I usually click on it

Yeah, you can’t really use a Matrix account/server, to connect to Discord. You could use a bot, but even then, it would require a Discord account.

I’d advise you to make an account, using an aliasing service. Then interact with Discord through the browser, NOT the client.

I just have it pinned in the browser. Not installing the app means they get less to collect.

Webcord is very recommended. It’s Electron-based and provide a very good alternative to the official Discord Application, is also focused on Privacy and opensource.

Webcord is an alternative front-end solution that is more privacy-orientated.

Vendetta on mobile Webcord on PC

It is possible to use Discord from the browser without necessarily making an account, but many big servers have restrictive measures that prevent users without a verified email addreds (or even a verified phone number, in the strictest of cases) to access. This will depend on your friends’ setup.

I don’t know if it’s possible to bridge Discord to Matrix, but I can tell you that it’s got a pretty prolific API for building bots and integrations, so someone might have already built something of that kind. Alternative clients are tecnically against the TOS (afaik) but I know of people who have built large projects without ever getting any complaints from the company.

There is a Matrix bridge bot for Discord but the server owner has to set that up on the Discord and Matrix side first

Check out Armcord 👍

I know you can use webhooks to post messages without an a separate account, so a server owner could set it up for you, but I don’t know that you can read messages that way.

Do any of your other bridges to systems that have accounts allow you to chat without an account?

What has discord done to you in the past?