Muting the music & why
A follow-up is available. Please read the newer post.
Follow-up: Plan change to music shutdown
Some parts of this post will not be valid due to this follow-up.
Today's post is self-explanatory. We're getting rid of Nevira Music once and for all.
Before we begin...
This is not a normal blog post I would usually post every now and then. This issue is something serious to the Discord community. I am taking action to keep Nevira and NeoSoft a clean and safe bot for everyone to use.
I will not use "we" in here unless I have to, because this blog post is based on my own point of view, not NeoSoft's.
This blog post will explain why I'm doing this, and how it is beneficial for Nevira and its users.
Initial thoughts
Groovy's shutdown
Recently, I heard about Groovy being shut down. This news was a shock to me at first, as I did not expect such a good bot to shut down. It was good enough that even I doubted that Nevira Music will catch up.
When I found out why Groovy was shutting down, I had mixed thoughts. I was first disappointed and mad at YouTube/Google, as the C&D (Cease & Desist - basically "stop your wrong doings before we seek legal action") on Groovy was issued just because Google wanted more ad revenue, which is what I still think about the shutdown to this day.
Groovy vs Nevira Music
At this point, I started reconsidering if Nevira Music should exist, too. Nevira was among one of the least likely music bots to get shut down or have their music features disabled, as Nevira did not offer any kind of premium feature that locked music commands.
Groovy on the other hand, had a premium feature that costed money. I'm not complaining, but this was one of the reasons they were issued a C&D.
While this made nonprofit bots like Nevira have a smaller chance than bots like Rythm and Groovy at being shut down, it was still not out of danger.
My opinions
Who's at fault?
Both parties are. Music bots violate YouTube's Terms of Service, while Google takes a cut from ad revenue from copyrighted content they do not own - I believe this should be fixed before they start taking down YouTube downloaders and music bots like Groovy.
The C&D issued to Groovy was once again, most likely more based on ad revenue instead of copyright. YouTube blocks third-party clients due to this reason, however this does not mean we are not at fault. Although the C&D was focused on Google not wanting their ad revenue cut, the whole concept of music bots did have potential copyright issues. So did youtube-dl - a CLI YouTube downloader, which was taken down from GitHub by the RIAA, but was fortunately restored by EFF and GitHub.
I do not believe music bots will have the same protection this time around as
YouTube and Google are overpowered,
Some bots use Lavalink instead of youtube-dl as the music playing engine and
Downloaders ≠ music bots.
Why did you add Music then?
I had never realised this when Nevira Music was initially released. Now that I have realised the potential risks of having this feature on Nevira, I am planning on removing this feature.
Why remove Music?
I want to retain the safety and trust Nevira users put in me. I have a responsibility to make sure all users are safe when using my bots, so therefore I am removing this feature.
I also found this feature not worth working on anymore. Its audio quality lacked significantly due to the limitations of Discord. Discord was not built for music bots, but rather voice calls. I also found using YouTube rather than Nevira Music more accessible.
My Response
What's been done already
I've shut down the Europe Lavalink node, as mentioned earlier. I have also researched more into this issue, to find out who was at fault.
What will be done soon
As a responsible young developer hoping to safely enhance your Discord server experience, I will:
Remove Music from Natalia and SnakeB,
Remove Music from Nevira by October, or until C&D and
Shut down the NSElena node once Nevira has Music removed.
What's next?
Alternatives?
We're shutting down Nevira Music for a good reason - safety. We discourage you from using Music bots from now on.
If you just don't want ads in YouTube without paying: Get an adblocker. I personally recommend AdGuard (not sponsored but it is probably the best adblocker out there). It doesn't edit the content anyhow, nor does it use YouTube content for commercial purposes.
Preventing such features
I will be adding some people to the Nevira team to verify that all future features will be in compliance with applicable laws and Terms. These new people will be older, more mature or/and understand the world more well than me.
If a possible violation is detected, the feature will be reviewed to prevent such violations.
Closing words
I'd like to thank everyone for using Nevira Music. Music was a significant feature in Nevira, and I regret having to shut it down. But if it is for the better, the choice is obvious.
Future of Nevira Features
Instead of working on Music, I will now shift the focus to economy and NeoSoft Xyron - features that safely boost your Discord server experience by giving you a form of entertainment and protecting servers from bad actors.
Nevira Staff team
Nevira is currently closed source and will remain closed source unless I decide to make it open source. The staff team on Nevira is very limited, and I am the only developer. This allows me to have full control over what features are added to Nevira and what are removed.
My past & Trust and safety
I've been heavily distrusted in the past by people (outside the NeoSoft community, these people have nothing to do with Nevira or NeoSoft) due to my actions. This is how I lost close friends and ended up being depressed for two to four months - I forgot the actual time. Maybe it was four. Who knows, but this is not the point.
This event is what had led me to prioritising others over myself. This can also explain why Music is shutting down. I did not want to shut down this feature, but it had to be done to ensure that Nevira is a safe bot for everyone.
Trust and safety on Nevira is my highest priority. I feel like making sure everyone can use Nevira without any concerns or safety issues is what's the most important responsibility as Nevira's head developer. I am also working to make sure all users are complying with our Terms of Service to prevent legal issues (in most cases, issues with COPPA/GDPR, by preventing the collection of data from underage users) and Nevira and NeoSoft are complying with their own Privacy Policy so users will always know exactly what data is collected and why. I have written the Privacy Policy to be strict, so I can collect as less data as possible from users.
This is why Nevira Features are now complying with higher standards than before. Trust and safety is the most important responsibility for a developer, and that's how it's going to be for me and NeoSoft.
Need help?
If you need support for our products or just want to socialise with special NeoSofters, the community's always there in our Discord server!
(Yes, every NeoSofter in the official Discord server is a special NeoSofter.)
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