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<title>Alexia: Matrix needs an Instant-Messaging upgrade</title>
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<p><a href="/blog/posts.html">Back to posts</a></p>
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<h1 id="matrix-needs-an-instant-messaging-upgrade.">
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Matrix needs an Instant-Messaging upgrade.
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</h1>
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<p>
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Hello there! Your favourite nerd (or not!) on the internet is here
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to talk about Matrix again.
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</p>
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<p>
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I wanted to write this a little less formal this time, so here we
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go:
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</p>
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<p>
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Every time I get someone to switch to Matrix from literally
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<em>anything</em> else (“unable to decrypt”-memes aside) there is
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usually some “building-block” to the instant-messaging puzzle
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missing. Once this was Media Captions, which
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<a
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href="https://github.com/matrix-org/matrix-spec-proposals/pull/2530"
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>is merged</a
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>, but not practically usable anywhere because no client apart
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from <a href="https://beeper.com">Beeper</a> actually implements
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it yet, or Rich Forwarded Messages, where you can actually see
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from whom a message was forwarded kind of like how Telegram does
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it.
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</p>
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<p>
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Truth is, whilst I love Matrix, there are some things I'm missing
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now that I've not been using Telegram for the past ~6 months or
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so, and this blogpost serves as a one-stop shop for me to
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reference different things that I'd like to see progress and
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actually have implementations landed for. As such,
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<em>let's start listing things…</em>
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</p>
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<h2 id="rich-extended-profiles">Rich / Extended Profiles</h2>
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<p>
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Yeah this is quite the pain-point right now,
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<strong
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>profiles are essentially just your name, MXID and
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avatar</strong
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>, although on basically <em>every other platform on earth</em>,
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you actually get options to customize your profile.
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</p>
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<p>
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Let's take (the dreaded) Discord as an example, where you get: -
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Avatar / Profile Picture - A banner - Badges (depending on
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different attributes your account has, e.g developer or
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contributor status) - A description / “about me” section
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</p>
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<p>
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That is quite a selection there (and I've left some things out),
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and it makes for some quite rich profiles that can have lots of
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info on a person. I can link a blog, accent my avatar with an
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extra banner, and maybe show off that I work on some project using
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a badge<a
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href="#fn1"
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class="footnote-ref"
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id="fnref1"
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role="doc-noteref"
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><sup>1</sup></a
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>, it's quite nice!
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</p>
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<h3 id="mscs-that-relate-to-this-issue">
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MSCs that relate to this issue:
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</h3>
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<ul>
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<li>
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<a
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href="https://github.com/matrix-org/matrix-spec-proposals/pull/1769"
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>MSC1769: Rooms-as-profiles</a
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>
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</li>
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<li>
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<a
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href="https://github.com/matrix-org/matrix-spec-proposals/pull/3755"
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>MSC3755: User Pronouns</a
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>
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</li>
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<li>
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<a
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href="https://github.com/matrix-org/matrix-spec-proposals/pull/4133"
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>MSC4133: key:value pairs for profiles</a
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>
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</li>
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</ul>
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<h2 id="better-forwarded-messages">Better Forwarded Messages</h2>
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<p>
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Right now, there is a couple of MSCs (see below) that try to
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tackle the issue of…forwarded messages not really existing in
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Matrix. Forwarding a message is <em>about as good</em> as just
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doing a Copy & Paste manoeuvre; Practically useless.
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</p>
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<p>
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Comparing this to something like Telegram or even WhatsApp makes
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it clear to see why:
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<strong
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>There is no indication that you're actually viewing a forwarded
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message</strong
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>. It will be completely out of context.
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</p>
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<h3 id="mscs-that-relate-to-this-issue-1">
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MSCs that relate to this issue:
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</h3>
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<ul>
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<li>
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<a
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href="https://github.com/matrix-org/matrix-spec-proposals/pull/2723"
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>MSC2723: Forwarded event metadata</a
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>
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</li>
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<li>
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<a
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href="https://github.com/matrix-org/matrix-spec-proposals/pull/2730"
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>MSC2730: Verifiable forwarded events</a
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>
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</li>
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</ul>
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<h2 id="rich-activity-indicators">Rich activity indicators</h2>
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<p>
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Probably one of the most useless seeming, but actually most
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<em>useful</em> features that we could “steal” from Telegram is
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rich activity indicators, or just “more typing indicators” as it's
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also sometimes called.
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</p>
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<p>
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The concept is simple: Usually you can see when someone types, but
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not when they are sending media, or are otherwise waiting on
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something else to send. Rich Typing Indicators fixed this by
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adding <em>all kinds of extra indicators</em> to the platform that
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showed when you were sending media, picking a sticker, or doing
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other actions.
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</p>
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<p>
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Whilst I think we should not go quite as… <em>deep</em>, some of
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the more basic things like “[user] is sending media…” would
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definitely add value to the instant-messaging experience in
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Matrix.
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</p>
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<h3 id="mscs-that-relate-to-this-issue-2">
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MSCs that relate to this issue:
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</h3>
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<ul>
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<li>
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<a
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href="https://github.com/matrix-org/matrix-spec-proposals/blob/travis/msc/typed-typing-notifs/proposals/3038-typed-typing-notifications.md"
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>MSC3038: Typed typing notifications</a
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>
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</li>
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</ul>
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<h2 id="games-and-interactive-content">
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Games and interactive content
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</h2>
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<p>
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Pulling straight from Telegram and iMessage again, I think
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interactive content in chats is actually quite fun. This could be
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a game a-la <a href="https://webxdc.org/">WebXDC</a> (which could
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integrate with existing Matrix widgets 👀) or maybe something
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entirely different!
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</p>
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<p>
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I envision this kind of depending on the rich typing indicators,
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as it could tell the people in a room whether someone is currently
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playing a game. Additionally, I don't see why people wouldn't be
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able to play games together using MatrixRTC :3; Oh, and another
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thing would <em>probably</em> be sending state events to capture
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the current state of a game, like the high-score and who holds it,
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or the current layout in a game of chess.
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</p>
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<h3 id="mscs-that-relate-to-this-issue-3">
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MSCs that relate to this issue:
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</h3>
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<ul>
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<li>
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again, <strong>none</strong>! Couldn't find any, maybe I'll get
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the discussion started on my own…
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</li>
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</ul>
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<h2 id="live-location">Live Location</h2>
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<p>
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Quite self-explanatory, what about sharing our location
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<em>in real-time?</em>
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</p>
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<p>
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There is quite a lot to unpack here on the Client-Side, e.g it
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needs to stay active on mobile devices even when the screen is
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off, across multiple operating systems, but the idea is quite
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simple:
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<strong
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>let me share my location, for X amount of time, updating every
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X Seconds/Minutes/Hours</strong
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>
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</p>
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<p>
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There is some existing work on this if I recall right (e.g legacy
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element), but it has been mostly abandoned and isn't found in
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Element X.
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</p>
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<h3 id="mscs-that-relate-to-this-issue-4">
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MSCs that relate to this issue:
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</h3>
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<ul>
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<li>
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<a
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href="https://github.com/matrix-org/matrix-spec-proposals/pull/3672"
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>MSC3672: Sharing ephemeral streams of location data</a
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>
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(this isn't the <em>only</em> MSC regarding this, but the most
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comprehensive one I've found.)
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</li>
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</ul>
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<h2 id="replying-with-media">Replying with media</h2>
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<p>
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Technically, some clients do not prohibit this, and I don't think
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the spec does either, but
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<em>basically no client allows you to do this!</em>
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</p>
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<p>
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Wanna reply with an image? Bad luck, most clients won't allow you
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even when they can display that just fine.
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</p>
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<h3 id="mscs-that-relate-to-this-issue-5">
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MSCs that relate to this issue:
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</h3>
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<ul>
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<li>None? Mostly unnecessary from what I can gather.</li>
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</ul>
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<h2 id="inline-bots">Inline Bots</h2>
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<p>
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Oh boy. A friend suggested this and I don't even know where to
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start.
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</p>
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<p>
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Inline Bots are a Telegram feature that allows you to input the
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handle of a given Telegram bot, and have the rest of your chat
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input field be fed to the bot, which is useful to embed an image
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search for instance.
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</p>
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<p>
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I have no idea where this would even fall, Client-Server? Maybe
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needs to open a room with bots? No damn clue.
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</p>
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<h3 id="mscs-that-relate-to-this-issue-6">
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MSCs that relate to this issue:
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</h3>
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<ul>
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<li>Absolutely 100% none.</li>
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</ul>
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<h2 id="scheduled-messages">Scheduled Messages</h2>
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<p>
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Honestly, I don't know how this isn't already implemented, as it
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is quite self-explanatory and the MSC seems to be progressing
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nicely.
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</p>
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<h3 id="mscs-that-relate-to-this-issue-7">
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MSCs that relate to this issue:
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</h3>
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<ul>
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<li>
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<a
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href="https://github.com/matrix-org/matrix-spec-proposals/pull/3277"
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>MSC3277: Scheduled Messages</a
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>
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</li>
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</ul>
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<h2 id="content-warnings-media-spoilers">
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Content Warnings / Media Spoilers
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</h2>
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<p>
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Whilst there is already spoilers in matrix<a
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href="#fn2"
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class="footnote-ref"
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id="fnref2"
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role="doc-noteref"
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><sup>2</sup></a
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>, you've never been able to set them for <em>media</em>. This
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means you can't share an image or a video without someone in the
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room seeing a preview. If you're sharing images about a movie, or
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maybe a video going over a story, using a spoiler to indicate that
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you might not wanna view this is a nice feature to have
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</p>
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<h3 id="mscs-that-relate-to-this-issue-8">
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MSCs that relate to this issue:
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</h3>
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<ul>
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<li>
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<a
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href="https://github.com/matrix-org/matrix-spec-proposals/pull/3725"
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>MSC3725: Content Warnings</a
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>
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</li>
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</ul>
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<h2 id="media-albums">Media Albums</h2>
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<p>
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Yet Another Gripe With Media On Matrix™ that I've had for a while
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is that I can only send one image per event at a time; even
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clients that let me send multiple things will just send them one
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after another.
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</p>
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<p>
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Media Albums would mean we can <em>finally</em> put a buncha
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things together into one message
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</p>
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<h3 id="mscs-that-relate-to-this-issue-9">
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MSCs that relate to this issue:
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</h3>
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<ul>
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<li>
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<a
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href="https://github.com/matrix-org/matrix-spec-proposals/pull/3382"
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>MSC3382: Inline Message Attachments</a
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>
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</li>
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</ul>
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<h2 id="user-notes">User Notes</h2>
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<p>
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Sometimes you just wanna leave a little note about someone. This
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feature would be about adding a note to the profile of a user that
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only you can see, I got it suggested when asking on
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<a href="https://wetdry.world/@cyrus">wetdry.world</a> about input
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on Matrix features.
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</p>
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<h3 id="mscs-that-relate-to-this-issue-10">
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MSCs that relate to this issue:
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</h3>
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<ul>
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<li>None? Not sure.</li>
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</ul>
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<h2 id="sharing-drafted-messages-between-devices">
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Sharing drafted messages between devices
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</h2>
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<p>
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Ever wanted to continue writing a message on your desktop, only to
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then having to copy the message manually? This would allow you to
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automatically have your drafted message available on other
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devices.
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</p>
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<h3 id="mscs-that-relate-to-this-issue-11">
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MSCs that relate to this issue:
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</h3>
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<ul>
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<li>
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<a
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href="https://github.com/matrix-org/matrix-spec-proposals/pull/4146"
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>MSC4146: Shared Message Drafts</a
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>
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</li>
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</ul>
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<hr />
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<h1 id="important-to-mention">Important to Mention</h1>
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<p>
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There are some things that I'd like to address in here that I
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explicitly didn't put into their own categories, these include:
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</p>
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<ul>
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<li>The issue of State Resets</li>
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<li>Trust & Safety struggles</li>
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<li>Portable Identities</li>
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<li>Relationship with Element</li>
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<li>etc…</li>
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</ul>
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<p>
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Generally my thoughts on all of the above are quite similar, a lot
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of these issues are only slowly being addressed
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<strong>due to a lack of funding.</strong> The Matrix Foundation
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has been struggling to get a good source of income for a while
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now, to the point Element was given ownership of Synapse under the
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AGPL so that they can make money from selling license exceptions<a
|
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href="#fn3"
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class="footnote-ref"
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id="fnref3"
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role="doc-noteref"
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><sup>3</sup></a
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>
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to try and fund important work that way, but even then the
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foundation is still largely dependant on entities (e.g schools or
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other government-adjacent bodies) that do not care about core
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Matrix work and instead only care about new features (that is why
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Polls exist in Matrix, but is only supported by Element).
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</p>
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<p>
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Without independent funding (from users, advocates or enthusiasts
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and alike) there is barely anything the foundation can do on their
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own right now. Especially state resets is a hard problem as it -
|
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to this day from my knowledge - is barely entirely understood, and
|
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fixes that have been proposed would require <em>more</em> than
|
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just a new room version, which is already quite a hard sell.
|
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</p>
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<p>
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Of course I'd like to see these issues solved, but without our
|
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support that won't happen; Especially when the attitude is always
|
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just “Matrix Sucks”, “just use XMPP” or “I'd like a working
|
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protocol!”. It is <em>entirely counterproductive</em> to improving
|
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matrix to have such an attitude. The same goes for proposing that
|
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the entire design of Matrix, where the DAG is replicated across
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servers as part of decentralization, should be scrapped. That just
|
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does not make sense as a point to <em>improving</em> Matrix that
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is <em>replacing</em> Matrix. Make your own protocol at that
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point.
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</p>
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<hr />
|
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<h1 id="matrixs-place-in-the-modern-im-landscape">
|
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Matrix's place in the modern IM landscape
|
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</h1>
|
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<p>
|
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Of course, there's some more reasons that I am writing this than
|
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just my love for Matrix; I am writing this because the
|
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Instant-Messaging landscape right now looks <em>scary</em> to say
|
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the least.
|
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</p>
|
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<p>
|
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Left and right we have influential figures (ab)using their
|
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influence over their audience to push things like Telegram, or try
|
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and discredit Signal's security using baseless claims, Network
|
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effect keeps people locked in to insecure solutions, and
|
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governments around the world are trying to undermine security and
|
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privacy for all. In a time like this, where influential figures
|
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are abusing their power in this way, we need something
|
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<strong>open</strong>. We need something where we do not need to
|
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worry that someone comes into the scene and starts to confuse
|
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everyone by spreading targeted Disinformation campaigns with
|
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unknown motives, where one with power may push forward dangerous
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clientside-scanning proposals that undermine encryption, and
|
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something where we can be free in owning our identity.
|
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</p>
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<p>
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In a way, it should be like E-Mail. Anyone can host a mailserver,
|
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anyone can provide one, anyone can talk to anyone, and unless
|
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you're funneled into one specific server, you do not have to worry
|
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that someone has been backdooring your communication this entire
|
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time.
|
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</p>
|
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<p>
|
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I believe that Matrix is the best shot we have at this. It
|
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<strong>has</strong> growing pains, it
|
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<strong>has</strong> issues, and the ecosystem has been struggling
|
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for a while, but without support we aren't getting anywhere. We
|
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need something like Matrix.
|
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</p>
|
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<aside
|
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id="footnotes"
|
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class="footnotes footnotes-end-of-document"
|
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role="doc-endnotes"
|
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>
|
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<hr />
|
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<ol>
|
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<li id="fn1">
|
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<p>
|
|
Although, in Discord the badges are mostly for Discord
|
|
Developers, or verified bot developers or whatever.<a
|
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href="#fnref1"
|
|
class="footnote-back"
|
|
role="doc-backlink"
|
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>↩︎</a
|
|
>
|
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</p>
|
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</li>
|
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<li id="fn2">
|
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<p>
|
|
There are indeed spoilers <em>for text</em> in Matrix,
|
|
however there is no way - not even a hacky workaround - to
|
|
get media spoilers, letalone content warnings.<a
|
|
href="#fnref2"
|
|
class="footnote-back"
|
|
role="doc-backlink"
|
|
>↩︎</a
|
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>
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</p>
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</li>
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|
<li id="fn3">
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|
<p>
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|
Before anyone says it, <strong>no</strong>, this isn't a
|
|
violation of some license, most contributions came from
|
|
Element or Element Employees anyway and I'm pretty sure
|
|
there is/was a CLA.<a
|
|
href="#fnref3"
|
|
class="footnote-back"
|
|
role="doc-backlink"
|
|
>↩︎</a
|
|
>
|
|
</p>
|
|
</li>
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|
</ol>
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|
</aside>
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|
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<hr />
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|
<p>
|
|
If you liked what you read, please consider donating:
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|
<a class="donate" href="https://ko-fi.com/cyrus42"
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|
>Donate on Ko-Fi</a
|
|
>
|
|
</p>
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</div>
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</div>
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</div>
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</div>
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</body>
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</html>
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