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matrix isn't a fediverse thing, it's its own thing. it does happen to be decentralized, like the fediverse.
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matrix isn't an alternative to discord. it's an alternative to whatsapp/signal/telegram/etc.
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matrix is nice (I use it with my friend group), but it's not perfect. we're looking for something better.
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if you're looking for a decentralized, self-hosted, open-source, secure alternative for discord, my friends and I use Mumble. It works great for VoIP (and its noise cancellation software actually seems to work noticeably better than Discord's), but it doesn't really have the advanced text chat features that Discord does. We make do with Matrix.
this post was submitted on 17 Jul 2023
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matrix isn't an alternative to discord. it's an alternative to whatsapp/signal/telegram/etc
Yes and no.
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Matrix is a communication standard. More like SMTP, RSS or XMPP than those things. I don't know why Matrix specifically has this problem because you'll never see anyone say "I've joined ActivityPub".
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Element is by far and away the most popular Matrix client (similar to how Mastodon is the most popular ActivityPub software) and it has "Spaces", which functions similar to Discord "servers" (not actually servers). Better in some ways but mostly worse. Namely in terms of stability and the function of "spaces" specifically.
While it's true people don't say "I've joined ActivityPub", isn't that synonymous with "I've joined the Fediverse"? Besides, the organization behind it does market it that way — they themselves refer to it as "joining Matrix, using one of these clients" (Element, Fluffychat, etc). Like, that's what their website is called, and so is the Matrix server they host.
Their centralization is, I think, a little more advanced than Mastodon's. The organization that maintains the protocol regularly adds features to it, and then of course immediately updates their own client and server implementations to have those same, recently added features, meaning the other client and server implementations are always behind on at least a few features. It's becoming reminiscent of how the web browser spec is so bloated, and gets new stuff added to it with such regularity, that new browsers are basically impractical.
Why is it an alternative to telegram but not to discord?
It allows you to have personal 1 to 1 conversations and group chats, just like WhatsApp, Telegram or Signal.
Discord isn't exactly the same thing as Telegram, that's why Matrix.org is usually mentioned as an alternative to WhatsApp or Telegram but not Discord
On Discord you can have 1:1 chats and rooms as well.
But I feel both Discord and Matrix are better suited to room chats than 1:1, if for nothing else because the registration is a tad more complex than just receiving an sms, and you're not sharing your phone number with a 1000 people.
I think the general vibe is that WA or Signal is for small friends groups exactly because of reliance on phone number, while the others aren't.
Ed: also the E2E doesn't "just work" like on WA/Signal.
Yes, you can have 1:1 and rooms on Discord too, but the level of customization of rooms, roles and permissions Discord has is much more advanced than what you can find in WA, Telegram or Matrix.org.
On Discord when you're in a server you can see (usually) every other user that's on the same server, and in every room you'll see some of those people, depending on the permissions. That's not how the other options mentioned before work.
Also, on Discord you can have specific rooms dedicated to audio/video chats, on the rest (WA, Telegram, Matrix) it works differently.
I think it's mainly because of those reasons that people compare Matrix to WA and/or Telegram instead of saying it's a "Discord alternative".
there is work in matrix for video rooms, along with native group calls in matrix which once its added to the spec more clients will likely start implementing
Matrix isn't the alternative for discord. Others have been named.
Matrix is a chat with a high regard for encryption, more an alternative to Whatsapp and signal then discord.
I like Matrix but it's far from Discord right now
That's a good thing. Discord is chugging its way through the last half of the Web 2.0 service to social media pipeline. It's a VC-funded multimedia enterprise extended around a novel technology core optimized for its original service offering, real-time voice/text. Nobody is immune to bloat, but because Matrix is a protocol standard, not an app, users have the option of sticking with minimal clients and servers that won't (necessarily) get destroyed by feature creep.
If you've tried Element and thought "ah, slow Discord," maybe have a scroll through https://matrix.org/ecosystem/clients/. I don't want to get off topic but all my favorite software is standard/specification-based.
I loved Discord back in 2015/2016. I hate it now.
Me and my boys have been using discord for years now to chat while we game and maybe stream what we’re doing just to each other.
Discord has added features and shit I suppose but I haven’t changed how I use it at all since I first started.
I would say it’s a lot more than discord. Putting it that way doesn’t give it as much credit as it deserves. My favorite out of the laundry list of features and benefits is that you can synchronize your messaging across all platforms into a single interoperable client if your choosing. You can use a better standard while not having to bug others to switch.
I just had to go and look this up to get more details
https://matrix.org/ecosystem/bridges/
Looks like you need to be hosting your own server, then you can install plugins for separate services. Very cool..
I'd love to tie together a few different systems I'm using but I worry that the bridges will break every time a platform does an update
Have long have you been using it? How's your experience been? What bridges are you using?
You don't have to host your own, just join an instance with bridges. That being said, running your own is easy and nice with docker, including the bridges.
Where would be a good starting point to check out a list of instances with these bridges? And how safe are they?
Beeper is a paid Matrix server that neatly integrates with many other chat services using a custom GUI specifically designed for integration with third party apps.
this is why I never got into matrix. I don't actually know how lol, the page doesn't list servers available and i don't really want to just spin up my own just for myself
I wish Matrix/Element focused a bit more on their experimental P2P version, released as experimental in 2020 and then left it in the drawer :/
https://matrix.org/blog/2020/06/02/introducing-p2p-matrix/
https://github.com/vector-im/element-android-p2p (... and just why the zuck are they hosting builds on a gdrive instead on the github proper ???)