Thoughts on Matrix for kids (lemmy.perthchat.org)

submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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I have been trying to figure out a way that my son can have a messaging account, that doesn't track him and that we can limit who he has access to and who has access to him.

What are you thoughts on matrix for kids?

Are there any features available for that sort of control? I really only want him to be able to contact his family (and also indoctrinate him into matrix and open source young 😉)

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[-] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Sure, just find a way to self-host Conduit or Construct for Matrix and don't federate with outliers - it would work like a charm for internal communication (disclaimer: these light-weight servers are in beta stage, unlike the resource-hungry Synapse). Wait, NextCloud and Revolt have implemented chats, which are encrypted and open source already? As such, I don't observe any special benefits of Matrix for your use case (unless you're gonna do bots and stuff). 🤔 You have a lot of choices! 😉

[-] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

(Choices) not the least of which is just buy a cheap phone, or VoIP phone.

[-] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

I don't use neither of them. What I liked specifically about Matrix is the detailed events system: I'm just not sure that kids might find it useful. 🤭

[-] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Yeah, I was hoping that I could white list specific accounts (family). I can use my existing account, and it keeps it simple. The others end up walled gardens.

[-] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

I'm on the same path trying to find a solution. Is it possible to just whitelist certain accounts without all the public rooms. E.g., I have my own instance, but want to allow a DM from [email protected] without allowing public rooms or other random DMs?

As far as I can tell...you can't. Debating just using XMPP instead.

[-] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago

@carlyman @palitu on your own instance you only have the accounts and rooms you want. I have zero public rooms on mine. Only if you join a public room elsewhere does it get synced to your instance.
Blocking DM is a client thing I guess? I have had zero unwanted DM so far though...

[-] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

so, I could make a room called mum and dad, have it "private" and only invite the three accounts.

it could work.

[-] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

@palitu exactly

[-] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I think having matrix is useful for eventually letting them federate without needing a new account - just enable it on the server. Nextcloud chat won't have that advantage

[-] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Sure. Federate with another trusted server, but probably not the general one - you might want to avoid that.

[-] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

For what it's worth, I had a few great chats - while remoting - with my oldest kid upstairs. I've given him an old Eeepc 701, with just an ssh connection to a cli-only matrix client ; worked well, but I'll easily admit it was a bit limited (which, in my very specific use-case, was actually a feature)

[-] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

I run a Synapse server for just my family. It's great.

[-] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

How was the setup? I fairly advanced, but love it when it just works.

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this post was submitted on 20 Jul 2023

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