Notices by contrapunctus ✊🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ (contrapunctus@en.osm.town), page 3

This is a #MechanicalKeyboards #XMPP channel I've been running for a while. We also love #ErgonomicKeyboards, #mice, #trackballs, #cyberpunk, #cyberdecks, and #AugmentedReality!

https://xmpp.link/#mechanicalkeyboards@conference.jabjab.de?join

If you are new to Jabber/XMPP, you can install Quicksy (libre software) from the Play Store, App Store, or F-Droid, then open that link.

Or you can check out the "Quick and Easy Guide to XMPP" for more information and other options -
https://contrapunctus.codeberg.page/the-quick-and-easy-guide-to-xmpp.html

#boostswelcome

Another #Jabber / #XMPP channel I made is called "Wanderer's Inn".

It's the channel for all #travel talk, including stories, photos, questions, and advice. We also love to discuss #bags, #hiking, #backpacking, and the #onebag life.
https://xmpp.link/#xmpp:travel@conference.conversations.im?join

Please join us! 😇

As before, if you're new to XMPP, see "The Quick and Easy Guide to Jabber/XMPP".
https://contrapunctus.codeberg.page/the-quick-and-easy-guide-to-xmpp.html

#BoostsAppreciated

The #FreeSoftware community managed to keep #IRC relevant for decades with the same strategy - it was the only medium to chat with them. There's no reason the same can't be done for #XMPP, a vastly superior protocol.

Oh, I should mention that XMPP supports anonymous authentication, so people can chat without making an account, just like IRC. And you can use Movim, Converse.js, or xmpp-web to provide a web client. Onboarding new users is trivial.

3/

The #FreeSoftware, #FreeData, #FreeCulture, and other communities can make a big difference by moving their communities to #XMPP - whether they are longstanding ones, or new ones.

Yes, there will be pushback. Pushback is the bread and butter of progress. You need to have the strength to keep moving forward no natter what.

Ideally, you will also debridge from proprietary/centralized networks. Or set a timeline for doing so.

I've tried it. It works. More people need to do it.

2/

#XMPP has continued to evolve and improve over the many years I've been using it. But despite the development effort going into it, there aren't as many people joining it as there should.

We can thank hype and neomania for that. These factors ensure that proprietary/centralized networks (the latter includes #Matrix) receive more funding and more code contributors. More funding results in better marketing and stronger network effect.

1/

Apparently some people are still under the mistaken impression that #XMPP is too hard to join compared to #Signal ...

(Snikket is great, but not everyone is willing to self-host.)

They usually aren't aware of Quicksy. It's a libre XMPP client (available for free from the Play Store and the App Store) and service. Quicksy uses your phone number to register - you don't need to spend time selecting a server, nor remember usernames and passwords. And it discovers contacts using phone numbers too.

@its_a_me @bhhaskin Here's a very short and sweet rebuttal of soatok's XMPP hitpiece -
https://www.moparisthebest.com/against-silos-signal/

And here's a more detailed response from one of the OMEMO authors.
https://www.moparisthebest.com/tim-henkes-omemo-response.txt

The world would be a slightly better place if nobody ever shared soatok's drivel again. 😅

So...I'm from Delhi, India, and I love surveying for #OpenStreetMap. I'm a pretty active mapper and I've also done a professional field survey for Médecins Sans Frontières (a.k.a. Doctors Without Borders).

https://www.openstreetmap.org/user/contrapunctus/

I also like teaching people. In the past one year, I've organized 15+ mapping parties and workshops, where I taught how to use OSM and how to contribute to it.

Could I #GetFediHired to do any of this full time? Open to relocating or traveling.

#boostswelcome

So I noticed the other day that I've been banned in a major #XMPP channel. No warnings, no reasons given, I have no idea why it happened. (I was always on good terms with the mods there, or at least so I believe.)

I joined with an alt and politely asked if anyone knew why my other account was banned. In response, my alt account was also silently banned.

Utterly baffling...what rule did I break, who the heck did I piss off, and when???

#MonoclesChat already had a whole bunch of really useful features even before v2, so check it out if you haven't already!

1. Swipe to reply, jump to replied-to message, preview of replied-to file, replying with a file (e.g. image, GIF, or video)

2. Banning a user offers to moderate all their recent messages. Excellent against spam.

3. Better multiple account UI. There's an option to show what account you're using for each chat, and you can set a UI color per account.

...to name only three.

Smaller improvements

1. Reinstatement of Conversations' chat state UI ("Alice has read up to this point")

2. Optional navigation sidebar to filter large chat lists.

3. Improved UI for channel invite recipients.

4. List of channel participants now includes outcasts, making Monocles even more useful for moderators.

5. The Contacts button has been reinstated in the optional bottom bar UI.

6. Settings menu is now similar to upstream #Conversations.

(2/4)

Notable bugfixes

1. Cursor offset bug when editing in quotes.

2. Automatic switching to Ad-Hoc Commands pane when opening a chat (see setting "Jump to commands")

3. The call volume/Bluetooth microphone issue should be fixed. (Yet to test.)

(3/4)

New issues 🙃

1. Many have pointed out aesthetic and readability issues in the Material You theme and the reactions UI.

2. The formatting toolbar is gone and I really miss it. I hope it will be back again soon!

3. There are noticeable stutters during typing and scrolling.

4. Tapping on a message is overloaded with three operations. Namely - selecting the thread a message is in, bringing up the emoji reactions menu, and responding to channel DMs.

(4/4)

v2 of the #XMPP client #MonoclesChat made it to #FDroid the other day, and it's a big update!

Let's start with the shiny new features -

1. Material You theme, joining upstream #Conversations

2. Proper UI for emoji reactions, joining #Gajim and Conversations

3. Type @ to complete usernames, with shortcuts for mentioning all mods and mentioning all active participants. Type : to insert emojis.

4. Per-chat custom backgrounds.

(1/4)