Post AweVuRn5ce3k4EX0m8 by nikatjef@mastodon.acm.org
(DIR) More posts by nikatjef@mastodon.acm.org
(DIR) Post #AweVuBHezjPas7hgZ6 by blog@shkspr.mobi
2025-07-29T11:34:22Z
3 likes, 4 repeats
I'm never going back to Matrixhttps://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/07/im-never-going-back-to-matrix/I should love Matrix. It is a decentralised, privacy preserving, multi-platform chat tool. Goodbye Slack and your ridiculous free limits. Adiós Discord and your weird gamification. Suck it IRC with your obscure syntax and faint stench of BO. WhatsApp and Telegram can stick their heads in a bucket of lukewarm sick and sing sea shanties! Let's join the future!The problem is - Matrix is shit. Not just on a protocol level, but on an organisational level as well.I joined Matrix at FOSDEM - the largest gathering of open source nerds in Europe. We were all encouraged to use it - every talk had its own channel, all the official comms came from there, I was even invited to a top-secret private channel for speakers. This was going to be epic! Viva la rèvölūçïón, right? Wrong.It was dead. Even among the most seasoned geeks on the planet, most people preferred to use other services like Signal, Telegram, and Slack. Why? Because those other tools actually work.Matrix has two official Android apps - one of which is old and unsupported, the other is new and doesn't work with many of the basic chat features.I want to be absolutely clear about this - the company behind Matrix have put out an app which doesn't work with their own product! Lest you think I'm exaggerating, here's a typical view of the official FOSDEM speaker room, using the official Matrix app:It was embarrassing. People would pipe up in channels and say "this doesn't work" only to be told they were using the wrong app and should go back to the one marked unsupported. So they left, never to return. Even in the large talks, where people were encouraged to use the official Matrix chat, most of the conversation happened on other platforms. It was just too hard to use Matrix.A few thousands geeks, all used to recompiling their own kernels and participating in the Fediverse, and most thought that Matrix was too much of a faff.After FOSDEM, I kept the Matrix app on my phone. Occasionally receiving a ping from some long-forgotten channel.And then, one day, I got hit with the most vile spam. A dozen notifications suddenly appeared on my phone with abuse, torture, and transphobic slurs in them.You can view the screenshot - but, fair warning, it is grim.This shouldn't be possible. It doesn't take an expensive team of moderators to add some keyword monitoring. It doesn't take a massive AI model to work out that a stranger shouldn't be able to bombard users with multiple notifications. You don't have to sacrifice your dream of a decentralised future - you just need to care about your users.This stuff is basic.I moaned about it on Mastdon and was surprised to receive a private reply from the official Matrix account.Please do not encourage the spammer by giving them a platform and propagating their spam; you may want to consider deleting your post.This is classic victim blaming. It is my fault for giving the spammer attention. I am the one who needs to take responsibility and delete the evidence. I shouldn't warn people that Matrix is actively dangerous to use.Bullshit.Here's what I expected them to say:"We're sorry you had such a bad experience on Matrix. Rest assured we're working hard to block these spammers - here's a link to show what we're doing. You can protect your account further by doing x, y and z. Once again, sorry and we hope we can win back your trust."I'm not saying scrappy open source projects have to hire anodyne corporate communications specialists; they just need to have a little empathy.But, no, just constant whining about how it isn't their fault and how I am the one who needs to change my behaviour.This is pretty typical behaviour from the team. Find any post complaining about some aspect of Matrix and you'll see their instant woe-is-me replies.So I deleted the app. I would have liked to have nuked my account but apparently that's not possible.I'm not the only one who feels like this. Here's an epic post by Marius, which concludes:Between the slow performance, the increasing amount of spam, the miserable web client, and the unfinished state of Element X, the Matrix.org network is not something I am willing to continue to recommend, especially to non-technical users. Normal people are simply tolerating it to communicate with idealistic nerds like myself who insist(ed) on using it.Matrix just isn't focussed on users. I'm not talking about user-experience tweaks like which shade of cornflower blue to use - I mean basic user needs like apps that work and a way to combat spam.There's a long list of ways the protocol contributes to a poor user experience. It almost seems designed without regard for how it will actually be used.While the protocol may be conceptually interesting and their intentions noble, I'm not prepared to suffer abuse in the name of technical purity.Open Source and Open Standards nerds like me ought to know by now that the protocol is the least compelling thing about a service. Who cares if your home is built using only Stallman-blessed tools, when the walls are full of rats?#foss #Matrix #OpenSource #rant
(DIR) Post #AweVuCXIL5Voku1gZc by bnjbvr@tutut.delire.party
2025-07-30T07:22:25Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@blog sorry to read that, and a bit of a bummer. Out of curiosity, you're saying multiple times ElementX lacks basic chat features, which ones are missing for your use cases?
(DIR) Post #AweVuDXKcR8TrJ3EGm by Edent@mastodon.social
2025-07-30T07:34:14Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@bnjbvr Between the iOS and Android apps, there are over 2,000 open issues on GitHub.I suggest taking a look there to start with.
(DIR) Post #AweVuEHPr600AEc26K by boilingsteam@mastodon.cloud
2025-07-30T07:50:25Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@Edent @bnjbvr The original element app works fine on Android, I am using it every day.ElementX is immature. And yeah, they are pushing for that one first, which makes things very confusing.
(DIR) Post #AweVuQ3K5Jr8g06wng by Profpatsch@mastodon.xyz
2025-07-29T11:50:37Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@blog Preach
(DIR) Post #AweVuQ7voBXguIGcz2 by mora@mastodon.uno
2025-07-29T14:14:55Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@blog Yes, it’s embarrassing.
(DIR) Post #AweVuRn5ce3k4EX0m8 by nikatjef@mastodon.acm.org
2025-07-29T14:57:13Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@blog Please note I am not trying to defend it, but Matrix was never really meant to be a standalone tool, it was created to be a tool to augment other team building / management systems. As such, it was never supposed to need all of the different QOL features you will find in Slack, Teams, Hipchat, etc.
(DIR) Post #AweVuTK5vQ3QosysrI by meowki@meowstodon.eu
2025-07-29T12:57:07Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@blog I once joined a channel about learning languages. Suddenly the channel changed their logo and started celebrating the birthday of a long forgotten dictator with a mustache. That, and it being too much trouble getting access from more than one device. Your account being deleted for not using it for a few months. Everytime I wanted to use it for something I had to sign up again.And as you mention, the whole app experience.I’m done too.
(DIR) Post #AweVuew4kXyIprps5Q by orizuru@mastodon.world
2025-07-30T06:20:15Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@blog these are very valid criticisms.I honestly stopped using #matrix because of the spam. I don't want to get bombarded with images I do not want to see. You'd imagine that adding an option to not display images automatically would be easy to implement, but I haven't seen it. It's back to #IRC now. But it feels insecure, and the number of users is declining.What FOSS alternative has a realistic chance to take over?
(DIR) Post #AweVugp3jbY0ggZIQa by stumpi@c64.social
2025-07-30T05:54:28Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@blog Thats my experience, too… Sadly but #matrix sucks… :(
(DIR) Post #AweVuh1SzTTLJANClc by rriemann@chaos.social
2025-07-30T06:24:14Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@blog I find #matrix inspiring. My impression on how people at #fosdem interacted with it is also different, more positive.It's difficult to know what the majority of fosdem attendees thinks of matrix until you run proper statistics.
(DIR) Post #AweWpM4nXaV4qnwyBc by bnjbvr@tutut.delire.party
2025-07-30T08:00:51Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@boilingsteam Would be actually helpful if you pointed to what's missing for you, instead of implying it's immature without any subsequent explanations?
(DIR) Post #AweYt4qljHbqUVI5Fg by sun@shitposter.world
2025-07-30T08:23:59.928972Z
1 likes, 1 repeats
@blog > This is classic victim blaming.It is dealing with the world as it is and always will be, not how you wish it.
(DIR) Post #Awea4H0wwY9ZMCxI9Y by graf@poa.st
2025-07-30T08:37:12.036536Z
5 likes, 1 repeats
@sun @blog He's right but for the wrong reasons. Matrix-synapse needs to be taken out behind the barn. I'm sure the protocol can be saved. But it will come at the removal of synapse
(DIR) Post #AweaftBXzIGQSNqgQy by dcc@annihilation.social
2025-07-30T08:44:01.194081Z
1 likes, 1 repeats
@graf @sun @blog The frontend and backend are both fluoride tubes lol
(DIR) Post #AwezsARw7fU8KXSy9o by boilingsteam@mastodon.cloud
2025-07-30T13:26:20Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@bnjbvr its immature because it has less than half of the options available from the original Element. if I upgrade, I want an upgrade, not 10 steps back
(DIR) Post #AxBz9wiCFY2HCLfA4O by dj@ak.parcero.casa
2025-08-15T11:23:50.917457Z
1 likes, 1 repeats
@stumpi @blog Can't stop the signal Mal.