[psy-q]

Running a Matrix homeserver is still quite a pain in the ass, especially because there is no real automatic way to purge old history. Join a busy room once and pay for it in megs or gigs of text stored in your DB forever.

Just using a matrix.org account instead is antisocial at this point because of the resources you're taking from the project, whereas paying for a hosted homeserver might not be something everyone can afford. IRC instead only requires a bouncer in the worst case, and even if you stay on channels for years you won't accrue as much history as a Matrix room can generate in a few days. I find that easier to maintain and store.

I do run my own Matrix homeserver and I intend to keep doing that and paying for it, but Matrix has more rough edges than IRC at the moment IMHO.

Edit: Ah, sorry, this was actually meant in reply to parent. But gonna leave it in.

[Arathorn]

https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/blob/develop/docs/mess... is the server config for automatically purging old history - it got added last year.

[psy-q]

This does not apply to state events. I still had hundreds of MBs of those after purging :( I think it's not impossible to manage this, just a pain in the ass :D

[mxuribe]

> ...Matrix has more rough edges than IRC at the moment IMHO...

You might be right. Yet, I'm still hopeful for the matrix network and protocol. Also, irc has had a bit of a head start, having had the benefit of decades of eyes looking at it, and hands helping to improve it. Then again, 2 or 3 decades from today, I might be the one holding onto my matrix network world when someone else on a forum discusses the merits (warts and all) of some new protocol for communications scenarios (not limited to chat). :-)