Switch over "Bisq - General" Matrix from being an encrypted to an un-encrypted room

[solomon1923]

When the Bisq switched over from Keybase to Matrix the "Bisq - General" room was set up to be encrypted.

The "Bisq - General" room is the main entry point for Bisq users from the links:

• bisq.chat
• https://app.element.io/#/room/#bisq:bitcoin.kyoto
• https://matrix.to/#/%23bisq:bitcoin.kyoto

The "Bisq - General" room currently has 2,300 + users and the encrypted nature of the room is causing issue:

• It takes a long time to post to the room (few min plus wait times on occasion)
• Sometimes it is not possible for users to post to the room
• If a user has been offline for sometime they will not see the chat that happened in their absence
• Some users have issues reading posts of other users
• Users regularly complain about the issues with the general room. The other rooms on Matrix for Bisq are undecrypted and do not have the same issues.

As the Bisq community grows more users will end up in the room and the user experience will worsen.

With the upcoming launch of Bisq 2 and the desire to improve users experience I think it would be better to move to the "Bisq - General" room being unencrypted. Assuming a simple change to the room setting is not possible. I would suggest:

• Creating a new room called "General" and setting it as unencrypted
• Changing "Bisq - General" to being invite only
• Posting on "Bisq - General" that the room has moved to "General" this could be a header post
• Admins / mods / users of "Bisq - General" can sign post any stragglers to the new "General" room

I think this change would involve someone that has admin permissions to the Matrix "Bisq Space"

@wiz @m52go @cbeams

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[solomon1923]

Just following this up. It would be good to switch over to an unencrypted room.

I would be happy to support this change if needed either by working with someone with permissions to the Matrix "Bisq Space". Alternatively if someone wants to give me permissions I can go about the changes myself (I have a bond locked).

@wiz @m52go @cbeams

[cbeams]

I'm not sure about the history that led to the room originally being encrypted, but with 2300+ members, I cannot imagine what value continuing to encrypt it would have. I spend little time in Matrix and have no special privileges or strong opinions there, but since you asked, I'd say the change makes sense to me.

Indeed, from the perspective your new @bisq-network/growth team lead role, I'd be all for such a change. Perhaps many of the best ways to facilitate Bisq's continued organic growth lie in removing barriers to its discovery and use rather than trying to attract droves of new users though typical marketing and growth hacking techniques.

[solomon1923]

Thanks for the comments. With regards your privileges I think you are a Bisq space Matrix admin along with @m52go and @wiz

[cbeams]

I think you are a Bisq space Matrix admin

Whoa, indeed I am—and I'm not sure I recall ever having been made such!

I used to be our Slack Admin, so it does make some sense why those rights would have been carried over to Matrix, but still a surprise.

In any case, we don't have a role defined for Matrix Admin. I see that @alejandrogarcia83 and @MwithM are currently Admins in the Bisq General room; perhaps one or ideally both them would like to propose and own that role? @solomon1923—you say you have a bond locked, but that is for your growth role, yes? Perhaps for convenience, it could be extended to include this Matrix Admin role and you could take it on; not sure if something like that has been done before, but so long as it's mentioned explicitly in the new Matrix Admin role issue, I don't see why it couldn't be a quick and pragmatic solution.

As for unencrypting the room, you're correct that it's not possible:

As you suggest, a new, unencrypted room could be created and folks asked to migrate, and that could be the first act of our new Matrix Admin(s). @solomon1923, go ahead with proposing that role if you like, and feel free to "fast track" it by also creating the role issue at the same time and mentioning from the proposal issue that you intend to re-use your existing bond for this purpose. I guess the rationale here is that being the Matrix Admin is just part of the growth team lead role. If it's defined as such, I guess it's not a problem or an exception, really. Would still be good to have the dedicated role issue, though, and to be explicit about all this when creating it.

[solomon1923]

Thanks for looking into this.

There is a Keybase Admin role available with a 10,000 BSQ bond. No one is currently bonded for this role. Previously the bond holders were yourself and kbteamowner. I suppose it would make sense for the Keybase admin to be renamed Matrix admin, since Matrix is the platform Bisq migrated to from Keybase.

I would be happy to do the role but do not have 10,000 BSQ available to bond. My bond is for the mediator role on Bisq 2, so not really related to my growth role, for which I have no bond.

I will reach out to @MwithM and @alejandrogarcia83 to speak to them about a possible plan to make one or more of us admins for the Bisq Matrix space.

[github-actions[bot]]

This issue has been automatically marked as stale because it has not had recent activity. It will be closed if no further activity occurs. Thank you for your contributions.

[cbeams]

not stale

[cbeams]

UPDATE: the following message has just been posted in the now-deprecated Bisq - General chat:

[HardenedSteel]

why matrix.org instance is picked up? what happened to old instance?

Matrix.org is the biggest instance which means this is centralizing it.

[solomon1923]

@cbeams thank you for delivering on this. Are you happy for this issue to now be closed?

[github-actions[bot]]

This issue has been automatically marked as stale because it has not had recent activity. It will be closed if no further activity occurs. Thank you for your contributions.

[cbeams]

@cbeams thank you for delivering on this. Are you happy for this issue to now be closed?

yes