Live data from Hacker News

Signal commit Username Integration Test

github.com

61–70 of 76 posts

Re: Signal commit Username Integration Test

#61
post #51

Signal is finally copying what Telegram has implemented since long ago? Do people in the West simply do not care about hiding their number (judging by WhatsApp and Signal)?

Why are you comparing Signal to Telegram? Telegram keeps all of your conversations on their servers in plain text, not to mention any other metadata. Signal only keeps your registration time and last login time. Yes it uses your phone number to do this, but they don't have anything else. Not even your contact list or who sent a message, they just know a blob went somewhere.

yeah, I never really understood how people keep putting the two products in the same space. they're really not the same thing.

Re: Signal commit Username Integration Test

#62
I love Signal, but somehow they seem to have stopped developing the product. The last useful feature was being able to change number. But other than that, things like MobileCoin or Stories show that there is no product vision.

There are many useful non-social network features that they can implement and test that would greatly improve its usefulness as secure p2p communication platform.

Re: Signal commit Username Integration Test

#63
post #62

I love Signal, but somehow they seem to have stopped developing the product. The last useful feature was being able to change number. But other than that, things like MobileCoin or Stories show that there is no product vision. There are many useful non-social network features that they can implement and test that would greatly improve its usefulness as secure p2p communication platform.

This is a huge feature for me. I want most of my applications to stay as they are and not keep adding new features for the sake of new features!

Re: Signal commit Username Integration Test

#64
post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Signal will still require a phone number for registration. You will be able to hide your phone number and use a username instead.

I hope I can finally put signal on my second phone with the same account.

You can with new molly.im update

Re: Signal commit Username Integration Test

#65
post #63
post #62

I love Signal, but somehow they seem to have stopped developing the product. The last useful feature was being able to change number. But other than that, things like MobileCoin or Stories show that there is no product vision. There are many useful non-social network features that they can implement and test that would greatly improve its usefulness as secure p2p communication platform.

This is a huge feature for me. I want most of my applications to stay as they are and not keep adding new features for the sake of new features!

Adding a cryptocurrency payment scheme isn’t exactly “not adding features” though, is it?

Re: Signal commit Username Integration Test

#66
post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are no "public groups" in Signal. Don't know about Whatsapp since I don't have it anymore. All of my groups consist of people I know. You still don't understand the use case. > elegram knows your number and your messages but it is unlikely that they will give them out How do you know that? Do you know the people personally or where is your knowledge coming from because if you don't know them, you are just anoth…

Group Settings > Group Link Then share the link publicly. Signal Public Groups.

Which are...where?

Who does this?

How is the spread of this compared to Telegram groups?

Why do you keep on pushing for the wrong use case?

Re: Signal commit Username Integration Test

#67
post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your group chats go into a black box unencrypted. You don't know what happens to it because it's not E2E. You also gave your phone number to this shady company who runs those servers which keep everything you wrote. Even Whatsapp is better than this. And what is that phone number fetish? It's not like it is some magic identifier. There are bots out there testing every number out there and sending you SNS spam. Your p…

Telegram is not only used for porn and piracy. In fact there's much better places to get those things. I just use it to follow events at clubs in interested in. There's a bit of an overlap with Instagram but I find the telegram experience nicer. Less ads, no stupid 'reels' forced upon me.

Yeah, I'm sure there is even some guy out there who talks to his grandmother using Telegram.

Re: Signal commit Username Integration Test

#68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I regularly talk to Chinese vendors selling robot parts who want to talk over WhatsApp. This is ultimately fine for me but it’s an example of a scenario where I don’t really want to give anything more personal than necessary.

Sure that makes sense to me, however I will say that if I was a vendor selling stuff internationally I probably would want (and even require, depending on export controls) some level of de-anonymization on the buyer's part. Presumably at the very least you need to provide a shipping address to receive the goods, which is no less identifying or difficult to spoof than a phone number.

I suppose. I am happy to give them my business contact info, but my whatsapp is my personal number.

Re: Signal commit Username Integration Test

#69
post #63
post #62

I love Signal, but somehow they seem to have stopped developing the product. The last useful feature was being able to change number. But other than that, things like MobileCoin or Stories show that there is no product vision. There are many useful non-social network features that they can implement and test that would greatly improve its usefulness as secure p2p communication platform.

This is a huge feature for me. I want most of my applications to stay as they are and not keep adding new features for the sake of new features!

That's also part of the issue here: we _are_ getting new [useless] features for the sake of new features lately: stickers, stories, crypto currency support are the main ones that come to mind atm.

And a formatting feature with (seemingly? would love to be wrong there) no syntax to use it without clicking/taping everywhere which makes it useless for me (and frustrating because with a syntax (say, markdown like?) I would love it).

Re: Signal commit Username Integration Test

#70
post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I disabled that feature as soon as it appeared (the less I use a messaging app, the best it is) and forgot about it. Your comment makes me curious: I do really wonder how this feature is used. Signal announced it was really something users were looking for. I wonder if it was a weak attempt at convincing the Instagram crowd or if it is really popular with some population. In the end, I’m still angry that they removed…

My friend group uses Signal for cross-platform group texting and the stories feature is super popular. Great for putting up non-intrusive pet pics or memes. IDK the rationale for introducing it, but I do think it's a fun feature that makes it feel more like a WhatsApp/social messaging replacement, rather than just something people download to coordinate protests or sell drugs.

Thanks for this comment. It makes me understand better how it could be used (never saw the need myself, even when I was on Whatsapp. I probably too old)
Post reply on HN