, now you can enjoy Telegram to its fullest.
But that's only the first issue. Once I logged into my account, I immediately discovered that it'd flagged my account as spam. Which, fair enough, I circumvented the intended system.
In case you don't know, when your account is flagged as spam, it means you can't send message to anyone that isn't a phone number contact to your account. That means, if I want to use Telegram to talk to someone, I need to contact them on another IM to get their phone number and contact details so I can actually message them on Telegram. In that situation, what is really even the point of using Telegram?
That brings me to the main point of this journal: exclusivity. My problem with Telegram is not that I had to jump through hoops just to sign up for it, only to get a fraction of the potential use out of it. My problem is that I can't possibly be the only person who would face this situation. I refused to believe that of all the furs in this site, I am the only person who wouldn't be able to sign up for Telegram, and thus I believe that anyone who joins Telegram exclusively is literally shutting off from those people who can't join it.
I don't use Telegram for any technical issues. I have no issue with the UI, or chat messages. I have a moral issue with Telegram that I do not have with Discord.
I strongly encourage folks to leave Skype sometime in the future, but when you're deciding between dedicating your time between Discord and Telegram, think of who you'd be restricting your access to in either situation.
This journal will mostly be a rant about Telegram, but stick with me.
Lately, last year, it's been my experience that folks have been moving away from Skype. Skype had a good run, but honestly, it's been dead in the water ever since Microsoft bought it and started hiking stupid things like banner ads over conversations. Since then, people have been sort of splitting between two new IM options: Discord and Telegram.
I like Discord. I used to have a font size issue with it, but they resolved that a few months back, and I can't really think of many complaints I have left with it, beyond a few features that Skype had that it's missing. Which I'm fine with, really. Discord needs to do it's own unique thing and it's happily embracing anyone that wants to jump to their platform.
Telegram, though. I have a serious problem with Telegram. Not the program itself, it works fine, it has some unique, fun quirks like stickers, and it doesn't drop my connection fairly frequently like Skype. My issue with Telegram is moral.
You see, in order to sign up with Telegram, you need to give them a phone number. You might think, oh, that's not a big deal, just put in your cell phone number. But you see, that's where my issue is.
I don't have a cell phone.
This resulted in me having to circumvent the entire system by using a texting site that I was lucky to even know about. (textnow.com in case anyone else needs it). Okay, your next thought is, alright, you found a way around the system. Congratulations, now you can enjoy Telegram to its fullest.
But that's only the first issue. Once I logged into my account, I immediately discovered that it'd flagged my account as spam. Which, fair enough, I circumvented the intended system.
In case you don't know, when your account is flagged as spam, it means you can't send message to anyone that isn't a phone number contact to your account. That means, if I want to use Telegram to talk to someone, I need to contact them on another IM to get their phone number and contact details so I can actually message them on Telegram. In that situation, what is really even the point of using Telegram?
That brings me to the main point of this journal: exclusivity. My problem with Telegram is not that I had to jump through hoops just to sign up for it, only to get a fraction of the potential use out of it. My problem is that I can't possibly be the only person who would face this situation. I refused to believe that of all the furs in this site, I am the only person who wouldn't be able to sign up for Telegram, and thus I believe that anyone who joins Telegram exclusively is literally shutting off from those people who can't join it.
I don't use Telegram for any technical issues. I have no issue with the UI, or chat messages. I have a moral issue with Telegram that I do not have with Discord.
I strongly encourage folks to leave Skype sometime in the future, but when you're deciding between dedicating your time between Discord and Telegram, think of who you'd be restricting your access to in either situation.
So as soon as someone joins that you'd rather not see all your stuff (i.e family, work, anyone who's in your phone's contact book for normal reasons) That...pretty much makes your usage of telegram either really weird, or just not worth it.
Stickers are REALLY hecking great tho
Meanwhile, I'm using Discord with no issue whatsoever and no absurd workaround to sign up for it.
You literally CANNOT add someone as a contact without adding your OWN nickname for them. Which means that whatever nickname they chose for themselves is basically FORCED to be overwritten. And if they change their nickname/identity later on in life? The nickname that their contacts see will never update.
Telegram is the ONLY chat program that forces users to add nicknames to their contacts, and was the one dealbreaker for me.
I think the other thing is you'd need to change the security on your account so if someone nabs that same number that you have, they cannot just gank your account.
Personally I wonder if the reason why so many furs like Telegram is due to the sticker functionality. It makes it easier to display art that they've gotten.