Hi Kumar,

Being a Matrix homeserver administrator myself (Synapse/Riot-Web), but
never having used Discord, I'd like to know what (apart form Adafruit)
made Discord look like the most interesting candidate?

On 7/17/20 12:27 AM, Kumar Gala wrote:

Some requirements for Zephyr chat platform:
* Maintain history

Can not see a problem with this.

* integration with other services (like GitHub)

Never done this, can not say anything about it.

* private channels

Possible - including E2E encryption

* ideally free - or low cost
* no overhead for Zephyr Project (ie not having to run our own server).

What would be considered low cost?

Would a server maintained paid by the LF and run by a volunteer be an
option?

Pros of Discord:
* Shared accounts across "servers" which are really just communities. Makes joining a new server very fast and easy.

Same for Matrix, but solved via federation

* Strong moderation tools (mute, ban, kick) per server. No need to wait for Discord to help.

I had no need yet on my homeserver (~150 accounts), but mute/kick/ban is
not a problem at all. Also, redacting history of a spammer, etc. is very
possible.

* Unlimited history for free.

Possible

* Easy to join via invite link, chat and then establish an account.

I have not tried to enable guest accounts yet, but ...
a) it is very easy to set up a homeserver to allow registering with just
a username and a password, not requiring an e-mail or phone number.
b) People can just re-use their existing Matrix accounts if federation
is enabled

Cons of Discord:
* Can get spammy when publicly listed.

For matrix, sharing the room list with other homeservers can be prevented.

* Still in the startup phase so they are experimenting with business models. Currently "Nitro" subscription which unlocks server capabilities: https://discord.com/new/nitro
* Closed source so interop with Matrix and IRC is tricky but doable.

Matrix.org does already IRC bridging for its own *and* users on other
homeservers [1].

Also, the speed at which Synapse/Element/etc. is getting developed is
awesome. There are releases pretty much every week, each containing
serious improvements.

Greetings,
Reto

[1]
https://matrix.org/blog/2015/06/22/the-matrix-org-irc-bridge-now-bridges-all-of-freenode