Comment on Discord Users Threaten Exodus Over Age Verification Face Scan Controversy
yes@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 days agoMatrix allows you to structure rooms pretty similar to Discord. It’s called a “space” that can then have rooms. Also Sub-spaces with more rooms. You can then manage access by inheritance or really granular on a space / room level. E.g. hidden / public rooms and spaces.
A few notes though:
- If you can create a space / room might depend on the Matrix server you are on and what capabilities the server admin gives you.
- There is always the option to completely self-host your Matrix instance - like Lemmy, Mastodon, etc. Depends on how tech savvy you are and if self-hosting is worth it to you ( can mean a ton of work).
- I am not claiming Matrix is a full on Discord replacement. Discord has it’s advantages, but so does Matrix if autonomy, privacy, security are important to you. Matrix does have also neat features and bot-ability… but it’s clearly not as easy as Discord. Good enough for many FOSS projects / communities though.
- IMO one key concept (besides decentralization / federation) that can be hard to grasp for new users is the concept of the recovery key that you get in addition to your username / password. Also does not help that there is “legacy” Element and Element X which add some confusion as they differ a bit in functionality.
- Personally I really like Matrix. Cinny might be an alternative client that might appeal more to you than Element. If you are into self-hosting tuwunel might be worth a look (or matrix synapse if you want to go with the OG server implementation)
NocturnalMorning@lemmy.world 4 days ago
Thanks for the tips! I only just downloaded Matrix. (Element X) to my phone. I’ll have to do some more research on it. I personally could probably set up my own instance if I had to, work it to me, probably not. I mostly use discord for game jam hosting these days, and DnD with my friends. So, if the level of effort is high, or the barrier to entry isn’t low, I don’t imagine ill get a lot of people switching over to the new space. I guess we’ll see what happens.
yes@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 days ago
To play around you can either use Element X or go to app.element.io/#/welcome and use the Element web version. It’s basically the same client. Then create your account with matrix.org - you should be able to create your own space + sub-spaces + rooms to play around with inviting users, get familiar with permissions, etc. There might be limits with video / voice calls - not sure about the public, free matrix.org server.
If Matrix is a good fit you can then look through the offerings of some of the respected hosters listed here: matrix.org/ecosystem/hosting/ Then you don’t have to do everything yourself. They will maintain the infrastructure and your base installation and you can focus on being just the super user / admin and build your community.
IMO the only real “hurdle” compared to traditional apps is that in addition to your username / password you also get a “recovery key”. That’s the key for encryption and people are not used to having an additional key. If you lose that key you can still log in and see new conversions but you will not be able to read old conversations that were encrypted using the old key. A workaround for your community might be to not enable encryption in your community rooms (when creating a room you can decide if its contents are encrypted or not). IMO totally worth the little bit of extra effort, but yeah - not something users are familiar with.
WhyJiffie@sh.itjust.works 4 days ago
or another workaround is to tell them: if they don’t want to deal with the recovery key, that’s fine, but then they should treat it like signal where if you lose your devices, you lose your old messages.
WhyJiffie@sh.itjust.works 4 days ago
in element x you can’t yet manage spaces. It’s silly but it’s a relatively new app and and development goes slowly for some reason. you can create the space in element web though, probably element desktop too because they are the same thing.
about the difficulty of registration. you could recommend an instance to them, so they don’t need to choose themselves if they don’t want to. I recommend one that has set up single signon and element call, and is medium sized (so that it is somewhat prepared for spam waves). tchncs.de/en/matrix/ is like that.
what would be even better is if it was using tuwunel instead of synapse, because the former is the more efficient matrix server software, but the other is good enough too.
if you want to put in some more effort, you can have some insight into matrix servers with this tool: federationtester.mtrnord.blog/?serverName=tchncs.…
and you can find a list of public servers to check here: servers.joinmatrix.org