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Signal Introduces Stories

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Re: Signal Introduces Stories

#71

Post by Daniel_sk »

MonkeyMalarky wrote: post #58
Daniel_sk wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Who uses SMS? I am always surprised when this feature is being mentioned.

Canadians, people in their 30s and beyond, people who aren't on Facebook, random people not in your friend group, businesses. But most of all, the people who keep complaining about SMS support! What you're saying is a bit nonsensical "if I ignore everyone in this group, the group has no one in it".

I use SMS from time to time too - especially random people that call me, but I don't see much added value of having it unified in Signal. I just use the default SMS app on my phone (iMessage app in my case, which also works for SMS). For me Signal is about E2E encrypted messages with more features, SMS is a different much more limited platform.

Re: Signal Introduces Stories

#72

Post by alexb_ »

NdMAND wrote: post #57
alexb_ wrote: post #23

What the fuck happened with Signal? Why did we remove SMS (step 1 into "only criminals use this app") and then start adding stuff that has absolutely nothing at all to do with messaging? Did a federal agent start running the show with the sole mission of destroying the entire app?

Why did we remove SMS (step 1 into "only criminals use this app") and then start adding stuff that has absolutely nothing at all to do with messaging? I think that "only criminals use this app" is always going to be used on anything that uses encryption by folks that are against encryption (usually governments for some reasons...). SMS or not is always going to be there. I don't think that having secure communication…

>Use Telegram! It's unencrypted by default!

You mean the messaging service with no SMS support and an assumption that criminals are the main users?

Signal was great because it gave encrypted messaging to people who didn't know they needed it. When you take away SMS support, the only people who use it are people who know they need it.

Re: Signal Introduces Stories

#73

Post by fragmede »

uoaei wrote: post #52
NdMAND wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> So did Moxie leave because Signal got overtaken by Feds? No, he worked on Signal for so long that he probably just wanted to take a break to work on other passions too - he's still on the Signal Foundation board ( https://signalfoundation.org/ ) > Why is a secure messenger adopting the appearance of social media? I'd argue that Stories (or equivalent) is nowadays a standard feature in many messengers. To more direc…

Let's not conflate "normalized" with "standard". "Standard" implies a lot, and definitely there is nothing about "enabling two-way communication between willing participants" that requires "make available a video on the screens of my contacts in a non-directed way" to be part of the offering. Signal is not social media . That is not its intention, nor its purpose, nor even its design. It is a messaging service. We al…

> Signal is not social media.

I mean, it is now since they just added a stories feature. Sorry that your view of the product doesn't align with Signal's.

You're also using the word bikeshedding in a way unfamiliar to me. I use that word to mean intense debate about inconsequential changes that don't matter, like the right color for a bicycle shed. Which ofc is ludacris because there is no right or wrong color for a bicycle shed. In contrast to that, there are absolutely product decisions about the app that are material to its desired and undesired functionality. If signal decided to change the functionality of their product and stop encrypting texts, would discussion about that be bikeshedding? Why then, is this change in functionality not of similar concern?

Re: Signal Introduces Stories

#74

Post by NdMAND »

uoaei wrote: post #52
NdMAND wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> So did Moxie leave because Signal got overtaken by Feds? No, he worked on Signal for so long that he probably just wanted to take a break to work on other passions too - he's still on the Signal Foundation board ( https://signalfoundation.org/ ) > Why is a secure messenger adopting the appearance of social media? I'd argue that Stories (or equivalent) is nowadays a standard feature in many messengers. To more direc…

Let's not conflate "normalized" with "standard". "Standard" implies a lot, and definitely there is nothing about "enabling two-way communication between willing participants" that requires "make available a video on the screens of my contacts in a non-directed way" to be part of the offering. Signal is not social media . That is not its intention, nor its purpose, nor even its design. It is a messaging service. We al…

> Let's not conflate "normalized" with "standard".

Good point - I agree, should have phrased better.

> We already have a discovery feature in Signal

Another point I should have been more clear. I agree that contact discovery is ... well, discovery! I think what I meant is that right now you can only discover folks you already know (i.e.: have the number for) but you don't get recommendations.

So yeah... I'd say that one of the major points distinguishing Signal from a Social Media (at least one of the definitions of) is the lack of recommendations of new people to follow or things to discover. Signal in that sense is a communication platform.

[note I mean Signal the app not the company]

> bikeshedding

You mean if Signal is or isn't a Social media? Or it's run by the feds?

I mean I replied to the above company with a serious comment but I thought the original one was not particularly useful to any discussion around Stories per se.

Re: Signal Introduces Stories

#75

Post by yamtaddle »

Daniel_sk wrote: post #53
MonkeyMalarky wrote: post #33

That's cool but everyone in my family that I convinced to use Signal just stopped using it because it was their default SMS app. Now it's not.

Who uses SMS? I am always surprised when this feature is being mentioned.

My SMS use:

1) Spam (~40%)

2) Transactional messages (~40%)

3) Conversations with old (45+) relatives (~15%)

4) Conversations with people I barely know (parents of kids' friends, people responding to a web market listing, that kind of thing) (~5%)

Re: Signal Introduces Stories

#76

Post by tfsh »

Group-chat specific stories would be an interesting idea. What I dislike about social media is the wide-reaching effects, being able to constrain this to a close circle of friends (like what G+ alluded) to could catch on.

Re: Signal Introduces Stories

#77

Post by mr_mitm »

uoaei wrote: post #59
hadlock wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

About once a week I get a notification that random person X I haven't talked to in a decade is now on signal. About two months ago the super at my old apartment building got on signal and I got a notification. My late coworker's phone number finally got recycled and the new person using it is on signal too. They appear to be reaching critical mass. Still really mad about them dropping SMS support. I'll be deleting it…

I really don't understand the qualms with SMS support. SMS was never secure, and it certainly doesn't become more secure when you push it through a pass-through on one app or another. There is nothing you can do to SMS to make it more secure except to send encrypted strings: but then you have the same problem of sharing secrets, etc. that requires a separate app to manage anyway.

It means I need an extra app now. Signal replaced my SMS app. I'm not going to stop using SMS completely, so if Signal drops it I need to use one more app.

Re: Signal Introduces Stories

#78

Post by [deleted] »

headhasthoughts wrote: post #14

So did Moxie leave because Signal got overtaken by Feds? Why is a secure messenger adopting the appearance of social media? Doesn't this work explicitly against the entire claimed reason for not having an account system? I would love to hear tptacek's views on this.

[deleted]
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