Hey all, I just wanted to give my personal view, now is the time to start talking about the Fediverse seriously with friends and family. I always have casually, but I'm starting serious talks with them now that the political climate has... shifted.

We are not the only ones who are concerned about our online privacy. Even people I thought didn't really care are suddenly concerned (or realizing) that their private chats and DMs may not be as private as they thought. I've found that many more people are interested than were even just a few months ago.

Fediverse is a bit harder, I've found it's easier to convince family with "It's a more private space for us to share vacation photos like we used to". Even my aging relatives know that facebook isn't safe to upload intimate family photos to, and they're looking for a solution. Friendica works well for this (and it's relatively easy to host a family instance).

Matrix has honestly been easier. It works similar to Discord so those users have been easier to transition, and you may be surprised how many of your friends are only in Discord to chat in your small servers anyway. If the majority of the conversation moves, they probably will to.

The biggest takeaway is, although we are techies, don't talk about the tech. It turns people away. Let it come up naturally. Describe the places as private, away from prying eyes. When asked "Well can I talk to other people?" Say yes, you'll show them how when it comes time for it. Don't bother with saying it's like email, or this, or that. To them, it's just an app. Send them to the registration page you want them to join at, and let it flow from there.

Good luck!

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[–] JustEnoughDucks@feddit.nl 6 points 18 hours ago* (last edited 18 hours ago)

I saw it just yesterday.

And a week ago.

And a month ago.

And I had it myself 2 months ago, fixed by going to the online element client that just happened to still be "verified" after a while of no use and then I could verify the rest of my clients. I would be SoL if I didn't have one of my original sessions upon making the account years ago still. Interesting system.

That was in the 1 encrypted chat I am a part of.

99% of rooms aren't encrypted so are completely and totally insecure anyway. Which I guess is fine for community discussion spaces.

I like fluffychat but it doesn't have threading. Element is also fine and what I have to use on desktop because neochat fucks up so much, but I can't use it on my phone because it causes an extra 1%/hour drain on my phone battery in the background which is insane. Uninstalled it a year or two ago.