Proposal: Ansible Community to accept Matrix as an equal partner to IRC

[GregSutcliffe]

Summary

Whilst I have been researching, discussing & testing this for a while, it's time to formally bring this forward. In this topic, I'll summarise the key points and link to further reading.

I suggest we have a brief chat about this tonight, but leave the main debate & vote until next week so that people have a chance to read the links below.

The proposal

• Matrix is accepted as equal to IRC for chat
• IRC remains a valid and supported option for those who wish to use it
• Matrix is promoted as the default option for new community members
• We hold regular introspection with the community to ensure we're still happy with the setup

Additional Information

Additional thoughts

• IRC is entirely acceptable but not friendly to new users
• Element (the glossy web-client from Element.io) provides a much more familiar environment for new users
• Matrix's structure allows us to stay connected with IRC (and potentially other networks)
• Further integration is possible, such as running our conferences on Matrix

More reading links:

• My long-form thoughts on the future path for chat
• Supporting data on network size and stability
• Blog posts from Thibault Martin of the GNOME Foundation (who use Matrix, Thib has written a lot on it)
• Blog posts from Mike Hoye of Mozilla on their successful transition last to Matrix last year

I have already spent some time collecting feedback from various community members. I plan to hold a video AMA next week (Tuesday, 3pm UK time when is this in local time?). I'll go through the way I see Matrix working for us, the feedback I've had so far, and take any more questions folks may have.

[GregSutcliffe]

Bump for more discussion / vote tonight.

The promised 3rd post on getting started with Matrix is now up on my blog: https://emeraldreverie.org/2021/08/04/getting-started-matrix/

[GregSutcliffe]

Since we should be explicit about what we're voting on, I think there are two votes to hold:

1. That we accept Matrix as an official chat platform (alongside IRC)
2. That we update our docs, etc, to promote Matrix as the first-choice chat option for new community members

[tadeboro]

1. That we accept Matrix as an official chat platform (alongside IRC)

This one sounds great.

2. That we update our docs, etc, to promote Matrix as the default chat option for new community members

I would rather say that we offer Matrix as the first/easier/more slack-like/etc. of the two since we already decided IRC is not going anywhere. Calling something a default gives me an impression that all other options are slowly being phased out, which contradicts our previous decisions.

[GregSutcliffe]

I would rather say that we offer Matrix as the first/easier/more slack-like/etc. of the two

I'm good with "first choice" as wording, sure. My concern is "what should a brand new user see first on the docs page?". After that, I'm happy to haggle over wording :)

[jillr]

I might be late / miss today's meeting; I'm +1 to this proposal

[gundalow]

Voting here as I'm not around for the meeting today.

1. That we accept Matrix as an official chat platform (alongside IRC)

Agreed

2. That we update our docs, etc, to promote Matrix as the default chat option for new community members

I agree with the above comments that Matrix should be "First Choice", rather than "default" which could imply IRC is going away.

[tadeboro]

I'm good with "first choice" as wording, sure. My concern is "what should a brand new user see first on the docs page?". After that, I'm happy to haggle over wording :)

I agree that the first thing users should see is Matrix stuff, so you have my vote for this one. But I would avoid using the default because for me, this implies that everyone should probably be using that and not only newcomers, which is not something we want to communicate (yet).

[GregSutcliffe]

To me "default" is "what do I pick if I have no other information" while "deprecated" would imply actively moving users away from something. However, words are tricky things, and I am happy to bend here.

I have updated the wording on the vote item to match the discussion, thanks both.

[cidrblock]

+1 for ^^^

[tadeboro]

The final proposals that we voted on are:

1. We accept Matrix as an official chat platform (alongside IRC).
2. We will update our docs, etc, to promote Matrix as the first-choice chat option for new community members.

Both were accepted.

@GregSutcliffe Can we close this issue or do you prefer to keep it open until the documentation is updated?

[GregSutcliffe]

I'm happy to close it. I'll work with @acozine on the docs. Thanks everyone!

[ssbarnea]

Since two days ago I finally managed to replace my irc client (thelounge) and fully switch to matrix (app.element.io). It is still bit confusing around the bridges with libera and oftc but it works, and I no longer need to keep a container running.