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Telegram introduces feature to prevent users from texting too often in a group

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Re: Telegram introduces feature to prevent users from texting too often in a group

#21

Post by hos234 »

forinti wrote: post #10

I had this idea a while back. I was in a group with just too much useless conversation. So I listed a few things I would like: - customizable posting limits (per day, per week, etc); - timeouts; - time windows (no posts on Sundays, for instance);

Once upon a time that was called a chat room. You entered when you wanted to socialize and left when you were done. Which is more in tune with natural group interactions in real life.

This group chat BS was cooked up more so app devs could hit engagement metrics to satisfy braindead unimaginative investors.

Re: Telegram introduces feature to prevent users from texting too often in a group

#22

Post by saagarjha »

ApolloFortyNine wrote: post #18
tptacek wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"I really like Telegram. It being a secure messenger would make it perfect". I'm not really snarking at you; a lot of things would be better if they were also secure messengers; Slack is an obvious example.

They have end to end encryption available but off by default because it affects searching (they can't index your chat if they don't know what you said). Since your average users would be fine with this, it seems fair to have it as an optional feature.

They could index chats locally…

Re: Telegram introduces feature to prevent users from texting too often in a group

#23

Post by zzzcpan »

jjeaff wrote: post #6
nikivi wrote: post #2

Boggles my mind how WhatsApp is still a more popular messenger than Telegram by a long shot. Talk about network effects and people not doing their research. Or not caring about UX.

I mean, your choice is between an app owned by Facebook or an app owned by the creators of the largest social network in Russia. I'm surprised more aren't using Signal, open source, and I believe funded by a non-profit organization. With founders that are known to care about organizational transparency and user privacy.

> owned by the creators of the largest social network in Russia

Another way to describe them is people who lost the largest social network in Russia and are now Russian expats and dissidents.

> Signal, open source [...] With founders that are known to care about organizational transparency and user privacy.

Not open source, only partly, just like Telegram. And founders are known to have a radical position on trading privacy for centralizing as much control over the app as they can, tying identity to phone numbers, etc. They have exactly as much control over the app as Telegram has. But they are not dissidents or expats and who knows what they are going to do or did with covert or overt government backdooring attempts. Still, despite all the flaws both Signal and Telegram are in a bit better situation wrt privacy than Facebook owned Whatsapp, being in a business of compromising privacy and all.

Re: Telegram introduces feature to prevent users from texting too often in a group

#24

Post by zzzcpan »

sedeki wrote: post #8
jjeaff wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean, your choice is between an app owned by Facebook or an app owned by the creators of the largest social network in Russia. I'm surprised more aren't using Signal, open source, and I believe funded by a non-profit organization. With founders that are known to care about organizational transparency and user privacy.

I think it is worth noting that the creator of VK (Russia’s Facebook equivalent; overtaken by the Russian state), is actually a known libertarian dissident.

Yes, politically Telegram is in the best position between all three.

Re: Telegram introduces feature to prevent users from texting too often in a group

#25

Post by chupa »

Aloha wrote: post #5
nikivi wrote: post #2

Boggles my mind how WhatsApp is still a more popular messenger than Telegram by a long shot. Talk about network effects and people not doing their research. Or not caring about UX.

Telegram wins for me, because desktop is a first class citizen.

Desktop is a first class citizen, so much that encrypted chats aren't supported yet.

Re: Telegram introduces feature to prevent users from texting too often in a group

#26

Post by vinayan3 »

forinti wrote: post #10

I had this idea a while back. I was in a group with just too much useless conversation. So I listed a few things I would like: - customizable posting limits (per day, per week, etc); - timeouts; - time windows (no posts on Sundays, for instance);

I feel like the point of a group chat is to have a channel to speak to a set of people. By having a rate at which you can send messages seems to defeat the purpose of having the communication channel. What if you made a typo or forgot to say something?

At the same time group chat does encourage background chatter and it's a bit annoying to put your phone down and see the notification bubble say there is a ton of unread.

Sub-channels really can help because people can create specific channels for a specific events, hangouts, topics etc... and not have to get everyone's attention. Though, invariably there will be someone who will go into the #general chat and send a message to @everyone. But sub-channels hasn't made it into SMS, and WhatsApp.

Maybe the real problem is people aren't mindful of how wide their messages are being sent and how annoying it can be to get a bunch of messages that aren't relevant to you?

Re: Telegram introduces feature to prevent users from texting too often in a group

#27

Post by kreetx »

Aloha wrote: post #5
nikivi wrote: post #2

Boggles my mind how WhatsApp is still a more popular messenger than Telegram by a long shot. Talk about network effects and people not doing their research. Or not caring about UX.

Telegram wins for me, because desktop is a first class citizen.

I have both Signal and Telegram and although I don't use as much Telegram to say this with absolute certainty, but Signal definitely has issues on all platforms I use (Android, macOS, Linux) - not deal-breakers, but issues. Telegram on the other hand has had none thus far.

Re: Telegram introduces feature to prevent users from texting too often in a group

#28

Post by technofiend »

nikivi wrote: post #2

Boggles my mind how WhatsApp is still a more popular messenger than Telegram by a long shot. Talk about network effects and people not doing their research. Or not caring about UX.

Taking to my friends who are heavy WhatsApp users it's less about text chatting and more about voice chat over data because it's far cheaper per minute than crossing the PSTN.

Re: Telegram introduces feature to prevent users from texting too often in a group

#29

Post by izacus »

vinay427 wrote: post #19
ApolloFortyNine wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They have end to end encryption available but off by default because it affects searching (they can't index your chat if they don't know what you said). Since your average users would be fine with this, it seems fair to have it as an optional feature.

Signal (the messenger) and Tutanota (for emails) both have search on their mobile clients with end-to-end encryption. It's definitely feasible to implement client-side search.

Signal will also lose all your messaging history and kick you out of all your group conversations if your phone breaks or you lose it. It also has no usable automated backup solution or sync.

It's also completely unable to work on multiple devices. Not really comparable in usability.

Re: Telegram introduces feature to prevent users from texting too often in a group

#30

Post by ronnier »

jjeaff wrote: post #6
nikivi wrote: post #2

Boggles my mind how WhatsApp is still a more popular messenger than Telegram by a long shot. Talk about network effects and people not doing their research. Or not caring about UX.

I mean, your choice is between an app owned by Facebook or an app owned by the creators of the largest social network in Russia. I'm surprised more aren't using Signal, open source, and I believe funded by a non-profit organization. With founders that are known to care about organizational transparency and user privacy.

> I'm surprised more aren't using Signal

It's just no polished like Telegram. It's painful to use compared to other apps.

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