I'm surprised Matrix is on the front page as much as it is. I mean, it's cool tech, and I use it myself, but it really seems like it's up there every other day.
Is there an update that warrants this new post?
Is there an update that warrants this new post?
I run a matrix server, which has been nothing but a constant pain. My friends that use it can also use my ircv3 server or xmpp server that I run that use no resources and take up none of my time with maintenance. They do not. The only thing I've run that they like better so far is mattermost. I don't like the open core though. Matrix, xmpp and irc are backed by ldap which is impossible with mattermost.
Here is the last time I complained about matrix. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25100873
I saw your comment and considered posting a facetious comment about how you would need 80TB of ram and at least twice as much disk space.... but that would add nothing to the discussion.
Of course I was using sqlite when there weren't nearly as many users as there are today or when I had federation disabled.
If they're people who want a web client you can look at mod_conversejs: https://modules.prosody.im/mod_conversejs - but it is not as comprehensive a web client as Element, in my opinion.
The real kicker is that having the data on my own server is certainly nice, but I just don't think it's less likely to be exposed while I'm holding it vs someone else. I remember when everyone had a self-hosted WordPress blog. Eventually you'd get tired of applying patches every 2 weeks and instantly get added to a bot farm. No thank you.
https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/blob/master/INSTALL.md
Telegram 806 points
Zom 3 points
Viber 15 points
Threema 69 points
Signal 1699 points
Discord 102 points
Matrix (added after 25 mins) 374 points
Last I read speculations were that Signal had something like 10 millions users/downloads and Matrix 25 millions users (take that with a boulder of salt).
Beware, they removed the warning from the android client though. It confused people.
When one of your friends account is hijacked and has someone snooping on messages, you'd want to know that.
Though I see it might be confusing at first for users to understand that they have to sign their devices. Currently, you have to login with a username/password and afterwards (optionaly) get one of your other devices to sign your new device. Which the UI does clearly ask you to do though.
Sometimes it got resolved all on its own, sometimes it stayed like that. No biggie in the end but you can find some bug reports like that on github. Most probably it's getting worked out or was but it definitely happened.
> Try double checking that you did not mix up your security key, security phrase and login password as explained above.
- My connection flaked out (duh, I closed the laptop lid).
- Connection for one of my contacts flaked out (?!).
- Something in the signatures changed.
I get how any of that might be a sign of compromise. But I really don't care, I don't use this for anything sensitive. And with only about 20% of notifications being about an actual message, I've developed a blindness towards it.
Edit: having written that, I've noticed it is not doing this right now. Come think of it, it might have stopped a while ago and I simply didn't notice (c.f. developed blindness).
Downloaded client on Windows. Fine. Installed fine.
Hit the button to make an account, everything went fine. It sent a verification email. I clicked the link. It said "something" was wrong with my setup. I JUST installed it, with the default options.
On a hunch, I went back to the client, and was able to log in. The failure message was entirely spurious. If I hadn't been tech savvy I likely would have been scared off and not bothered, assuming it was just broken.
People start getting tired and look for alternatives.
This is bad for any mainstream ambitions by the Matrix team. If it becomes the next Gab/Parler, normal people will avoid being associated with it. I know this association would absolutely sink my friends exploring the platform further while we're exploring alternatives for when Google Hangouts is decommissioned.
Matrix is not a platform, it's a protocol and some implementation software developed in the open.
Like Mastodon, Matrix has it built-in in its principles that a federated instance can prevent being contacted from another (this is the whitelist setting). Feel free to correct me, I am not 100% sure.
[0] or available for real money !
If the headline “(extremist group) use / flock to matrix to plan (nefarious thing)” shows up in the news, these distinctions hardly matter anymore.
https://www.express.co.uk/life-style/science-technology/6275...
P(I use this | I’m a bad person)
because, like you point out, this obscures cases, like breathing air, where P(I use this) is already high. Instead, we care about
P(I’m a bad person | I use this)
And we especially care if this conditional probability is perceived to be high. This is because then your potential users will worry that if they use your product, others will make the (justified!) Bayesian inference that they are bad people. Because they don’t want to be seen to be bad people, they will avoid it.
Matrix's policies are pretty well enough to keep them pretty far out of contention for such a comparison https://matrix.org/legal/code-of-conduct#definitions
> I know this association would absolutely sink my friends exploring the platform further while we're exploring alternatives for when Google Hangouts is decommissioned.
Should there be such rooms (that still fall short of being removed for "abuse") you're not forced to join them. No different than you not joining Google Hangouts full of people you'd rather not talk to.
Chat systems like IRC/Element don't force you to join and speak with anyone you don't want to unlike social media sites which try to have literally everyone in the same pool.
If your standard is "people I don't like are able to use this service" you will find no service that will have 0% of said people.
It's just a fundamentally different system than what you're comparing it to and has many well established communities that aren't what you appear to be alluding to.
>It doesn't matter. Your technical and logical distinctions are minor and irrelevant to most people compared to an overwhelmingly negative reputation.
Are there any major situations involving matrix that you can point to?
I'm not aware of any major issues and just because it's not one of the major social media platforms (arguably not even social media depending on your definition) doesn't mean it's inherently bad.
You may as well be telling me how wonderful BitTorrent is for downloading Linux ISOs and to ignore that whole The Pirate Bay thing.
The hash checks help validate that the ISO file is properly in tact and not corrupted in transit and the peer to peer nature keeps speeds high by distributing the load between multiple peers.
Have a nice day.