Do you pay for users in this slack community, or s...
# random
f
Do you pay for users in this slack community, or slack gave it to you for free?
h
Free, but this means we don't get search history 😕
f
ohh.
I feel slack is not the best tool for communities like this one. I configured a matrix instance (https://matrix.org/) for a community I just started.
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j
This has come up before: https://pantsbuild.slack.com/archives/C046T6TA4/p1598832516002500?thread_ts=1593032139.044300&cid=C046T6TA4 (at least until it falls off the edge of the flat history)
Zulip allows OSS to be hosted for free and fits the thread model we use here. The UI is not as "smooth" as Slack. They could import the slack history, but not sure they would do that for a free account.
f
Matrix is open source protocol, and it's encrypted. It allows federation between the community. You can start a community on the main matrix server. It works ok overall.
j
Yeah. It looks cool.
FOSDEM using it is a big deal.
But it does require someone to run it and manage it which I think is out of scope for pantsbuild at this time.
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f
Not the hosted one. You can use the publicly available community: https://app.element.io/#/welcome
h
I'm a huge fan of open-source slack alternatives in general and matrix in particular
unfortunately yeah I think it's the case that there's still enough friction associated with the switch for it to be out of pants' scope at the moment
b
It would be nice if the community were on a platform that search engines can spider. There’s a lot of valuable content here that’s basically invisible to anyone who isn’t a member of the slack. That strikes me as a loss for prospective users.
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There are trade-offs, of course. Community management is always a challenge of some kind or another.
h
Yeah, I'm definitely open to alternatives! Trying to think of what a transition would look like though.
c
Perhaps with the slack bridge for matrix, that could be a smooth switch.. ? (I'm not experienced in matrix nor slack, so don't take my word for it 😉 )