::: Edit: New Discord Developments

Well that’s just great: Mandatory Arbitration Policy (and annoyed comments)

Oh, and of course, ads.

Have you heard of another social media platform that mandates arbitration? I’ll wait…

:::

::: Edit-2: Part-2

AI Scraping.

:::

Some of the biggest advantages of Element/Matrix:

  • It’s auditable, so you know no surprises are going to occur.
  • It’s end-to-end encrypted, so no one can see your conversations. Makes it very helpful for discussing sensitive topics like security vulnerabilites. Something Discord has notoriously refused to support (and probably never will due to a large audience of underage people and need for access by various people).
  • It’s a lot more like Discord in terms of UI, compared to something like XMPP
  • And it’s popular, relative to other federated chat services:

Most Mastodon/Lemmy servers run Matrix instances since ActivityPub has no support for private DMs. I mean, pretty much no public social network has private DMs, since social networks have obligations to lots of parties, advertisers and the like, but Matrix comes closest to actually being private, while also being to communicate with other people via federation.

That being said, federation has a bit of a downside: lots of metadata exchanged between servers. We’ll cover this later, however, if you already have a public social media presence, and you’re not a dissident, this should not be a big issue, and is still a big improvement over centralized social media, like Discord.

(What, you didn’t think platforms like Discord would store metadata? I personally wouldn’t trust them given their attitude over the GDPR…

So… if you’re not a dissident, you should be fine. (Though if you are a dissident, you should probably be using Signal or something else…)

Data hygiene, continued

Metadata comes in exchange for federation, in other words, access to as many users as possible.

Although Matrix is notorious for spreading metadata around, it is at least shocking you into about what you’re leaking into the federation, mainly by letting everyone (including you) know what you’re up to. So remember: if you enter a room, leave a room, change your profile picture, change permissions, enable yourself to contact another person via email, etc, etc. Matrix will tell you in the chatroom. So if you don’t want anyone to know, don’t do it.

It is a rather blunt attitude from Matrix, but it’s not like this isn’t done, secretly, no less, on centralized social media either.

And although I said dissidents should probably use Signal, there are still people who still Matrix for politically sensitive matters, given that it is popular, open source software with end to end encryption. These notifications keep people safe. So get used to it.

Signing Up / Pitfalls to be Aware Of

You’ll do most of your interactions with Matrix via Element. You can access it via your homeserver (if they provide one), or via https://app.element.io . Actually, you may not even have to sign up. But before you go, there are some things to be aware of when on-boarding people on Matrix:

Earlier, I suggested you should look around on your Mastodon/Lemmy instance for their Matrix homeserver, even asking your admin for help if necessary, and here’s why:

  • Homeserver Matrix.org: This is the default homeserver Element presents you with, and which everyone signs up on. I wouldn’t recommend signing up here though, because, in addition to adding load to an already stressed homeserver, its popularity necessitates lots of antispam measures frequent use of bans. I hope you aren’t using a VPN or Tor…

  • Any public Matrix instance list: These servers are overloaded. (Ask me how I know.) With that said, there are Matrix instances, with open signups, that you can go to right now. Check your options first though because:

The best solution is to look for Matrix access on your (or your neighbor’s?) Mastodon/Lemmy server.

These are the domains of self-hosted versions of the Element web app, provided by Zeroes.ca and Infosec.Exchange.

Of course, if a feature is missing, nothing is stopping you from going to https://app.element.io, clicking sign in, pressing “edit” on the Homeserver domain and changing matrix.org to, say, talk.zeroes.ca.

So, unlike Mastodon, you don’t necessarily have to worry as much about your instance owner updating your homeserver. Another plus of Matrix.

If your instance doesn’t have a Matrix server…

You’re not out of luck! Have you considered, maybe, the site you’re currently on? It isn’t listed, but it is open sign up, and you should have a good experience through here.

  1. Go to https://app.element.io/
  2. Click Create Account
  3. In the section “Host Account On” click edit.
  4. Type in discuss.online. Don’t forget to tip jgrim and the other admins. Lemmy.world is another good option, it’s the Matrix server from the largest Lemmy instance, and is run by the Mastodon.world team. 4.1: Hey, maybe your Mastodon admin set up a secret-ish Matrix instance too. No harm in putting in mas.to, or some other Mastodon domain just to check…
  5. Fill out the form. Yay! You’re done.

To access contacts and rooms on other homeservers, don’t forget the convention @user:instance_domain.com or !room:instance_domain.com.

And that’s pretty much it!

Wasn’t so bad, huh? Anyways, if you want access to the CPCSupport Matrix space, don’t forget to DM @fediversefittester@fedia.social on Mastodon or @fediversefittester@fedia.io on Lemmy.