Nix used Matrix, which was a good solution, but often lead to questions being repeated often. I’m not opposed to using Matrix again, but I’d like to hear some thoughts on some alternatives that may be more searchable and more friendly to exporting directly to the wiki as a stop-gap for more niche issues before someone on the docs team can formalize them into a proper article.
I remember hearing about a new chat service where the chats were all search-engine indexable, but I’ve now forgotten the name and can’t find it on google because googling “searchable chats” give me things related to ChatGPT.
Here, you can vote for the different options presented. For the Zulip options, there’s some discussion about whether we should just have zulip and migrate all discourse convos there.
I think there’s a combination of things to solve here. Real-time collaboration is certainly one, but another is also about putting q & a things in a more accessible location. I think this forum is a good place for some of that and a wiki is a better place for definitive answers.
I believe that Matrix is still a good answer for us due to its interoperability. Though we may not use Element
I’d argue against discord. It’s proprietary, and isn’t searchable. We should push everything onto something more searchable and open. Unless you mean to claim the name to stop one from popping up?
While I dislike discord, I still think we should claim the name and have an official one so that we don’t have a situation where an unofficial one takes root.
As I understand it there is no claiming names in discord, you can have multiple servers of the same name – the only thing we can do is to not claim it to give it legitimacy. I would take a loot at this Please don't use Discord for FOSS projects to do my argument for me.
I think this is the best option. A discord server (or multiple discord servers) is going to pop up regardless of whether or not we make one. If its made on our terms (i.e. bridged with the matrix) we can avoid having it walled off from the official (FOSS) channels.
I’m pretty sure that you meant it as an analogy and not to bridge reddit and discourse, but I think that’s a perfect example of why we shouldn’t trust someone else’s infrastructure for this project. There’s been countless times after Reddit killed third-party apps where help threads were unusable because users deleted all of their solutions in protest.
Discord has been ramping up it’s aggressiveness towards thirds party the past couple of years, and I think a situation where we can’t bridge it anymore, leaving a TON of users stranded, is something we should avoid. I’m imagining a scenario where members of the team are split between the two, leading to an overall worse quality in both, and information not being centralized (a big critique of Nix documentation). I think that if you’re motivated enough to join a chat for help (something that has the hurdles of finding the URL, joining the server, adding roles, and waiting the probationary time for spammers), you’re generally motivated enough to create a matrix account, and we shouldn’t encourage the use of discord by offering it as an option.
I think bridging Matrix and discord might be an issue for those that don’t want their messages to end up in discord control servers, especially not linked to an account I can use my privacy rights on. At least that’s my personal immediate concern.
Also generally IMO it’d be easiest to just go with whatever Nix uses as a start: the core issues are not due to tools but are social. And using what is already used means everyone in the existing community is already setup with those tools.
I agree, off the top of my head matrix is the best, I was just hoping someone could remember the search-engine indexable one, because I think as a help chat this might edge out the win in terms of function. If not, I think matrix is the best – I already host my own matrix server too.
I think this is more than just for developers, if this project grows people will have questions and need support. Interest parties might only have a discord or a reddit account. Sure they can create a matrix or discourse account but now you’re increasing the barrier to entry. I think its best to meet people where there at and a not insignificant amount of people are on discord.
I would honestly rank reddit below discord for community outreach.
That being said though, I definitely agree with the issues that @imadnyc laid out. I’ve seen that kind of community abandonment happen before and it’s never pretty. :<
