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Giving Up on Element & Matrix.org
(xn--gckvb8fzb.com)
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this post was submitted on 19 Jul 2025
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We really need to stop abandoning existing foss projects and thinking a whole new thing needs to be invented. Free and open-source software is not a product, it doesn't abide by the same rules and relationships that proprietary tech does.
It's more organic. It's also a commons that we can continue to draw on, and reshape. If I recall correctly, there were something like three different vector graphic editors from the same codebase before Inkscape managed to be the one that gained traction.
Matrix isn't perfect, but abandoning it just to reinvent it all over again just because some people really need a thing that works like Discord, even though Discord is absolute hot garbage; is just going to re-create all the same problems. Matrix today is better than it was two years ago. And Matrix in a year will be better from now.
Sure, go for it. Though XMPP has so many features at this point, it might already have Matrix, irc, Discord, and email for all we know. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Often, the problem is that projects get to a point where they're happy and the maintainer doesn't want to add any new features. So people then are forced to build a new project to get those features.
Sometimes, but my point is you don't have to start from scratch. It's free software. You are allowed to make extensions or even fork it.
I agree with you, my main issue with Matrix is that it is a pain to self-host at the moment.
https://github.com/spantaleev/matrix-docker-ansible-deploy
Honestly, with this, it is easier than ever. Great documentation !
Isn't everything a pain to selfhost?
Honestly, setting up things using Docker Compose is generally a question of copying and pasting and editing the file locations.
The moment you need SSL and/or a reverse proxy it becomes a bit more complex, but once you set up a reverse proxy once you can generally expand that to your other applications.
Something like a Synology nas makes it very easy and to some extend even the Truenas apps are kinda easy.
Most things are super easy, like 2-5 minutes of set up and it's running and working.
Such as?
Most of the stuff I run on my server is just a basic
docker-compose.yamlfile and it's up and running in a minute or two. Some random examples:So, going from Mealie's instructions, having to learn how to work with Docker, whatever underlying server you're working with, and a database system is easy 2-5 minutes?
You need to learn some Docker stuff initially for sure, but the underlying OS can be anything including Windows which is why Docker is nice.
The database for Mealie is part of the app already and is handled automatically, with the SQLite docker-compose file they provide.
It's gonna be like 100 years before Matrix and the clients are in a good place at this rate. It only seems to be getting worse right now with more fragmented clients and servers with more and more spam issues, and the performance just keeps getting worse too.
Even their very own Element app is being retired and replaced by Element X which is missing a ton of features.
They still don't have any of the features people coming from Discord/TS/Mumble are expecting like voice chat rooms, push to talk, or streaming to a room. They don't have the features Telegram users are expecting like stickers, threads inside groups, read only channels, and so on..
The vast majority of users have no reason to switch since it's nothing like the apps they are used to. And it's buggy and slow on top of that.
What I don't like about Matrix is that it's most visible homeserver and client implementations feel like they are being developed as a product by New Vector Ltd., not a community project.
How so?
New Vector forked the matrix foundation owned projects for synapse, dendrite, and element, and pulled all their devs, changing the license and bringing them under closer control. The foundation repos are now archived, and only the new vector owned ones are being actively developed. They sell an enterprise license for their element server suite that, at least according to their copy, seems more performant, and also offers admin tools that the free version lacks.
If you want to run a public instance that allows registration, you pretty much need some kind of external admin tool for moderation.
It's of course still better than pretty much all proprietary options, but also quite some room for improvement.