Show HN: Fossnode – Free Matrix server for free and open source projects | Hacker News Reader

Show HN: Fossnode – Free Matrix server for free and open source projects

element.fossnode.net

52 pointshestefisk33 comments

Would be great if the instance introduced itself rather than throw user straight to registration. Like what's the purpose of the instance? is it a long term thing? What are the rules? etc.

I will definitely do that! For now the idea is to get as many on the network as possible. I want this to be as community driven as possible. Please help spread the word!

I guess what GP is saying: why would I want to join. "To get as many on the network as possible" isn't reason enough to convince me why I should sign up. If the point was to just get people to sign up and let them decide later what this is supposed to be it'll be a waste of time for most and it makes it sound like an ego-project (which would be a shame if it really is sincere).

The objection seems to be that there is no word to spread. Only a link to a registration page. That is probably the page where the words should be...

For those interested, I have created an FAQ on https://fossnode.net/ to get started. I deliberately kept this HTML only with plan <h1> and <p> tags to party like its 1995.

I tried to create an account and get a message that the reCAPTCHA is incorrectly configured (ERROR for site owner: Invalid site key). The URL for sign-ups in the FAQ is different than the one listed here but if you try to sign up on that server it says that registrations have been disabled.

Apologies this has been fixed.

Very cool!

- have a blog post of building all of this? I've been interested in doing something along these lines for a while and find this inspiring!

For those of you interested in helping out, please join! I'm looking to build and grow a new open source community on fossnode with Matrix as the core protocol. I think too many open source protocols rely on proprietary protocols to connect with their community. Fossnode is a free and open source alternative network with free hosting for those that are interested.

Connect with me: #fossnode:fossnode.net Discuss Linux here: #linux:fossnode.net

You can also register a new account on element.fossnode.net. It's free.

Standard questions that should be asked for every "free" offering:

  - How are you planning to pay the bills? (Please don't say "donations", it is no longer free)
  - What happens if you decide you are no longer interested in the project?
  - What happens if you are no longer able to work on the project?
  - If the project gets big and attracts users, what's stopping you from flipping it?

As far as I can understand it, what you are showing us is two Matrix-based chat rooms called #fossnode:fossnode.net and #linux:fossnode.net. Is that right? Or are you also trying to create a new centralized chat hosting site using a decentralized protocol?

Good question, thanks. I have added this to the FAQ on https://fossnode.net/.

What confuses me most about matrix is that rooms don't have a home on any particular instance. That does seem to remove part of the point with separate servers. Basically, it's mostly the user identity provider that is the federation.

Can someone share links to rooms on fossnode.org? So people can join from their existing accounts?

[edit] Or enable the public room list?

Let me enable the public rooms list.

Trying to list rooms still gives me a 403 error.

I hate to say it, but why use a decentralized chat app if you're building a silo?

It has been fixed now, apologies. It was a missing config setting!

I have a Matrix client open, I've joined the rooms. As far as I can see, it's just Anders, me, and someone else popped in then left.

I'm not saying it's a bad idea, but perhaps it would be better to build up a core privately before trying to attract public attention? That or federation is broken and I'm missing pretty much all the room content..?

It has to start somewhere...

I do believe that anything that helps people get away from Discord/Slack/Zoom/$CLOSED_PLATFORM_DU_JOUR is a good thing.

With that said, I wonder if you realize that what you are doing here is not creating a new community but a new community center. These are very distinct things. Due to the nature of federated systems, a lot of people confuse one with the other [0].

The people who are aware of matrix and interested in open source already know how to join a server and probably even are hosting their own services. The tricky part is getting new people in and encourage them to make the switch.

[0]: https://raphael.lullis.net/federations-and-identity/

The FLOSS world does not need more fragmentation. It needs less.

Creating bridges to connect channels and protocol is beneficial.

Creating more sort-of-federated servers is not.

But isn’t the beauty of Matrix that one can easily connect and bridge different networks? I’m think it’s difficult to equate a distributed service to fragmentation. The fragmentation is in the choice of platform / protocol.

I think your hardest challenge is going to be why should a project use your centralized "foss" matrix instance vs the matrix.org one.

Similarly, the fact that matrix is federated, why would they use yours vs hosting their own? Freenode had/has such a commanding share of FOSS projects because IRC isn't federated.

Matrix.org server is definitely the main network today, but it’s very busy and has had some stability / performance challenges. I like the idea of a community driven network that is independent of the network vendor and focused on open source solely rather than all types of communities. Choice is a good thing although I admit competition is tough. In terms of self hosting, I guess the same argument applies why don’t open source projects just set up their own IRC server. Whilst Matrix (Synapse) is easy to set up, there is still a barrier of entry. Fossnode aims to be a curated network of the best open source communities that love Matrix in one place.

> Fossnode aims to be a curated network of the best open source communities that love Matrix in one place.

Curated is a dangerous word.

I believe you meant self-curating, IE people and groups who are self-selecting and choose to be on your server.

But curated can also mean that their is some gatekeeper(s) than chooses which projects are "worthy." IE: wikipedia is curated, I cannot create (and not have deleted) a wiki article about my dog because it isn't worthy, despite him being the best thing in the world to me.

If it is the latter, that needs to be made super clear up front, especially the criteria.

It’s not the latter.

Agree that 'curate' to be misunderstood. It is open and free for anyone to join, similar to Freenode.

Is it possible to explore this server in Element's explore functionality?

see https://i.imgur.com/9BjbAfE.png

Let me enable that. Thanks for the suggestion!

This has now been fixed. Thanks everyone.

What kind of hardware are you running this on? Is it just a single instance, or did you set up the distributed worker stuff for synapse?

I have set up a small instance for now, running on Ubuntu 20.04 in docker containers. Once load starts increasing, I will definitely start scaling to a distributed setup.

We now have a new room for those interested in Rust —- #rust:fossnode.net.

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