It has been roughly half a year since I last made a post on Fedi, but I'm looking for advice.
You probably know by now about #Discord's plans for age verification. You may have even made up your mind on what alternative you're switching to. If you have, I want you to explain why switching to #Matrix is either a bad idea or a great idea.
My requirements for a messaging app, that some commonly suggested Discord alternatives fail to meet are...
- Custom emojis, including reactions
- Desktop first experience
- Message data stored on server, not only client
- Open source protocol or client
- Rich text
- Existing network
I am relatively aware of the Matrix Jank already, such as encryption, how spaces work, Element Call design issues.
The primary reason I am making this post is because I'm considering building a Matrix client, as I'm unhappy with most clients that already exist for various reasons such as...
- Contributor license agreement
- Lacking important features such as custom emoji support or calling
- Flutter based UI, as I've tried them in browsers and they don't quite feel right
But most importantly of all, is because I used to mod the Discord client. Those modifications have since broken and the fate of them (not being updated ever again) was sealed by the age verification announcement. As such, I want to recreate some of the functionality I implemented, into an app that doesn't break randomly.
(also before anyone comments about getting off matrix.org, I already know.)