With the ever increasing online mass surveillance encroaching every day, lately I've decided to try some chat platforms/protocols, other than Discord.
Some people moved over Stoat due to Discord's recent (awful) decisions, my first impressions of it were okay, it works and feels like discord, primarily being able to create multiple text channels. Right now it has some bugs, and screensharing is still being worked on, but it's a nice project altogether. All that being said, I don't have much hope on that platform at the moment, due to it being hosted in UK, it's a matter of time until they're forced to ask users for private sensitive data. People suggested the devs to add federation to it (which means: you could host your own server and still be able talk with other people from other servers) and they seem interested, but currently it's not their focus. I'm keeping an eye on this project, though.
And then there's Matrix... I've see people recommending as a discord alternative, but after trying it out, this project is doing its own thing than trying to be another Discord clone. I've used it for a little bit with friends, but we all ended up going back to discord due to how weird and janky it is use. My biggest gripe is how difficult it is to self-host a server, it's a mess. I won't be coming back to this one.
Then I decided to look further, and after considering some candidates (like IRC), in the end, XMPP caught my attention. Self-hosting a server (with prosody) is quite straight forward, and it comes with user management, file sharing and federation out of the box. It's nowhere close to a discord replacement, but it's rather similar to telegram/whatsapp. My first impressions of the desktop and android clients were pretty good, and you can make group chats and voicecalls too.
But anyway, I'm not leaving discord, for now at least, it's where my friends and contacts are. But with all the recent news, it's becoming harder and harder to trust in this platform. So, I'm limiting discord in fewer devices, and I decided to host my own little private XMPP. You're probably wondering "Is it worth it?", in a privacy standpoint, it absolutely does, but when it comes to userbase numbers in XMPP, well... it's there, if you're interested in using it.
If you happen to be using xmpp too, then here's my contact: miau@inoot.net But if you're not using xmpp and you're still interested, then you have two options: Sign up to an existing XMPP server (you can easily find many through search engines), or also host a server. I won't go into details how to do the latter in this post, but if anyone is interested, let me know and I could write another journal about it.
TL;DR: I've made a XMPP chat account, you can reach me through: miau@inoot.net
I am having other platforms on my mind, but haven't tried anything really yet. Though I am aiming on leaving discord eventually if their shinanigans get insufferable enough. Thanks for suggestions though
I am having other platforms on my mind, but haven't tried anything really yet. Though I am aiming on
They only delayed the verifications after the heavy online pushback, it's a matter of time until we're seeing the internet being vocal about it again. :p
They only delayed the verifications after the heavy online pushback, it's a matter of time until we'
It's a protocol, think of it like how we use HTTP for websites, but XMPP is meant for chats. It's definitely not as popular as other chat options out there, but it's been around for a very long time.
It's a protocol, think of it like how we use HTTP for websites, but XMPP is meant for chats. It's de
With Matrix, I found it easy to host a server, you just have to pay for one if you don't have your own. Could be the only downside but in turn you have full control over what gets posted there. I don't know what you mean with jank, but I admit it's not perfect. I like what it's doing though and after a glance it seems XMPP might not be that different if I understand it right? I'm just not sure about its privacy policy, because those files have to be stored somewhere, but I might look through it a bit more.
With Matrix, I found it easy to host a server, you just have to pay for one if you don't have your o
By the way, your link doesn't go to matrix. You're linking to a client that can connect to the matrix network. This is the correct link. I think I can understand why you got confused about hosting a server then.
By the way, your link doesn't go to matrix. You're linking to a client that can connect to the matri
I know this reply looks super big, but I'm just answering both comments at once.
When I mean by self-hosted server, I mean to run your own Linux VPS or home server, and install the software you need yourself. Trying to install a Matrix server is difficult and the documentation doesn't hold your hand either, it's not friendly in the slightest for the average user trying to self-host on their own hardware. And sure, you could rent a matrix server, but it's not what I'm looking for. When you host your own self-hosted server (preferably on your own hardware, if possible), it helps with privacy.
As for jank, I refer to the element client. I'm aware there are many more clients available for Matrix, but if you're a Discord user that uses voicechat frequently (like myself), it's pretty much the only option available with that feature. And the voicechat in it (yes, I know it's jitsi) lacks push-to-talk and filtering options, which is a big issue for me and my contacts. But like I said in the journal, I'm using XMPP not as a discord replacement, but something similar to telegram/whatsapp that I could use as an alternative chat option, but more private than those two.
As for the matrix link, yes, it was intentional, it is the most popular matrix client (like how Ubuntu is a popular Linux distro), so it's easier to link that for the average user rather than explaining how Matrix works and all that.
I know this reply looks super big, but I'm just answering both comments at once. When I mean by sel
Oh, I forgot to talk about the privacy policy. XMPP clients include end-to-end encryption, usually with OMEMO or PGP as options. When sending messages/files, they are stored in the server temporarily, in case one or more users are offline. If you have e2ee on, then everything is encrypted before it's sent to the server.
Oh, I forgot to talk about the privacy policy. XMPP clients include end-to-end encryption, usually w
I have heard of it but i never thought you could actually build your own server using it, thought it was just a protocol. Glad to see someone giving a shit about privacy these days!
I have heard of it but i never thought you could actually build your own server using it, thought it
