Signal AMA on Reddit • Hacker News Board

Re: Signal AMA on Reddit

#81

Post by lutoma » Sun, Jan 10, 2021, 12:29 PM UTC

m-p-3 wrote: post #55

shafyy wrote: post #50

I'm a bit worried that the CEO is so vehemently against federation [0]: > It is unlikely that we will ever federate with any servers outside of our control again, it makes changes really difficult. I think as long as there is no federation there will always be the "benevolent dictator" situation, which often doesn't end up well in the long run. At the same time, I'm sure that I couldn't convince my non-tech friends t…

One reason which I chose Matrix over Signal, other than being forced fo tie my identify to a phone number and depend on a smartphone for receiving mesaages.

Also the reason I have 80+ contacts in Signal, but 1 (one) in Matrix. Federation just doesn't work for the average person in practice. Email being the large exception because it's been around for so long.

Re: Signal AMA on Reddit

#82

Post by searchableguy » Sun, Jan 10, 2021, 12:44 PM UTC

zaq1 wrote: post #79

skinkestek wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My thought as well. I have 8 contacts on Telegram, one(!) conversation. Meanwhile everyone from family and friends is at Telegram now and used to be on WhatsApp. I wish Signal all the best: it is totally impressive, they got their incentives aligned totally unlike WhatsApp and to a larger degree than Telegram I think. Personally I'm rooting for Matrix, but for now, based on my limited understanding Signal seems to hi…

In this video, Rob Braxman argues that most Matrix users use either Matrix.org or Element.io servers (may have gotten the names wrong). Matrix is a federation in theory but not in practice, so it's not good for privacy. What do you think? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ke8pXQQPaIw&t=623

The main matrix instance is overloaded and slow so plenty of active people use other instances. Though, most people probably sign up on the main instance.

Re: Signal AMA on Reddit

#83

Post by em-bee » Sun, Jan 10, 2021, 4:59 PM UTC

lutoma wrote: post #81

m-p-3 wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One reason which I chose Matrix over Signal, other than being forced fo tie my identify to a phone number and depend on a smartphone for receiving mesaages.

Also the reason I have 80+ contacts in Signal, but 1 (one) in Matrix. Federation just doesn't work for the average person in practice. Email being the large exception because it's been around for so long.

why does federation not work for the average person? how would they know the difference?

what does cause friction is if clients expect the users to enter their own server details beyond their email address.

i find that very annoying in irc clients for example, where i have to know the details for the network to connect to. jabber/xmpp clients generally did a bit better. and i don't know how well matrix is doing it. but making this easy for the user is a matter of interface design.

there is nothing inherent in federation that makes this hard for users. the only thing is having to choose a server. but for my family for example i would choose the same server as myself, and i'd want to send them a link to sign up. that link could then provide a way to open the messaging client with proper settings in place.

if it is more complicated now, then that's a problem, but one that can be fixed

Re: Signal AMA on Reddit

#84

Post by searchableguy » Sun, Jan 10, 2021, 5:50 PM UTC

Joeboy wrote: post #47

searchableguy wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Could you check the version of signal desktop app? I installed signal desktop app just now. It's 1.139.4 - Do you have the same?

Just upgraded mine and it says v1.39.4. Suspect you might have a spurious 1 in there.

Thanks for the correction.