Also came up on Reddit: https://reddit.com/r/PrivacyGuides/comments/qkhqf7/xmpp_admi...
In case that wasn't clear, in the XMPP model, the backlog for a room is kept on the room's server, not on every individual home server. In matrix, all data is replicated on all servers (which eats massive server resources, although newer implementations like conduit seem to improve on that) which greatly increases the possibilities for a bad actor to find their way to these conversations.
Matrix's variant of that: https://brendan.abolivier.bzh/matrix-retention-policies/
> In case that wasn't clear, in the XMPP model, the backlog for a room is kept on the room's server, not on every individual home server. In
Which makes your history dependent on a plethora of different servers. Result: very bad usability
> replicated on all servers
No, this is misleading. It is replicated between servers that have users participating in the conversation, i.e. know the conversation anyways
> which eats massive server resources
I'd like to have a source for that. To my knowledge Matrix cryptographically verifying actions between servers (prohibiting various bad actions due to the decentralized nature of rooms in Matrix) and the implied DAG is really what needs resources
There are some alternatives that overcome most of the issues with a "serverless" approach (hint: no practical communication protocol on the internet is ever truly serverless), such as Briar. However they generally have UI/UX and feature limitations that are impractical barriers to mass adoption.
If you're concerned that your communications may be specifically targeted, you should definitely consider carefully what solution meets your needs and security in the context of your threat model. Sometimes this might be self-hosting, or a pseudonymous XMPP account accessed via Tor, Signal or Matrix, or Briar, or something else.
What we need are good factual unbiased guides to inform people about the practical and security properties of various options. Unfortunately this article is not in that category.
Fluffychat would be okay for mobile. But that still leaves me without a primary client on my Windows PC.