Katerina MarchánNov 9, 2022

since a lot of folks are becoming newly interested in escaping corporate silos and moving to community-based services, are you aware of @matrix?

Matrix is to Slack and Discord, what Mastodon is to Twitter: a decentralized, federated network based on open standards/specs. It also supports full end-to-end encryption, just like Signal, so you can exchange messages privately!

If you find the fediverse interesting/inspiring, I recommend giving matrix a whirl. The quickest way to get started is to head over to https://app.element.io/ and make a (free!) account (although you can also join any number of other home servers, or host your own--they all talk to each other!).

If you _do_ end up checking it out, please do say hi! I'm @zkat:zkat.tech over there. I also manage a "space" (a group of channels, kinda like a Discord server) that you can join by clicking here: https://matrix.to/#/!tKdDSgQTxQzcOuTXqV:matrix.org?via=zkat.tech&via=matrix.org&via=envs.net

I hope this sparks your interest! I'd love to see you over there, too!

Element

Show threadKaterina MarchánNov 9, 2022

some other thoughts: someone on here recently referred to the Mastodon migration as a good example of the whole dual power philosophy: setting up healthy, community-based alternatives to the current systems of power, ready to have people fall back to them (and all their benefits), when they're finally forced out of the current power structures.

I think building that out for Matrix, even if it doesn't completely replace all your communities (yet!) is something that is worth getting started with right now! It doesn't hurt to get yourself a Matrix account, after all, and you might find some community and discover you like it a lot! (I do! I wish my Discord communities lived there!)

Show threadvague 🔥Nov 9, 2022
@zkat too bad the matrix clients are all kind of poo-poo. But never fear! There is always #irc :)
Show threadKaterina Marchán
@vague Element has come a long way, tbh. It might be missing a couple of bells and whistles, but I definitely wouldn't call it poo-poo anymore?
Nov 9, 2022 at 11:11pmWeb
Show threadLokiBerraNov 10, 2022
@zkat @vague Element has gotten better. It sometimes feels a bit disorganized (ex synapse vs dendrite). But is guess choice is part of the benefits
Show threadJNov 10, 2022
@lokiberra @zkat @vague My main issue with element is that sometimes eventual consistency and inconsistent data exposure bites people (myself included)... you'd make a change or alter a setting and sometimes it'd take, sometimes it wouldn't, sometimes it'd only work after 5 minutes. That and privacy settings for servers and data control were hit and miss with no easy way to be sure they worked...
Show threadJNov 10, 2022
@lokiberra @zkat @vague Still, it's something that can be addressed - they're all solvable problems. Just needs time.
Show threadxyhhxNov 10, 2022
@lokiberra @zkat @vague dendrite vs synapse isn’t an element issue. Element’s biggest issue is its lacklustre integration manager (stickers and custom emoji). Cinny seems to have figured that part out, but handles spaces weirdly (imo)
Show threadLokiBerraNov 10, 2022
@xyhhx @zkat @vague I meant Matrix overall, not specifically Element
Show threadxyhhxNov 10, 2022
@lokiberra @zkat @vague i think that’s kind of more to @zkat ‘s point about it being like the fediverse, in that multiple servers/clients are compatible with each other. Users generally don’t see the difference