original XKCD#927: https://xkcd.com/927/
https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/927:_Standards
cross-posted from: https://programming.dev/post/58289586
Why do some people dislike Matrix so much?
I hate it because it was developed by Israeli spyware company Amdocs in Israel. Then it moved to the UK but on a forum someone who appears to be a dev denies that Amdocs ever did spyware (they wiretapped Bill Clinton and many other scandals)
The main Matrix server is Element, hosted by the developers of Matrix. And the server can see a lot of info not necessarily the messages but a lot of metadata. So unless people use a custom Matrix server it’s actually not private at all
People love hating on stuff.
I don’t hate Matrix but I’m not a fan. My only experience was on mid-size chatrooms where that was enough to notice the usual e2e UX issues just amplified by the number of users. I also remember reading articles about security issues. Both of those things make me reluctant to use it.
At the same time, I don’t have a serious alternative to propose for multi-chatroom e2e messaging software (I haven’t been looking though).
Calling XMPP and IRC “shitty”? Obviously misinformation.
We really need a new standard to deal with misinformation.
Can you repeat what you said? Sorry, I didn’t join the channel until after you spoke
But so many bash.org stories were possible due to that behavior!
I said it out loud and neither of those support VoiP or video calls.
explain xkcd is down for maintenance (October 20, 2026) What happened?
Today, a remote code execution vulnerability was found in PHP, called php2shell. The exploit was quickly independently reproduced and publicized, and the php patch will not drop until tomorrow. Since explain xkcd is affected by this exploit, I have decided to take the wiki down until tomorrow. When will the site be back up?
explain xkcd will come back up tomorrow, October 21, once I wake up and have a chance to install the new patch.
explain xkcd will come back up tomorrow, October 21, once I wake up and have a chance to install the new patch.
yes indeed it’s another exciting day in computer security… the prudent thing for PHP sites to do right now is to stay offline until the impending PHP update is published, which is currently still scheduled for 14:00 UTC (still 75 minutes from now) despite the fact that the vulnerability details seem to have leaked more than 12 hours ago 😬 🍿
until it comes back you can read explainxkcd via archive.org: https://web.archive.org/web/20260919100810/https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/927:_Standards
Yikes. This is the first I’m hearing of this and it’s pretty scary.
And because people don’t want to deal with other people and discussing something creates friction and the maintainer of a standard holds the power and does not want to change anything if she doesn’t like it. Sometimes the 15th standard is neccessary
The requirements are pretty standard for what people want in a messaging protocol. None of those listed actually support those requirements so no one I know uses them. I don’t know why people keep bringing those three up.
