this post was submitted on 17 Oct 2023
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Privacy
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Matrix is pretty convenient. They've got a great mobile and web app experience.
What exactly does discord have that mateix doesn't? They both have threading, replies, reacts, etc.
But that's cyclic reasoning. Nothing that you need/want will be on matrix if you (and everyone else) does not think it's worth to make what you need/want be in matrix..
I don't need EVERYTHING to be in Matrix, just the things I'm interested in. So I'm happy when I see a push to have those specific things there. This is the same argument as to why I don't use Reddit anymore, despite Lemmy/Kbin having only a fraction of the content.
It also helps the fact that Matrix is very flexible when it comes to mirroring/proxying other protocols. I can easily access IRC communities from Matrix, for example. The integration in that direction is nicer than requiring discord channels to add bots that parrot an IRC chat.
Yes, but the question is: what does matrix need to establish itself as a solid alternative?
You can't answer that by saying "people don't use it, change that" because that's something only people can change, not matrix, that'd lead to a cyclic problem.
Specially when that's given as a counterpoint to justify not wanting to do the change for "this community". It's contradictory to want its popularity to be changed but accept the lack of change alone as a valid reason to justify your communities not changing.
I don't think EVERYONE needs to understand / know about it. I mean, I remember when I was young most people had no idea how to use the internet (hell, they didn't even know how to program a VHS), yet I was perfectly happy using that technology.
I only need a specific set of people and specific communities to be there for it to be worth it. Like I said: I no longer use reddit, even though the fediverse has only a small fraction of the content existing in reddit... I would have expected people in the fediverse would be more receptive to unpopular but technologically/ethically superior alternatives.
How and who is addressing this at large scale? I mean uptake of foss vs proprietary, privacy compliant vs not etc... It's the same story for signal vs WhatsApp, when one sees the majority of relatives using WhatsApp, s/he would then drop signal altogether or keep it alongside for the one geek that uses it. I am in this situation and it defeats me that not much people care and chose convenience over concerns that I find legitimately vital, or in any case not trivial. I quit using Facebook/Instagram 2 years ago seeing what it does to society and am better off mentally, but the interactions I have through mastodon and pixelfed are zero, although my meta pages are still up with these links
A desktop client that actually works and can discover communities without freezing with an empty list.
Not a single one of the matrix clients I've tried (and I've tried them all, I think) have worked well. They all have some deal breaking issue.
Moderation controls.
Could you elaborate?
Matrix is very primitive compared to Discord, where you can set roles for users, restrictions on users, voice chats, the controls for individual channels and subgroups within a guild/"server".
Each matrix chat is it's own channel. To admin multiple channels as you would on discord you just have to set up multiple matrix chats held by a common owner.
There is a mod role but you're right that you can't make custom ones though I honestly don't see much need to for a simple privacy community.
And I think matrix has voice now.
But yah I get what you're saying. Thank you for the elaboration.