this post was submitted on 02 Mar 2024
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[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago (2 children)

Matrix sucks, that's why most people won't use it. I'm already giving my software away for free and providing free support for it, why would I want to take up even more of my free time running and maintaining a Matrix server as well?

Sure, I could use an already available Matrix server but I already have a Discord account, all my friends and contributors do as well and the entire thing is easy to set up and use, plus I'm already running the Discord client too.

On top of this, the argument about searchability is irrelevant. Projects have been giving support via IRC forever which has all the same problems. The best thing to do for any non-trivial support inquiries is to direct the user to lodge a support ticket and always has been.

Matrix just isn't a compelling option, even if it had feature parity with Discord and was easier to use, it doesn't have any real inertia anyway.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 8 months ago (1 children)

From the article.

Free software matters — that’s why you’re writing it, after all. Using Discord partitions your community on either side of a walled garden, with one side that’s willing to use the proprietary Discord client, and one side that isn’t. It sets up users who are passionate about free software — i.e. your most passionate contributors or potential contributors — as second-class citizens.

Maybe you'll take up more of your time answering lazy user's questions than speaking with those that are helpful with solving issues.

Your argument about time is more in favor of Matrix, and even more so in favor of just using your code hosting's issue tracker.

[–] [email protected] -3 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

The article is wrong, you disrespect your users by forcing them to use a platform that they otherwise wouldn't just to engage with you. Github isn't free either, but the majority of us use it for free software too.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago (1 children)

@Kushia @brayd

installing a matrix client and creating a matrix account is exactly as complicated as installing discord app and creating an account there.