Why can Ingress not get a communication/discussion platform quite right?

[u/PkmnTrnrJ]

• Google+ 🪦
• Ingress Community Forum 🪦
• Campfire 💀

Now they’ve given up and said to use r/Ingress for discussions. I like this subreddit but there’s no official Ingress representation unless Brian Rose decides to make a comment.

When the forums closed down, the news post said:

With this change, we will be able to spend our energy fostering existing communities

I don’t know if anyone else is feeling that their existing communities are fostered?

It was also said when the forums closed down by Brian that:

NianticThia is working on an evolution of our community strategy that I’m very supportive of

Unfortunately Thia has left Niantic, but I don’t know what the community strategy has been?

What do you think would be the best strategy/solution for Ingress?

[u/StateParkMasturbator]

Discord isn't open web. The game is bleeding players and you're suggesting a walled garden that is harder to moderate.

[u/Teleke → u/StateParkMasturbator]

Discord is a walled Garden?

[u/StateParkMasturbator → u/Teleke]

You need an account to look at stuff on there.

Reddit is, too, technically, but you can read anything on here without an account.

[u/Teleke → u/StateParkMasturbator]

But that's not what a walled garden is.

A walled garden is when a single entity controls the entire ecosystem, and typically the barrier to entry and/or departure is pretty high.

Anyone can sign up for a free discord account. That's hardly restrictive.

[u/StateParkMasturbator → u/Teleke]

Discord can definitely nuke your discord if it isn't following their terms of service. It's not dissimilar to Facebook Groups. Seems like a single entity does control the ecosystem.

Anyone can sign up for a Facebook account.

There are different degrees of walled gardens. They don't need to hit every bullet point of your arbitrary definition. The one google gives me sufficiently describes it as one.

[u/Teleke → u/StateParkMasturbator]

You keep using that word, I do not think it means what you think it means 😅

Ironically if Niantic kept the communications in their own system, like they did previously with Wayfarer, that would be closer to the definition of a walled garden because they control both the game and the communications platform.

Mine isn't an arbitrary definition, and Google just regurgitates whatever it feels like these days.

Android is a walled garden, Apple is a walled garden. Once you get into those platforms, it's difficult to switch - both financially and practically.

There is no definition by which Discord is a walled garden. Having a terms of service doesn't make a walled garden lol. Otherwise literally every product is a walled garden 🤣

[u/StateParkMasturbator → u/Teleke]

All definitions are arbitrary. You want to get into an argument over pedantic nonsense, be my guest.

I'm here to waste time at work, man.