GHC and the future of Freenode

[Sebastian Graf]

Hi,

As one of those contributors that is already using the 
Matrix-to-freenode-IRC bridge through http://element.io/, I'd prefer 
moving to Matrix.
And *if* we commit to a move, I suggest we don't move to another IRC 
server. That leaves Zulip vs. Matrix, both of which I'd be fine with.

For some more data points: I know that the Lean community uses Zulip and 
they are pretty happy with it. The threading model seems to be pretty 
useful.
On the other hand, it's so easy to open a new group chat in Matrix (and 
name it whatever you want) that it is pretty much the same as opening a 
new thread in Zulip.
Our chair used to communicate via IRC, too. We considered switching to 
Zulip or Matrix in the past and ultimately decided in favor of Matrix, 
simply because most of us were already using element.io (+ the IRC 
bridge) for its mobile client and history logging.

Cheers,
Sebastian

------ Originalnachricht ------
Von: "Ben Gamari" <ben at well-typed.com>
An: "GHC developers" <ghc-devs at haskell.org>
Gesendet: 19.05.2021 14:56:23
Betreff: GHC and the future of Freenode

>Hi all,
>
>As you may have heard the Freenode IRC network, long the home of #ghc
>and several other prominent Haskell channels, appears to be in the
>middle of a rather nasty hostile takeover [1,2,3,4]. As a consequence,
>it seems it will be necessary to migrate the #ghc community elsewhere.
>
>The next question is, of course, where will this be. One option is
>Liberachat, the spiritual successor of Freenode. However, in recent
>years I have also heard an increasingly loud choir of users,
>contributors, and potential-contributors note how archane IRC feels when
>compared to other modern chat platforms. Using IRC effectively in a
>collaborative environment essentially requires that all parties use a
>bouncer; however, this is (understandably) isn't something that most users
>are willing to do.
>
>Consequently, I think it would be wise to expand our search space to
>include other FOSS platforms. At the moment, I can see the following
>options:
>
>  1. Remain on IRC and move to Liberachat, the spiritual successor of
>     Freenode
>
>  2. Remain on IRC and move to OFTC, another widely used network
>
>  3. Move to [Matrix]
>
>  4. Move to [Zulip]
>
>My sense is that of the non-IRC options Matrix is the truest successor
>to IRC, being a federated protocol with a wide array of (if somewhat
>immature) clients. I know some of our contributors already use it and in
>principle one could configure an IRC-to-Matrix bridge for those existing
>contributors who would rather continue using IRC.
>
>Zulip, while also being FOSS, is far more centralized than Matrix and
>appears to be more of a chat web application than an open protocol.
>
>Do you know of any other options? Thoughts?
>
>Cheers,
>
>- Ben
>
>
>
>[1]: https://gist.github.com/joepie91/df80d8d36cd9d1bde46ba018af497409
>[2]: https://fuchsnet.ch/freenode-resign-letter.txt
>[3]: https://gist.github.com/aaronmdjones/1a9a93ded5b7d162c3f58bdd66b8f491
>[4]: https://mniip.com/freenode.txt
>[Matrix]: https://www.matrix.org/
>[Zulip]:
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