[$] Open-source Discord alternatives

The closed-source chat platform Discordannounced on February9 that it would soon require some users to verify theirages in order to access some content - although the company quicklyadded thatthe "vast majority" of users would not have to. That reassurance has tocontend with the fact that the UK and other countries are implementingincreasingly strict age requirements for social media. Discord's ageverification would be done with an AI age-judgingmodel or with a government photo ID. A surprising number of open-sourceprojects use Discord for support or project communications, and some of thoseprojects are now looking for open-source alternatives. Mastodon, for example,has moved discussion to Zulip. There are some alternatives out there, allwith their own pros and cons, that communities may want to consider if they wantto switch away from Discord.