[cvwright]

So much entitled whining in this discussion. With friends like open source users, who needs enemies?

> Element is probably one of the worst matrix clients in terms of UX.

If you ask nicely, I'm sure they will give you back all the money that you paid for it.

But your point 2 is spot-on:

> 2) fix decryption issues

Part of the problem is that Matrix nukes your crypto keys every time you log out. This traces back to Element's heritage as a primarily web-based app, where there isn't really a great local, durable place to store your secrets. Not having local on-device storage is painful when the protocol encrypts messages to individual devices rather than to users.

The fix is to set up encrypted key backup, aka secure server-side storage. Then all your keys from all your "devices" (including real devices and web sessions) get safely stored in encrypted form on the server, where you can always find them. You have to use a second passphrase to generate the new key-encryption key, so it's a little annoying. But the fix is pretty magical. Suddenly everything just works!

[NationalPark]

I was trying to figure out why this comment rubs me the wrong way so much. I think it's how quickly it leaps to hostility and calling the user entitled, only because they shared their honest feedback. You say users aren't entitled to anything, which I guess is true, but what does that say about the value that this project purports to provide?

I guess what I'm trying to say is I read this comment and my thought wasn't, "Oh, I guess those problems are handled", it was, "Oh, this projects advocates have a lot of contempt for their users."

[cvwright]

The GP comment was well beyond honest feedback. Honest feedback is like "I find such-and-such piece of the UI ugly", or "All of my friends get confused by the way it does XYZ".

What I object to is the way our community viciously tears each other down. "This open source product is the worst thing ever! Kill it!" This crap is not productive. It's harmful.

We're up against companies who want to monopolize markets, lock us in to proprietary platforms, and own our data forever. And then when somebody finally comes along and tries to do the right thing, we attack them for not being perfect. F that noise. So, yes, I have contempt for this attitude.

(And no, I have no affiliation with the company being discussed in this article.)

[dingo454]

Perhaps it is harsh, but element is being founded to improve the client, and I find several other open source clients to behave better than the official one.

I call this honest criticism. My hope is to push matrix as an open protocol, to push matrix as a slack replacement and I genuinely wish the greatest success to the element foundation.

I currently cannot say "element is awesome". Matrix as a protocol and ecosystem is awesome, but the client... I can't say that.

[cvwright]

Agree wholeheartedly here.

[beefjerkins]

It's not about being perfect, it's about having a solid UX such that we can start recommending it to our friends and family to help wean them off the major platforms without a lot of headaches and frustrations, which will push them even further towards proprietary ecosystems.