Discord is not even necessarily Electron. I'm running it as Datcord, which is a Firefox based wrapper.
Discord has a searchble chat history, which is what sets it apart from IRC. Everything else can be emulated by modern IRC clients, such as emoji and embedded / unfurling images and link previews.
However imagine the chat history as if you had a bouncer that has 100% uptime and joined all possible chat channels from their creation, along with offering you search and buffer.
If not IRC, either Matrix or XMPP should be capable of this.
I'm fairly sure Discord's popularity was due to aggressive marketing, likely during their venture capital funding rounds. Something which FOSS does not have.
Most of these places, at least in Canada, are strictly operated as not-for-profit establishments, with focus on as little actual litter as possible. So no plastic lids or straws, no packaging. Wooden stir sticks, brown paper bags, etc. Local produce only. While these decompose easily, it's still unsightly, so most of Parcs Canada / SEPAQ doesn't have bins outside either.
I'd be disappointed if this were not the way that things are being done in England.