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This one is probably one of the most disappointing one; Matrix had everything I wanted in terms of chat features. Programmability-wise, all it was an encrypted JSON sender/receiver, but in a good way. It basically could be extended however you want since it provided a useful primitive. But the encryption just randomly fails, and it’s hard to figure out why, causing you to miss messages. I eventually gave up on building a side project for it.
Your name gave me a chuckle. Yeah its unfortunate.
Just a little bit of trolling’
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Same here - the encryption issues killed my project too, the problem is that Matrix’s OLM/Megolm protocol implementation doesn’t handle device verification and key distribution robustly enugh across multiple clients.
Right. It’s not like other services have implemented it better though, or is there any? I don’t think we should punish them for trying to do it in a more usable way than with signal
i definitely encountered this in the past but element has constantly improved for my self hosted situation
I have moved my communications to SimpleX for very similar reasons.
I always found Matrix to be extremely clunky because of key management for rooms and stuff like that.
I’m used to using cryptocurrencies. I know how to manage keys, and yet I was constantly getting hit with the same issues with decryption of old messages, even when I properly saved my keys and imported them.
I figure if I’m not even able to use this thing properly, knowing and understanding technology, how do I expect people I talk to to understand how to do it properly?
Then, on top of that, I found out about all the metadata leaking to your home server. Sure, your communications might be encrypted, but if the sender, receiver, reactions, timestamp, etc. is not encrypted, that’s not good.
I still have it on my device, but it very rarely gets opened anymore.
Edit: I use a combination of signal for those I know, IRL, and simplex for groups of FOSS enthusiasts, etc.
Do you have any tips for others looking to move their matrix/irc activity over to simplex?
Make sure to back up the simplex database and database password.
Unlike Matrix, SimpleX saves all the decryption data in the database and saves the database to your device.
As long as you have the password for it and the database file, you will be fine. Lose either and you’re absolutely fucked.
Whoa now, author sees a censoring filter as a most basic feature of a free and open chat infrastructure? It’s not a social media client, you know? It was made for closed groups like governments and companies.
I use Fluffychat to talk with family and friends and for that it’s good.
Edit: ok, looks like spam really is a problem.
It really needs audit tools. Many organizations/communities use matrix as communication tool and suffer from spam problems.
After seeing the screenshot they posted of the barrage of notifications they received with repulsive group names/messages I can’t say I blame them.
Matrix is commonly used for public, discoverable rooms, much like IRC or Discord. Perhaps it’s not good for that use case, but the author seems to wish it was.
An effective spam prevention approach is a basic feature of any public communication service that reaches a certain size. Perhaps keyword filtering as the author suggests isn’t the right approach, but some rate limits would help:
- Private messages from a new contact could notify just once until approved instead of once per message.
- Servers could limit the number of outstanding message requests, with a low limit for new accounts.
Or something like a “permission to send broadcast messages” the room owner needs to grant you?
I mean, one compromised account leading to a massive influx of spam is a legitimate concern.
You can’t always assume “happy path”.
I assessed Matrix a few years ago and came to the same conclusion. I went with IRC3 which is a new standard that overcomes most of IRC’s issues. I think IRC is still quite good, and actually has working clients for everything, web etc
As someone whos familiar with irc, where do I start with irc3? Will I have to learn a new client?
Well the old clients are backward compatible, but you should check if your client can use new features. But mostly it’s that you have to be on a server that supports it
I became adept in IRC in early 90s when I was under 10 years old, before my BB provider was even a full ISP (so I couldn’t even look up help on what existed of the early web). Every time I hear an adult claim its too complicated/obscure/esoteric I realize how close to the medical exam scene in Idiocracy we’ve gotten in a few short decades.
matrix sucks
