Move from IRC to Matrix?

[Brian Tarricone]

Hey all,

As most of us have found, the matrix.org bridge between Matrix and Libera has been shut down due to various bugs and other issues that the Libera team weren't happy about.  And, apparently, the "plumbed channels" feature (which has not been shut down) is currently not working at matrix.org.

While I've been using ZNC and IRC directly (with various annoyances and issues), quite a few of us (Gaël and Alex at least) had been using the Matrix bridge to get to #xfce-dev etc.  (I've recently set up my own personal Matrix homeserver and have bridged my user account over to IRC, and I really like the experience so far, much better than my previous ZNC+Hexchat experience.)

I'd like to propose that we move #xfce-dev over to Matrix, for the following reasons:

* Chat history comes for free and is directly integrated.  No need to run a bouncer or check some web-based bot-generated IRC chat history every time you connect.
* We get threads, message reactions, longer messages, attachments, syntax highlighting, etc.  Essentially, "modern chat stuff".  I know some people might think this sort of thing is superfluous and silly, but after spending some time away from IRC, on platforms like Slack, I find I really do miss these things (in that they actually make communication easier, not just that they're "fun" or "cute").
* Matrix an open, federated protocol, so there's minimal lock-in or risk of a proprietary service screwing us over.  Certainly we're tied to whatever homeserver we pick to host the channel (presumably matrix.org), but if we really wanted to, we could even run an xfce.org homeserver (someday, certainly not today), and then have full control over the channels.

There are certainly downsides:

* Anyone without a Matrix account will have to create one, and join yet another service.
* Bots running in our IRC channels will presumably have to be rewritten or modified to use Matrix APIs.
* Minor wrinkle: #xfce-dev:matrix.org is currently owned by a community member.  They claim they are squatting on the name and holding it in case one of us wants to do something with it (and will transfer ownership), but who knows if they're actively around and would respond to requests.

At this time I'm only proposing moving #xfce-dev, and not #xfce or #xfce-commits.  My reasoning here is that our development team is currently split communication-wise between the now-non-bridged channel on Matrix, and the channel on IRC, so we have a current need to fix the development team's communication.  If we end up liking having #xfce-dev on Matrix, we can talk about moving the other channels later.

Thoughts?

     -brian
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