> It’s compelling to look at the non-hosting users, conclude that they are a smashing majority (99.8% !!!!), and make a sweeping conclusion that no one wants t

> It’s compelling to look at the non-hosting users, conclude that they are a smashing majority (99.8% !!!!), and make a sweeping conclusion that no one wants to host their own servers. Yet it’s precisely because of those 0.2% that the system is capable of existing. Take them away, and the whole system dies. The Matrix chat protocol is like this - you have many more users than servers, but you can switch servers, the servers can talk to each other (federated), and there are even multiple implementations of server software. I've moved almost 100 friends (in their 20s) onto Matrix - Element is getting really good, and some use FluffyChat or SchildiChat. They aren't running their own servers, but they can if they want (unlike Signal), or they can switch down the track. It's pretty easy to host your own - it took me an hour or two to set a Matrix server up on a $5/month VPS, and maintenance involves running one setup command again: https://github.com/spantaleev/matrix-docker-ansible-deploy https://github.com/spantaleev/matrix-docker-ansible-deploy