syphon
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syphon-org
Preselection of matrix.org
I think it would be a good idea to not pre-fill the homeserver field with matrix.org to make the network more federated. Average users will probably just click 'Next' and make matrix.org even more overloaded and the network less federated.
Good suggestion, but the only possible solutions I can see are:
- Syphon homeserver (quite high-maintenance and expensive)
- A random public homeserver (Syphon could get blamed for anything that happens to that homeserver without having any control over it. Also, would probably need permission from server admin)
- No default homeserver (much less user friendly)
- Use Matrix.org (reduces the distribution of the Matrix network and puts more load on Matrix.org)
Of those, 4 is probably best currently, as Matrix.org is meant as a default public homeserver. Also, as it stands right now, compared to Element Syphon won't make much of a dent in Matrix.org's resources. Maybe over time 1 could become more optimal as the userbase grows, although there are also plans to support P2P as soon as possible, which will eliminate the need for a homeserver altogether.
Maybe there's a solution I'm overlooking though?
@niwla23 @0x1a8510f2 this has been on my mind since I set matrix.org as the default. Definitely have had all the same thoughts as you both and @0x1a8510f2 did a good job summing up all possible solutions.
For context, 1 will likely never happen as I'd like to stay in as little control over user data as possible. There's a lot of implications to hosting user data that I'd be worried for Syphon to deal with. The app has already been rejected multiple times from official app store reviews because they treat the app like a walled garden social network and not more like an email client.
When Syphon is more spec complete, and Pinecone is further along, P2P will be the ticket to ride here. Once P2P is more mature, the first onboarding step will be to either use P2P or a Remote Homeserver and more onboarding surrounding that choice. The Remote Homeserver choice will likely show a search screen similar to the one you can find if you tap the search icon for that same input. The additional onboarding would be needed for that to make sense, but it could be done before P2P is ready. That is a potential 5th option.
In the short term, I'm planning to build sendable invite links that will allow a deep link for signup on the homeserver you're sending the invite from. Otherwise, I haven't made a decision on which to choose but happy to entertain other ideas with it.
I get the "default so that it's user friendly" part. But I don't even see a way to enter a different server if I know and want to do that. Is that not possible at all right now? because there's a HUGE difference between "all manual setup" - "this is the default (that can be changed)" and "no choice at all". Am I overlooking something, or is this really hardcoded right now?
I should add that this was so unobvious to me, that I accidentally put in my credentials (including the server part, of course) into the login form. So now I had to change my passwords because I accidentally transmitted my username, server and password to matrix.org.
Hi @ccoenen,
To log into a different homeserver, just use the full address to log in on the form e.g. @user:homeserver.tld
I sadly do not have a screenshot for this, but this is the format I actually pasted in there, which did not work. The error message lead me to believe that this was expanded to @username:some.matrix.example.com:matrix.org (so matrix.org after the full thing).
It might just have been the error message, of course. But at any rate it was convincing and confusing enough so that I changed my password and reported back here :-D
Interesting. Let's hope it was just the error message after all!
Thank you for your report, I'll keep it open for now just to track it
FWIW, I've just successfully logged into Syphon using my own homeserver so hopefully it was just a confusing error message after all.