But nobody is forcing you to use matrix.org, and if you have the resources it's easy to run a separate instance with peering, so that you get both the benefits of being able to communicate with everyone and have a faster/locally controlled instance with whatever rules you like.
We're keeping one alive with friends, not because we need it, but because we can and it's easy to do so.
We can argue matrix has not the most fancyful clients right now, and it might not be a perfect solution for everybody, however there are many clients to choose from, you can write one easily with many support libraries, it's easy to script, you can have full control.
This is what we should push for. I've recommended signal to a lot of friends, and I currently feel stupid for doing so: It was a hurdle to convince them, and what I achieved was to move some to another privately run network with arbitrary rules and mandated software controlled by a single entity which is now starting to do random crap.
Perfectly understandable. If matrix took off a little more, we might see an increase in resources for the official homeserver, or see more peered homeservers becoming popular (as people today get a gmail account and expect to work with users on offic360 without questioning).
Meanwhile you also have the option to get a client with multi-account support. Again, not all clients have this, but this is again something that no other messenger does, or will ever allow purely for market reasons.
If running your own homeserver weren't so painful for some folks this might be a bit more addressable, but currently if you're in a few popular rooms it's going to make a monster of your digitalocean bill, and sucks to maintain.
Hint: the correct answer to this is not "Well there's your problem you're expecting to run it on Digital oc-" no, this attitude helps nobody. Like Picard said, make it so.
We're keeping one alive with friends, not because we need it, but because we can and it's easy to do so.
We can argue matrix has not the most fancyful clients right now, and it might not be a perfect solution for everybody, however there are many clients to choose from, you can write one easily with many support libraries, it's easy to script, you can have full control.
This is what we should push for. I've recommended signal to a lot of friends, and I currently feel stupid for doing so: It was a hurdle to convince them, and what I achieved was to move some to another privately run network with arbitrary rules and mandated software controlled by a single entity which is now starting to do random crap.