Yes we are more than capable to run alternative software, but there is a cost there. Both in the cost of the software (depends), and the cost of maintenance; we did opt to self host the forum as we wanted direct access to modify if as needed from the core level but at the cost of infrastructure and devops time.
For the moment the forum does not require me to constantly monitor it from a human perspective and I’ve automated almost all the primary maintenance tasks minus major version updates.
That is certainly a risk yes, but there are other reasons we are opting for discord.
The primary driving force for the move to Discord is the platform we have chosen for our StrapiConf which integrates Discord as the main chat service, the discussion about moving our entire community to one platform (Discord) has stemmed from that.
For some it is easier to have real time communication about topics, a benefit that Discord would give us is the freedom to spin up ad-hoc online meetups like AMAs or debug sessions in Voice/Screenshare channels (anyone could). I used to regularly hop on Twitch and stream while I worked through some GitHub issues, play some music, and let people ask questions if I had some free time. I would certainly love to continue this; both because I find it fun and because it puts a “face to the name”. Others on the Strapi team also are looking forward to this.
We will never charge to access our community, I say that strongly, never. But yes if a business needs to chat with us and Discord doesn’t feel professional, this is why we have enterprise licenses with enterprise contact methods and a support platform for that type of communication.
Our community platforms don’t push any enterprise standards because they aren’t designed or meant for that.
Indeed, our forum is the place for that type of conversation, not any IRC chat.