There's really a need for IM interop. These fragmented islands stall the network effect (Metcalfe's law) that is needed to sustain and grow communities. I guess the best thing for the current situatio would be a headless service that would connect to your IM identities, and buffer messages, from many different IM identities and protocols. You would then have intermittedly connected web or terminal or mobile apps as i…
Mozilla is giving up on their IRC server
81–90 of 370 posts
Re: Mozilla is giving up on their IRC server
#82As an admin helping out the Go Slack workspace, which is about to cross 39,500 registered users, they would be ill-advised to go with Slack if moderation is one of their goals. Full disclosure: our Workspakce does have some sort of agreement with Slack, so our space isn't a free space (we have full history), and even then we aren't able to get them to provide support around moderation of users. There is no mechanism…
Re: Mozilla is giving up on their IRC server
#83Well, at least there is still Matrix to hope for.
Re: Mozilla is giving up on their IRC server
#84I don't know about healthy or productive, but I am fairly certain that IRC is safe.
What worries me is that 'safe' has become a bit of a euphemism to mean 'unchallenging,' and what this really means is that the organisation which booted Brendan Eich really wants to unperson anyone who blasphemes this week's orthodoxies.
Re: Mozilla is giving up on their IRC server
#85> We are evaluating products, not protocols. So not using the open internet protocols Mozilla claims to champion. What a disappointment.
Re: Mozilla is giving up on their IRC server
#86As an admin helping out the Go Slack workspace, which is about to cross 39,500 registered users, they would be ill-advised to go with Slack if moderation is one of their goals. Full disclosure: our Workspakce does have some sort of agreement with Slack, so our space isn't a free space (we have full history), and even then we aren't able to get them to provide support around moderation of users. There is no mechanism…
So it sounds like regarding moderation, slack is at best on par with irc. And while on orc you can pretty much script and automate anything you want to facilitate the moderation job, with slack you're at the mercy of having some documented or undocumented api call available? One step forwards and two steps back...
We have seen this before and we will see it again. If OSS wants to be widely used, it needs to take UI seriously, and not dismiss it as frivolous “eye-candy”.
It’s ok so say ‘no, we are fine within our niche’. But then you don’t get to arrogantly explain to them how they are “taking one step forward, two back” by not embarking on the joyful journey of fiddling with config files.
Re: Mozilla is giving up on their IRC server
#87> We are not rolling our own. Whether we host it ourselves or pay for a service, we’re getting something off the shelf that best meets our needs. I sincerely hope it’s not Slack and some restricted search archive platform. Moving away from IRC to a newer system could provide long lived archives to users. But if privacy is very important, then a “no archive” option would be fine (similar to IRC). Anything in between,…
Matrix shows how thorough the switch to HTTP has become. Like with DoH, what makes Matrix most attractive is the ability to implement solutions using pre-existing web application stacks, like Node.js. It's a sort of path dependency where the easiest way to implement a simple solution starts with a very complex, mostly superfluous foundation. The fact that port 80 and 443 are less likely to be blocked is a distant, se…
Re: Mozilla is giving up on their IRC server
#88> We’ve come to the conclusion that for all IRC’s utility, it’s irresponsible of us to ask our people – employees, volunteers, partners or anyone else – to work in an environment that we can’t make sure is healthy, safe and productive. I don't know about healthy or productive, but I am fairly certain that IRC is safe. What worries me is that 'safe' has become a bit of a euphemism to mean 'unchallenging,' and what thi…
I doubt the concerns are about people discussing Rust vs C++. And, this being Mozilla’s semi-internal technical discussions, even the most intellectual, data-backed hot takes on the culture wars de jour are probably out of place: getting DMs like “here are twenty proven statistics girls are bad at math” because you happen to use a female handle is still harassment, even if (hypothetically) true.
Re: Mozilla is giving up on their IRC server
#89I don't really understand how switching to a different system is going to do anything about levels of abuse and harassment. I'm sure it will be easier to use, at least. IRCv3 was trying to solve some of this but I haven't heard a peep in years.
> I don't really understand how switching to a different system is going to do anything about levels of abuse and harassment. It’s just another failed attempt at trying to find a technical solution to a social problem.
Re: Mozilla is giving up on their IRC server
#90Earlier quoted context omitted.
So it sounds like regarding moderation, slack is at best on par with irc. And while on orc you can pretty much script and automate anything you want to facilitate the moderation job, with slack you're at the mercy of having some documented or undocumented api call available? One step forwards and two steps back...
And yet, slack has seen exponential growth, while IRC was always available but rarely used. We have seen this before and we will see it again. If OSS wants to be widely used, it needs to take UI seriously, and not dismiss it as frivolous “eye-candy”. It’s ok so say ‘no, we are fine within our niche’. But then you don’t get to arrogantly explain to them how they are “taking one step forward, two back” by not embarking…