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Hopefully Matrix.org recommends other homeservers, because the Matrix.org homeserver is domiciled in the UK.
They had to do age verification as well due to the online safety act.
Just incase folks are signing up on the flagship because of Discord.
It's why Librecast no longer has a matrix room.
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@onepict Totally hear your concerns. Glad to see another Free Code project leave Discord, and that IRC is sufficient for LibreCast's needs for now.
A technical detail that may or may not affect LibreCast's decision;
"We are not opposed to having a Matrix Room. However it would need to be on a Matrix Instance that didn’t ask for Age Verification."
https://librecast.net/2025-07-31-matrix-and-linkedin.html
Unlike IRC channels and Jabber MUCs, Matrix rooms are not tied to a particular server.
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@onepict Totally share your concerns about age-gating. Glad to see another Free Code project leave LockedIn and that IRC is sufficient for LibreCast's needs for now. A technical detail that may or may not affect LibreCast's decision;
"We are not opposed to having a Matrix Room. However it would need to be on a Matrix Instance that didn’t ask for Age Verification."
https://librecast.net/2025-07-31-matrix-and-linkedin.html
Unlike IRC channels and Jabber MUCs, Matrix rooms are not tied to a particular server
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Every Matrix homeserver that has an account participating in a room has a full copy of the room. Human-readable addresses can be added for any homeserver with an account in a room ( #room-name:homeserver.foo), and published by mods.
So even if the initating homeserver goes down (or starts age-gating), the room can carry on regardless. Except that members using the initiating homeserver need to create new accounts somewhere else and rejoin.
@strypey I think one of Matrix's issues is a similar one that Mastodon had for a while, the default is to recommend Matrix.org.
Every organisation has different needs and we've longer term experience on IRC, first through Freenode, then Libera.chat.
Matrix.org did notice the sign ups as Discord is rolling out age verification elsewhere.
Which is why I brought up the need for Matrix.org to perhaps recommend other matrix home servers. It's better for decentralisation and the community.
@onepict
> the need for Matrix.org to perhaps recommend other matrix home servers
100%. IIRR the original plan for the matrix.org homesever was to sunset it as soon as a decent number of sustainable community-hosted homeservers were set up, and account migration was shipped.
The second condition hasn't been met, but surely the first one has? It does seem odd that some apps are still funnelling new signups into matrix.org (don't know that they all do).
@strypey the main point where folks go when they first look is the matrix.org website.
Matrix has improved the sign-up pipeline to suggest signups with various homeservers.
Element is the most useable of the matrix clients, I've tried the others and element irritated me the least. I am more comfortable on IRC.
A busy Matrix channel can be overwhelming.
But there's also psychology at play here, folks will pick the instance with the same name as the protocol.
@strypey the main point where folks go when they first look is the matrix.org website.
Matrix has improved the sign-up pipeline to suggest signups with various homeservers.
Element is the most useable of the matrix clients, I've tried the others and element irritated me the least. I am more comfortable on IRC.
A busy Matrix channel can be overwhelming.
But there's also psychology at play here, folks will pick the instance with the same name as the protocol.
@onepict
> A busy Matrix channel can be overwhelming
More overwhelming than a busy IRC channel? If so, how?
If a Matrix room is that busy, it probably needs to be a Space, with dedicated room for each major topic area people are talking about in the room.
@onepict
> A busy Matrix channel can be overwhelming
More overwhelming than a busy IRC channel? If so, how?
If a Matrix room is that busy, it probably needs to be a Space, with dedicated room for each major topic area people are talking about in the room.
@strypey Matrix.org is also a good showcase for Element to show the Foundation independent and that they have experience of a huge instance.
Which in some of the markets they are aiming at, particularly for digital sovereignty, you need to demonstrate it scales.
So for all Matrix.org is separate, it's existence is useful as the largest instance.
@onepict
> But there's also psychology at play here, folks will pick the instance with the same name as the protocol
True, but you can't blame British Rail for that.
(sorry, Monty Python reference, couldn't help myself ; )
@strypey But age gating is something we all need to try to fight, at the project level, but also the political level.
Which doesn't just mean questioning and briefing your political representative, but also more of us helping organisations that lobby for our digital freedoms with cash and Time.
Here's when I posted about it last year.
