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Signal is having technical difficulties

status.signal.org

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Re: Signal is having technical difficulties

#561

Post by Groxx »

chopin24 wrote: post #505
Groxx wrote: post #435

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://app.element.io/ -> click "create account" -> create account. The default is for a matrix.org account which is totally fine for anyone who can't/won't dig deeper.

I tapped this link on my iPhone. There’s nothing that says create account. It says I have to download an app called Element. But you said it was called Matrix. This is the level of technical ability that you need to be targeting.

If you install the Element app, its first-launch is quite simple and newbie-friendly. There are a couple more "options" than e.g. WhatsApp, but they're presented very clearly: "Join millions free on the largest public server" or "Premium hosting for organizations" or "Custom & advanced settings" -> tap the first + free one -> Sign up / Sign in with a totally-normal experience after that.

Re "you said it was called Matrix": fair, but I wouldn't send people to "matrix" / the protocol for any system with multiple implementations. I'd send them a link to one of the user-friendly apps (i.e. Element). Similarly, you wouldn't tell someone to join XMPP, you'd send them to the Google Hangouts or MSN Messenger or Playstation apps.

Re: Signal is having technical difficulties

#562

Post by mr_toad »

rcMgD2BwE72F wrote: post #18

Nice workaround for Android users: tap and hold the send button to switch to SMS (insecure but still) https://support.signal.org/hc/en-us/articles/360007321171-Ca... You'll keep all your message history in Signal that way. Good to know when your contact don't have an Internet connection, too.

> You'll keep all your message history in Signal that way.

The NSA will have a copy too, just in case you lose yours!

Re: Signal is having technical difficulties

#563

Post by tortasaur »

arendtio wrote: post #554
input_sh wrote: post #378

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I disagree. I believe the governments should fund existing open source software that are considered to be "critical" infrastructure (as in lots and lots of people rely on it) instead of chasing some random goals and adding bureaucracy on top that would slow down lead developers. Just give them money and trust them that they'll do whatever it is they've done so far that many people recognised and started relying on th…

I am not so sure that we disagree. I would consider instant messaging services 'critical infrastructure'. The difference seems to be, that you want to support projects that are large already, while I would certainly put more focus on smaller projects as those are the ones which can initiate change. I find it heartbreaking, that we still depend on WhatsApp and Zoom. Neither service owner is particular trustworthy. Com…

In terms of software, Signal and Jitsi are great alternatives to WhatsApp and Zoom. People don't use them because of network effects, not because the incumbents are inherently superior.

Re: Signal is having technical difficulties

#564

Post by nimbius »

I fully expect to be downvoted to oblivion for this opinion but it needs to be said. Signal has been down for nine hours. the vast majority of people who turned to this platform today as an alternative to Whatsapp or Facebook probably quit looking into it after the first two minutes of that outage.

for a platform that bills itself after installation as a suitable drop in replacement for your SMS service (and encourages you to shill it to friends as such) this is completely unacceptable and could have easily been avoided with better leadership and architecture.

Cheerleading your users endorsement of privacy on twitter during an outage is insulting.

Most sites and apps monitor things like news sites, twitter and the like for instances where their namesake may be trending. This is done in order to quickly head off DDoS type outages due to things like the slashdot effect. Signal doesnt do this for the same reason Signal is centralized: Moxy writes code like he still lives in 2006.

- Nobody scrambled to bolster capacity after the electric car porn star (Elon Musk) gave a full throated endorsement?

- Nobody raced to improve capacity after Apple looked to be in a position to piss in Facebooks cheerios?

- Nobody even thought to reconsider capacity after Whatsapp showed up in the news JANUARY 6 with a bombshell announcement of privacy changes for users? we waited over a week?

It also needs to be said --yes im aware of my audience-- that centralized services DO NOT scale. Moxys response to this has been cantfix/wontfix, so in traditional dev fashion he throws more hardware at the problem to make it go away instead of looking into a better architecture.

Microservices do not scale. Yes, they scale across the cloud, but they do not scale across support channels. Microservices trade gaming cloud providers for precious pay-by-the-second service for an endless byzantine dumpster fire of almost impossible to diagnose failure conditions. A highly secure end to end encrypted service that expects to replace your SMS needs to be quick to diagnose and fix. Again: NINE HOURS.

A more callous review would suggest that Signal remains centralized because Moxies waiting for an IPO, or an offer from FAANG to buy him out. Im certainly not of that opinion, but FWIW this was a disaster for Signal and most of HN is about to break an arm patting the company on the back.

Whatsapp certainly took notice, and certainly used it as an opportunity to win back some of its detractors.

Re: Signal is having technical difficulties

#565

Post by secfirstmd »

throwaway098237 wrote: post #482
arendtio wrote: post #352

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just wonder about the process and the results. I mean, it doesn't look to me, as if there is a management behind this, that actually has a goal. It looks more like they are giving funds to projects who apply for them. IMO, they should state 3 clear goals and sponsor specific projects which reach those goals. To give some example how those could look like: - create a decentralized, federated instant messaging platfo…

I work in EU research funding programs. The process is very bureaucratic, making it difficult for any small company to apply. Not to mention projects without a company. It's also quite ineffective at giving money to the projects that are meaningful. Large companies and large university projects rake in plenty.

Yeh so true. One of fhe great things about the Open Tech Fund was that it makes it easier for people with open source ideas, like Signal or our own Umbrella security training app, to get funding. Doing that through European funds would be impossible.

Re: Signal is having technical difficulties

#566

Post by rnmp »

eins1234 wrote: post #510

One thing on my wishlist for Signal that's curiously still missing is the lack of a Web app. On desktop at least, I'm generally of the position that messaging apps should need no capability outside of what's available in my browser (i.e. sending notifications), so when the option is available that's the one I tend to go for (usually have my commonly used ones sitting around in a pinned tab). Pretty much every chat ap…

They don’t store messages in the cloud. The desktop app benefits from being able to store them locally. The same could be said of a web app but I’m sure browsers impose some extra limitations.

Re: Signal is having technical difficulties

#567

Post by whymarrh »

nimbius wrote: post #564

I fully expect to be downvoted to oblivion for this opinion but it needs to be said. Signal has been down for nine hours. the vast majority of people who turned to this platform today as an alternative to Whatsapp or Facebook probably quit looking into it after the first two minutes of that outage. for a platform that bills itself after installation as a suitable drop in replacement for your SMS service (and encourag…

I don’t understand, so what? They’re doing their best and if users go somewhere else so be it. I’m sure if they could avoid the outage they would.

They’re not losing profits or anything. They’re hosting a free service. When they get the service back online users will have a secure messaging option that is even more battle-tested.

Re: Signal is having technical difficulties

#568

Post by KirillPanov »

hcurtiss wrote: post #40

This is not good. I've moved so many people over in the last week. For purposes of getting them invested, this is a truly inopportune moment for an extended outage.

> This is not good. I've moved so many people over in the last week.

Please stop moving people to centralized services.

Re: Signal is having technical difficulties

#569

Post by efwfwef »

nimbius wrote: post #564

I fully expect to be downvoted to oblivion for this opinion but it needs to be said. Signal has been down for nine hours. the vast majority of people who turned to this platform today as an alternative to Whatsapp or Facebook probably quit looking into it after the first two minutes of that outage. for a platform that bills itself after installation as a suitable drop in replacement for your SMS service (and encourag…

Just saying, but WhatsApp encrypt communications the same way Signal does, it's good enough for me.

Re: Signal is having technical difficulties

#570

Post by archon810 »

eurg wrote: post #448
alan5 wrote: post #71

I just donated to Signal after seeing the error banner in the app. I realised I was more than happy to pay WhatsApp's yearly charge back in the pre-Facebook days (think it was 70p or so?). Figured I could give Signal a few quid every now and then, maybe keep a server up for a few seconds :) Donation link should anyone be interested: https://signal.org/donate/

Now this is unexpected, and amazing. This is one of the most frictionless donation buttons ever. I love it. Patreon, Paypal, SEPA transfer, all those are a hassle, comparatively. This donation thing used by Signal works exactly as it should be. Enter numbers, hit enter, done. No "please cookie us", no 20 times transfer to other domains, no account creation, and they also don't require stuff like MasterCard 3D secure…

Looks like the donations are powered by Donorbox.org.
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