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Comment on Signal is Flawed, Why XMPP is Amazing! (new animated video)

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amanneedsamaid@sopuli.xyz ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

The phone number requirement is by far Signals largest downside, and usernames have been their most requested feature.
Signing up with a username and password is not more complicated than putting in a phone number.
Thats assuming a lot about the XMPP sever you’re using. I’ve never experienced downtime with mine, so either pick one with a good history for reliability, or self host.

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MagneticFusion@lemm.ee ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Having a phone number and just syncing contacts is way more user friendly than searching for individual usernames. You have to make it as frictionless as possible if you want normies to download and use an extra app.

Also, Signal was not designed for anonymous communication, it was designed for private communication.

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- amanneedsamaid@sopuli.xyz ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Phone numbers are not any easier than usernames, and contacts do sync via XMPP. Frictonlessness is secondary to the functionality of the app.
  
  You act like anonymity is a toggle switch. There are levels to how personally identifiable a user ID is, and at the very top top level are phone numbers.
  
  Phone Numbers < Chosen Usernames (XMPP) < Singular Random User IDs (Session), < Per-Conversation Randomized User IDs (SimpleX).
  
  You also aren’t taking into account metadata, whose availablity is directly impacted by a messenger’s user ID system.
  
  Trying to make the argument the phone number requirement isn’t Signal’s biggest detractor, but is actually a positive feature, are based on nothing but you thinking that.
  
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  - MagneticFusion@lemm.ee ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    Anonymity is a toggle switch, privacy isn’t. Anonymity is either you know who is the person behind this or you don’t. Privacy is how much information you know about this person.
    
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    amanneedsamaid@sopuli.xyz ⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    Fair point, you’re correct. I should have said that it doesnt matter if Signal is meant for private instead of anonymous communications when its user id system inherently has privacy flaws.
    
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