Matrix is developing a privacy IM, you do not really moderate that now, do you? Leave the rooms that raise your cortisol level.
Users tend to be less aware of these things than the operators of such servers (or at least, that's how it should be).
> Matrix is developing a privacy IM, you do not really moderate that now, do you?
No, but you can create mechanisms for the users to flag problematic accounts.
> Leave the rooms that raise your cortisol level.
The filth will follow the users. That's the whole game plan here: to cause grief.
As for flagging problematic accounts: how would that work in a decentralized E2EE system, and do you think it cannot be abused? What would you want them to do if I flag your account a million times? Keep in mind they probably may not be able to keep up with it, nor do I expect them to. Additionally, you still should be able to use the service due to its decentralized, privacy-preserving nature, so the worst thing that may happen is getting banned from a Matrix instance, or a room.
It isn't reasonable to expect users to be 'mentally prepared' to have their devices download child porn because they visited a chat room for support about the chat app they're using.
Imagine someone sending you a link that you open and then now you have child porn or whatever else on your hard drive, cached. Quite a shitty situation to be in.
Perhaps avoid non-technical rooms or rooms in which you do not trust people.
I would not consider Windows secure at all, and it seems futile to use a privacy-oriented IM on Windows, it really defeats the purpose.
Imagine using Windows with Recall enabled that takes screenshots of your conversations all the time. You can be using the most effective IM for privacy but it would not help.
So what is the moral of the story? We have shitty laws, and you should not use Windows. :P
I guess the correct legal approach would be to go to police with this.
And the correct technical approach to keep online spaces clean, is the ability to kick, mute or ban people who violate the rules.
Saying, "just be mentally prepared" sounds to me like accepting it. Well, I don't. I go somewhere else.
> Saying, "just be mentally prepared" sounds to me like accepting it. Well, I don't. I go somewhere else.
Exactly! You should be going somewhere else. Another Matrix instance, or at the very least another room, and you will be fine.
Well, but I never decided to hang around for longer. Maybe it is because the moderation tools are simply lacking? I would miss the option of not restricting certain users to send pictures in a group.
I mean, when does this actually end up with consequences for anyone? Even on managed and surveilled company devices I'm not expecting this to cause any harm to anyone involved. IT staff at previous employers and clients had other things to worry about.
Maybe I'm just not familiar with some legal jurisdictions or cases where this was a cause of concern. Let me know.
This is unacceptable.
(yes I'm salty about that still)
I find a lot of value in Element as is, I'm glad they bothered.
Their server clearly doesnt care that a single federated server was sending out thousands of invites, and there's no way to avoid the spam.
In general using matrix was always a pain in the rear for one reason or another.
I am fully appreciative of the work that goes into making a product like this, but I’m also tired of this mentality that nobody is allowed to talk about the problems with the product. Even simple comments from people who tried to use the product but encountered show-stopping issues are getting downvoted into gray text in this thread.
This mentality that we must only speak praise and cannot speak of problems because a product is free is further off putting. I’ve given Matrix/Element an honest try many times because some of the OSS projects I’m involved with use it, but month after month it’s the most troublesome of all of the apps in this space that I use, and it’s not even close. If I’ve gone a month without dealing with Matrix and I have to open it again it feels like there’s a 50:50 chance something is going to either be inexplicably broken or cause problems even though I thought I finally had it all working last time.
The contrast between how hard we’re told that Matrix is the great and superior option and the reality of what it’s like to use it as a casual or occasional user is really wearing me out on the project.
I think there's a pretty big difference between constructive criticism vs statements like "The development team seems to not care". To me, it seems pretty clear that the team absolutely cares, but they are also a small and very underfunded team, and things take time. Assuming the worst intentions of a team is the problem and is disappointing to see here.
> I’ve given Matrix/Element an honest try many times because some of the OSS projects I’m involved with use it, but month after month it’s the most troublesome of all of the apps in this space that I use, and it’s not even close.
I don't doubt that, but it does not resonate with me. There have been a few hiccups over the years, eg the database corruption earlier this year (unrelated to the protocol or synapse) resulting in stuck invites, but overall I've had quite a good experience. Far less problems than Teams, and even slack has had issues (mainly, notifications not happening) that I have somehow avoided with Element, although I am aware others have had issues in this area. There are even some things I do with matrix that are simply not possible/practical with the others to begin with.
At this point the majority use case I have for matrix is to bridge to IRC with heisenbridge and be able to use signal on my laptop through mautrix-signal and nheko. The number of native channels I’m in continues to shrink.
There's also the split room bug (feature?) that allows banned users to still be in rooms where the honeserver doesnt ban them. And then, distributes connection shows ongoing banned content (primarily, you guessed it, CSAM) and the better-moderating admins can't do anything about it.
I'm basically in a few well moderated rooms (Gnuradio, other topics). They do extraordinarily well in not getting many trolls, and for garbage collection.
The only one we're seeing spammed is for some cryptocurrency site Liquid something. But its just commercial spam.
Also do you want the development team to moderate self hosted chat servers? How would that work?