Signal Is Up and Running | Hacker News Reader

Signal Is Up and Running

status.signal.org

37 pointskarlzt18 comments

Daniel Novak on Twitter posted this[1] after reading the Signal-Android commit history[2]:

"I think the @signalapp apps DDoS'ed the server. Servers ran over capacity due to influx of users and started to return HTTP 508 which was not handled by the app and millions of apps started retrying the connection at once. Judging from recent commits in https://github.com/signalapp/Signal-Android/commits/master"

Surely a timely reminder for all of us:

- Avoid infinite retry loops

- Build jitter and exponential backoff into retry logic

The code isn't terribly hard to write, but remembering to write it can be (if your HTTP client doesn't do it by default).

[1] https://twitter.com/NovakDaniel/status/1350471722034745348

[2] https://github.com/signalapp/Signal-Android/commits/master

I'm afraid that some people who were trying to jump over or who had done so recently had a horrible experience and might go back, especially since Whatsapp is delaying the policy now

My circle almost went to Telegram over this but I was able to avoid it

It's too bad telegram doesn't support e2ee (in a meaningful, useful way) because their client is actually quite nice.

Signal is back. https://nitter.net/signalapp/status/1350595202872823809

While this kind of issue happen everytime when something becomes promoted all of the media, everywhere, overnight, i am glad i went with Telegram instead of signal, 24 hours downtime is huge for a messaging app

post mortem??

They hope to publish that in the coming days. Here's Moxie's tweet about it. [1]

[1] https://twitter.com/moxie/status/1350651382659903488

Compared to other chat services, Signal sadly doesn't offer a feature rich/ergonomic chat platform. I am actively using it but I feel I have gone backwards in terms of user experience.

That's odd. After several years of WhatsApp use, my wife and I installed Signal yesterday. We're yet to notice any significant gap.

Stupid thing I know but I liked the per chat configurable backgrounds in WhatsApp.

This reminds me of all the engineering behind engines, suspension etc but a customer will still pick a different car because they really don't like chrome air vents. Both front and back end equally as important I guess.

Really? I find whatsapp light years ahead in terms of user experience. I'm a heavy user of Signal, and I'm cheering for their success, but they have a long way to go.

Really frustrating that three consecutive comments just claim "not as good, "same", "not as good". Would it be so hard to name a particular feature that matters to you when saying Signal is lacking? Otherwise what's the point of your comment?

Neither Signal nor WhatsApp compare to Telegram in terms of client quality, reliability or customisability.

WhatsApp/Signal and Telegram are completely different platforms. The formers focus on end-to-end encrypted conversations, while Telegram focuses on speed, functionality, and security. While I appreciate their open-source client apps and promise for offering a secure chat experience, it doesn't change that their chats (1:1 non-secret chats and group chats) are not end-to-end encrypted. WhatsApp and Signal are superior solutions in comparison.

Edit to add: My point being, with their focuses (at least Signal's) being on offering end-to-end encrypted communication, it feels normal that they are not able to focus efforts on improving client experience. Hopefully something that they are able to achieve in the coming months.

WhatsApp by default backs up your private key to the cloud. Even if you don't do this your contacts might, which means "end-to-end encryption" is only theoretical, and you have no idea whether it actually is.

Telegram's secret chat keys are never backed up. It's also faster and more reliable than Signal.

If E2EE is important to you, you can use secret chats.

It's important to me that I use e2ee that can sync between devices. Signal is a natural choice for my needs.

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