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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

#32
post #3

Is the HN ranking algorithm open source? I'm curious as to why a story like this makes it to the 2nd or 3rd top ranking story with only 6 points. Especially for an article about what seems to be a minor feature upgrade. Is there some context about telegram that I am missing?

I'd guess that some keywords are ranked higher. Put telegram, crypto, Trump and guns in the title, and it'll make to the top with 1 vote.

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

#33
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've done my research. Whatsapp has encrypted chats by default, Telegram doesn't.

Also Whatsapp UX is much simpler and I value simplicity. Telegram is starting to look like a spaceship with so many features.

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

#34
post #23
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.

> 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…

> Not open source, only partly, just like Telegram.

Signal is completely open source. I'm not sure why you think it's only partly open source.

Quoting Wikipedia[1]:

> All Signal software are free and open-source. The clients are published under the GPLv3 license, while the server code is published under the AGPLv3 license.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Signal_(software)

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

#35
post #3

Is the HN ranking algorithm open source? I'm curious as to why a story like this makes it to the 2nd or 3rd top ranking story with only 6 points. Especially for an article about what seems to be a minor feature upgrade. Is there some context about telegram that I am missing?

Moderators will sometimes rescue a post which didn't receive a lot of upvotes and reset the submission time on the post. This is part of an experiment in giving good HN submissions multiple chances at the front page: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11662380

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

#36
post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Also, it will snark on you to all contacts whenever you move to a new device. And plead with you to let it handle your ordinary sms texting, then hold your text messages hostage, not exportable back to any other app.

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

#37
post #3

Is the HN ranking algorithm open source? I'm curious as to why a story like this makes it to the 2nd or 3rd top ranking story with only 6 points. Especially for an article about what seems to be a minor feature upgrade. Is there some context about telegram that I am missing?

As 'jrimbault provided[0], an earlier version was open source.

From the FAQ[1]:

> "How are stories ranked?"

> "The basic algorithm divides points by a power of the time since a story was submitted. Comments in threads are ranked the same way."

> "Other factors affecting rank include user flags, anti-abuse software, software which demotes overheated discussions, and moderator intervention."

[0]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20664068

[1]: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html

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

#38
post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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…

> Not open source, only partly, just like Telegram. Signal is completely open source. I'm not sure why you think it's only partly open source. Quoting Wikipedia[1]: > All Signal software are free and open-source. The clients are published under the GPLv3 license, while the server code is published under the AGPLv3 license. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Signal_(software)

It's not even on f-droid. You install the binary they control and connect to the servers they run, it's literally a proprietary app, just like Telegram.

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

#39
post #15

I really like Telegram. Only end-to-end encryption by default and in group chats would make it perfect.

"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.

Slack does have E2E (from their perspective) encryption available, but it's the company paying for it that holds the keys, not individual employees.
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