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You're downplaying it in the same way that others are overplaying it.

- There are servers that are labelled adult only because it's simpler to label _everything_ as causing cancer than it is to only label the correct things. I can't join channels for some games because they're "adult"; even though they're not

- There are servers that are getting rid of content because they don't want some automatic system to label them as adult, even though they're not. There's a game server that got rid of it's meme channel, because people could (but don't) post content that some system might see as adult.

So it is a bigger deal than you're making it out to be. It's negatively impacting people and servers that have no interest in having anything adult on them.

> It's negatively impacting people and servers that have no interest in having anything adult on them.

So who should police that? I am in certain communities that try to be stricter on moderation (which I love!) but it's hard work, lots of people trying to be at the edge of rules (with normal things like swearing, insults, etc.).

Whoever labels adult only and does not care is not wishing to put the effort to police that it actually is not.

Personally I do generally mind much more annoying, aggressive, stupid posters (in various channels), than the fact that I am not allowed to post some stupid adult-looking meme.

> So who should police that?

I don't have the right answers. I don't know that there _is_ a right answer.

> Whoever labels adult only and does not care is not wishing to put the effort to police that it actually is not.

Or they're unwilling to risk the consequences of making a mistake.

> the fact that I am not allowed to post some stupid adult-looking meme.

But, in my example, you don't lose the ability to post some stupid adult-looking meme. You lose the ability to post ANY meme. Because the risk of someone posting something over the line is that the entire server is suddenly adult only. And for something like a game server, that's can be a catastrophic change; it can destroy the community.

Is being able post memes that important? No, probably not. But giving up the entire ability to do something fun, that doesn't cause any real harm, because someone might do something stupid... and the response to that will be a full nuclear destruction of your community. Yeah, that part sucks.

>I don’t plan to do the Discord age verification and neither do most of the people I interact with on Discord.

until it becomes law, like it is (or in the process of becoming) ~everywhere.

Okay? Then we’ll deal with that if it happens. If it does happen then other services will have the same requirements.

>If it does happen then other services will have the same requirements.

that is exactly what everyone is angry about.

And I am too! My comment above was that the claim that Discord’s age verification is mandatory was false.

It’s also misleading in the context of this journalism because it makes it look like it’s already done and therefore new laws wouldn’t change anything.

The baby eating machine is busy telling us that it's coming to eat our babies and your best answer is "wait and see"?

No? I’m against age verification too. Please re-read my comment above for why the Discord example with wrong information is counterproductive to arguments against age verification.

It’s important to get facts right.

Maybe! But laws like California’s new law and the Texas law both are making it mandatory from a legal compliance point of view.

The direction of these restrictions is not “optional”

It will be when everyone starts leaking from the big players. Age verification will make software development impossible or be impossible to implement without huge investment.

> Age verification will make software development impossible or be impossible to implement without huge investment.

Not really, you'll just be forced to use services from eg google or meta. And pay for them. And share user data.

And if my foss software doesnt implement those systems? Or someone downloads my foss software and removes those restrictions?

We will go back to the days of underground networks, offline if needed. NNCP, UUCP, and FIDO.

Just because it's not openly shared does not mean that there aren't large databases of everything from working refresh keys to entire profiles indexed out there for the large services. Most data leaks and breaches don't get reported, or acknowledged, or are downplayed in their potential effect (but weirdly, also given more weight than they deserve since it becomes pointless to have so much data that doesn't add anything new to, say, a profile of a person)

You know that none of those things actually protect children from predators which is the supposed reason for these changes. So when they inevitably don't work Discord will take the next step of requiring age verification from everyone.

Why, oh why, would you give them the long term benefit of the doubt for literally no gain to you whatsoever?

> for literally no gain to you whatsoever?

I literally gain from using their services for communication and voice chat with friends.

“Literally no gain whatsoever” is completely wrong.

I’ve tried Matrix/Element for years. I’m still in some IRC channels. I know what the alternatives are I can confidently say I’m gaining value from the ease in which Discord allows us to voice chat, screen share, and invite less technical people to join.

You will gain nothing relative to the status quo today. You're giving up your identity in order to just... stay the same. This is a textbook definition of no upside.

They are extorting your identity from you and you're somehow OK with that.

> Discord’s age verification is optional

...for now ... What stops them from changing this in the future?

Additionally Discord may verify your age based on the collected data without consent.

> ...for now ... What stops them from changing this in the future?

Then I’ll deal with that situation if it arises.

You are totally downplaying it in an effort to not see what others are talking about.

Pretty sure in some EU countries it is mandatory now, iirc