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Re: Replacing discord...

by John Stoffel

Found this interesting discussion on replacing discord. Maybe Zulip is the best option if Matrix doesn't work out? I've zero time this week to play though... https://no-bull.sh/blog/2026/02/16/in-search-of-a-discord-replacement/

Feb. 18, 2026

Re: (ingesting) WLUG Meeting..Topic: DNS Redirection.

by Doug Mildram

doug in Maine> Thanks Steve Thibault ! Though I missed the meeting, EXTREMELY COOL "slides" ...Colors!Fonts!Boxes all gorgeous. w/opt reveal.js sidebars which nicely restate the main slides. I'm only on the first few pages! p 3(of 24) alone =worthy of notes+study. I "had to know" what is (+runs on what OS's) a pi-hole, well stated at https://docs.pi-hole.net/main/prerequisites/#supported-operating-systems Ah, peeking ahead, more fun/tricks needed. As a former sysadmin (lazy?old?) ex network-engineer, I'm finally motivated to stop feeding the bots ! Price ongoing: $5/mo for a VPS (for TailScale client)..... Guess I'll write that off (mental motivation) for likely ad-blocking improvement. Haven't bought a newish Pi ........Yet. Plus,.... headscale/TailScale seems just too cool to not have, somewhere like gf's house. On Thu, Feb 12, 2026 at 6:25 AM Tim Keller via WLUG <wlug(a)lists.wlug.org> wrote: > > Hey Everybody, > > We've got a meeting! > Date/Time: February 12th, 2026 @ 7PM > Location: Technocopia, 44 Portland St. Worcester MA > Virtual Location: https://meet.jit.si/WlugMA > Topic: DNS Interception. > Speaker: Steve Thibault > > At every turn, companies are looking for ways to monetize data. It should be no surprise that DNS is one of these. Recently a fellow WLUG member Steve Thibault discovered that their upstream provider was intercepting his DNS queries and worked to fight against this. > Steve is going to tell us his story of how he discovered what his provider was doing and what he did to foil their prying eyes. > > We have a signal group and the invite is here: https://signal.group/#CjQKIKlVuif-XKEyM_OE5NlItazdhKRrhXlI_l6aRlYx37T6EhCAK… > > It's turned into a very lively space where there's always a great conversation going on. > At tonight's meeting we're going to talk about it and ways that we can integrate it with email or use some other technology so that people don't get left out of the conversation! > > As usual, after the meeting we'll head out for dinner and keep the conversation going! > > Thanks, > Tim. > > > -- > I am leery of the allegiances of any politician who refers to their constituents as "consumers". > _______________________________________________ > WLUG mailing list -- wlug(a)lists.wlug.org > To unsubscribe send an email to wlug-leave(a)lists.wlug.org > Create Account: https://wlug.mailman3.com/accounts/signup/ > Change Settings: https://wlug.mailman3.com/postorius/lists/wlug.lists.wlug.org/ > Web Forum/Archive: https://wlug.mailman3.com/hyperkitty/list/wlug@lists.wlug.org/message/N64QK…

Feb. 17, 2026

Re: Ripple?

by Jon "maddog" Hall

I can not speak for every fiber provider or implementation, but I had Comcast Cable for a number of years, paying a premium for (at that time) 300 Mbps down and 60 Mbps up. The stability was fairly good, and I did not really see any degradation during "heavy use" times of the day. Then again, at that time my real-time use of the Internet was not extensive. I usually did email and upload/download of modestly large files (few greater than 4 Gbytes). At the same time a friend had fiber in Nashua, NH (about seven miles away) and was getting 1 Gbit sync up/down. I was jealous, but it was not on the horizon with Comcast. Then about five or so years ago Fidium came to down and offered fiber at 1 Gbit sync. I ordered that and when they were installing it in our community I talked with the installer and he told me that it would be capable of 10Gbit sync in the future. The 1 Gbit offer seemed to be "fast enough" and it was great. Later I found out they were offering 2 Gbit/sec to new customers at the same price I was paying. I called up and mentioned this. "Oh, you are right"...then TWEAK TWEAK and magically I had 2 Gbit/second sync. About that time my husband moved in and. He started working from home and I found that he was using ONE TERABYTE of data every month. Curious as to what was going on, I found that he was bit-blitting his workstation screen from Boston up to his monitor in our office (long, detailed technical story about why he felt this was necessary). I had not even noticed this load on the fiber or on the routing system in my house (long, detailed technical explanation why I put installed this in the first place). In the three years that he has been using "bit-blit" he is almost constantly in video contact with his co-workers (simultaneously with bit-blit) and I have other video meetings, watch YouTube videos, etc and no QoS issues. There was once where we have lost service for an hour, but we received messages through cellular telling us about it and then it was fixed. Other than that it has been rock solid (at least at the times we would notice it There are things I might change (and maybe I can now, I just have not asked lately). o Better use of IPv6. I can use it, but they will not commit to whether I have full control over the low order 64 bits or just the low order 48 bits. o Better use of my own Routers - they have WiFi routers that use load balancing in the WiFi for better QoS. Of course I can put my own routers off theirs, but I currently have no use case where I strongly need that. This may change soon. o No static IP (at least not at my price point). Of course there are ways around this. All in all, Fiber is one of the best things that ever happened to me....it is very close to being the #2 "best thing", but that slot is currently held by Hugo, my husband. #1 is being born. md On Sun, Feb 15, 2026 at 11:56 AM Mike Peckar via WLUG <wlug(a)lists.wlug.org> wrote: > Excited that a fiber option is coming to the neighborhood. Curious if > anyone here who has switched has had any issues QOS-wise. > > Mike > _______________________________________________ > WLUG mailing list -- wlug(a)lists.wlug.org > To unsubscribe send an email to wlug-leave(a)lists.wlug.org > Create Account: https://wlug.mailman3.com/accounts/signup/ > Change Settings: > https://wlug.mailman3.com/postorius/lists/wlug.lists.wlug.org/ > Web Forum/Archive: > https://wlug.mailman3.com/hyperkitty/list/wlug@lists.wlug.org/message/CKK2N… >

Feb. 16, 2026

Re: Ripple?

by Michael Voorhis

I'm also curious, about QoS, and about stability of IP address. --MCV. On 2/15/26 8:14 PM, steve--- via WLUG wrote: > Super jealous!

Feb. 16, 2026

Re: Ripple?

by steve＠patternsoft.net

Super jealous! > On Feb 15, 2026, at 11:57 AM, Mike Peckar via WLUG <wlug(a)lists.wlug.org> wrote: > > > Excited that a fiber option is coming to the neighborhood. Curious if anyone here who has switched has had any issues QOS-wise. > > Mike > _______________________________________________ > WLUG mailing list -- wlug(a)lists.wlug.org > To unsubscribe send an email to wlug-leave(a)lists.wlug.org > Create Account: https://wlug.mailman3.com/accounts/signup/ > Change Settings: https://wlug.mailman3.com/postorius/lists/wlug.lists.wlug.org/ > Web Forum/Archive: https://wlug.mailman3.com/hyperkitty/list/wlug@lists.wlug.org/message/CKK2N…

Feb. 16, 2026

Ripple?

by Mike Peckar

Excited that a fiber option is coming to the neighborhood. Curious if anyone here who has switched has had any issues QOS-wise. Mike

Feb. 15, 2026

Feb. Talk " Your ISP Is Spying on You Slides

by steve＠patternsoft.net

This is a reveal.js set of slides. Just open the file in a browser. Arrows move through slides. S key brings up the presenter notes. Steve Thibault

Feb. 13, 2026

Re: Replacing discord...

by John Stoffel

>>>>> "Joshua" == Joshua Stone <joshua.gage.stone(a)gmail.com> writes: We first need to setup a proper board, elect Tim as president, and have a proper paperwork for a non-profit so we can track all this properly. *grin* All part of the talk tonight. > I think it would be prudent to set up a Patreon, Liberapay account, > or some other crowd-funding method (if that hasn't been done > already) so that we can have a simple way to pool WLUG funding and > do so in a sustainable way so we don't have to jump through hoops > for recurring monthly donations. > I would gladly support WLUG with donations if it guaranteed funding for more hosted services. > Having a one-click monthly donation button would make that a lot easier. > - Josh > On Thu, Feb 12, 2026 at 2:11 PM John Stoffel via WLUG <wlug(a)lists.wlug.org> wrote: >>>>>> "steve---" == steve--- via WLUG <wlug(a)lists.wlug.org> writes: >> What ever we decide if it ends up costing money Tim you should not >> take that on yourself. Can we at least provide an optional way to >> pitch in? A maybe a WLUG patreon? > I love this idea and will be happy to pitch in too. >> On Feb 11, 2026, at 6:56 AM, Tim Keller via WLUG <wlug(a)lists.wlug.org> wrote: >> John's point that we are leaving people out of the loop because they're not in the > signal chat >> is a valid concern. >> Since I'm not paying for meetup.. I'd be down to clown to run a DO droplet that hosted a >> private *something* for us. >> I do like the real-time nature of signal, I feel it has given wlug the "community" thing > that >> in the mailing lacks. For better or worse this feels like yelling into the ether instead > of a >> conversation. >> We will definitely talk about this at the meeting tomorrow. >> I've long talked about running a zulip server.. maybe that's an option? >> Tim. >> On Tue, Feb 10, 2026, 9:33 PM Tracie Winslow <traciewinslow7(a)gmail.com> wrote: >> What about Mattermost? >> "For a long time it seemed to me that life was about to begin - real life. But there > was >> always some obstacle in the way, something to be gotten through first, some > unfinished >> business, time still to be served, a debt to be paid. At last it dawned on me that > these >> obstacles were my life. This perspective has helped me to see there is no way to >> happiness. Happiness is the way. So treasure every moment you have and remember that > time >> waits for no one." >> - Souza >> On Tue, Feb 10, 2026, 7:05 PM eroc1990 via WLUG <wlug(a)lists.wlug.org> wrote: >> I did. I've also witnessed these attacks first-hand on other spaces. It's only a >> problem for public servers because anyone can join. If your space and rooms are >> private, that attack vector closes. >> -------- Original Message -------- >> On Tuesday, 02/10/26 at 17:20 John Stoffel via WLUG <wlug(a)lists.wlug.org> wrote: >>>>>>> "eroc1990" == eroc1990 <eroc1990(a)protonmail.com> writes: >> Did you read the article i posted? Part of the issue is CSAM being >> pushed into matrix servers and the management was hard to make work. >> But maybe that's gotten better and if we ran our own server it >> wouldn't be a problem? >> Something to talk about for sure on thursday. I'm not up on these >> tools at all, but I do want to make sure that email chats and signal >> chats are shared widely as possible. >> And one of the choices I failed to list is: >> - instant messages (signal) >> - email threads. >> Those are two aspects. When I got home sunday and found 130+ messages >> in signal to catch up on, it was pretty funny. But did I really need >> to read them all? Maybe. Did I enjoy it? Enventually once I read >> them. >> But I like the mailing list and how I don't need to be watching it >> constantly, nor do I get dinged with notifications. Whcih is both >> good and bad. LOL! >> John >>> I feel like the obvious winner in this case would be Matrix. Synapse >>> can be a bit of a bear to set up, but you get E2EE in both 1:1 and >>> Rooms, things can be organized into Spaces and you're able to freely >>> join and leave any room or space that's irrelevant to >>> you. Administration isn't all that bad when you're running a Private >>> server, but it comes with costs in terms of the resources needed to >>> store and serve the various components of Matrix. Would be curious >>> if anyone has any proclivities toward another service with similar >>> offerings. >>> On Tuesday, February 10th, 2026 at 3:49 PM, John Stoffel via WLUG < >> wlug(a)lists.wlug.org> wrote: >>>> >>>> Hi all, >>>> A bunch of us are also chatting on signal (look in the email archives >>>> for a link to join!) and I feel like we're leaving the email forum >>>> users behind. >>>> >>>> And we need to keep the WLUG community working together and sharing >>>> together, no matter what their systems or resources are. >>>> >>>> I found this interesting article on replacing discord with something >>>> new. >>>> >>>> https://taggart-tech.com/discord-alternatives/ >>>> >>>> And I thought we as a group show evaluate some of these options as >>>> well. In order of requirements I think: >>>> >>>> >>>> - needs to be open >>>> - WLUG needs to control the data >>>> - needs to have clients across a swath of systems. >>>> - web based >>>> - CLI / plain text based >>>> - Apple/Android clients. >>>> - searchable >>>> - able to organize a bit into channels. >>>> - announcements >>>> - regular chat >>>> - questions or howtos >>>> >>>> Right now I enjoy the signal chat and how free form it is, but since I >>>> can only read it on my phone because getting a CLI client working is a >>>> pain... and I don't want to install the signal app on my work >>>> laptop. >>>> >>>> So what do people think? >>>> >>>> John >>>> _______________________________________________ >>>> WLUG mailing list -- wlug(a)lists.wlug.org >>>> To unsubscribe send an email to wlug-leave(a)lists.wlug.org >>>> Create Account: https://wlug.mailman3.com/accounts/signup/ >>>> Change Settings: https://wlug.mailman3.com/postorius/lists/wlug.lists.wlug.org/ >>>> Web Forum/Archive: >> > https://wlug.mailman3.com/hyperkitty/list/wlug@lists.wlug.org/message/XQDKN… >>>> >> _______________________________________________ >> WLUG mailing list -- wlug(a)lists.wlug.org >> To unsubscribe send an email to wlug-leave(a)lists.wlug.org >> Create Account: https://wlug.mailman3.com/accounts/signup/ >> Change Settings: https://wlug.mailman3.com/postorius/lists/wlug.lists.wlug.org/ >> Web Forum/Archive: >> > https://wlug.mailman3.com/hyperkitty/list/wlug@lists.wlug.org/message/LCJ64… >> _______________________________________________ >> WLUG mailing list -- wlug(a)lists.wlug.org >> To unsubscribe send an email to wlug-leave(a)lists.wlug.org >> Create Account: https://wlug.mailman3.com/accounts/signup/ >> Change Settings: https://wlug.mailman3.com/postorius/lists/wlug.lists.wlug.org/ >> Web Forum/Archive: >> > https://wlug.mailman3.com/hyperkitty/list/wlug@lists.wlug.org/message/A7UIL… >> _______________________________________________ >> WLUG mailing list -- wlug(a)lists.wlug.org >> To unsubscribe send an email to wlug-leave(a)lists.wlug.org >> Create Account: https://wlug.mailman3.com/accounts/signup/ >> Change Settings: https://wlug.mailman3.com/postorius/lists/wlug.lists.wlug.org/ >> Web Forum/Archive: >> > https://wlug.mailman3.com/hyperkitty/list/wlug@lists.wlug.org/message/KLCVN… >> _______________________________________________ >> WLUG mailing list -- wlug(a)lists.wlug.org >> To unsubscribe send an email to wlug-leave(a)lists.wlug.org >> Create Account: https://wlug.mailman3.com/accounts/signup/ >> Change Settings: https://wlug.mailman3.com/postorius/lists/wlug.lists.wlug.org/ >> Web Forum/Archive: > https://wlug.mailman3.com/hyperkitty/list/wlug@lists.wlug.org/message/RIJFG… > _______________________________________________ > WLUG mailing list -- wlug(a)lists.wlug.org > To unsubscribe send an email to wlug-leave(a)lists.wlug.org > Create Account: https://wlug.mailman3.com/accounts/signup/ > Change Settings: https://wlug.mailman3.com/postorius/lists/wlug.lists.wlug.org/ > Web Forum/Archive: > https://wlug.mailman3.com/hyperkitty/list/wlug@lists.wlug.org/message/34YYR…

Feb. 12, 2026

Re: Replacing discord...

by Joshua Stone

I think it would be prudent to set up a Patreon, Liberapay account, or some other crowd-funding method (if that hasn't been done already) so that we can have a simple way to pool WLUG funding and do so in a sustainable way so we don't have to jump through hoops for recurring monthly donations. I would gladly support WLUG with donations if it guaranteed funding for more hosted services. Having a one-click monthly donation button would make that a lot easier. - Josh On Thu, Feb 12, 2026 at 2:11 PM John Stoffel via WLUG <wlug(a)lists.wlug.org> wrote: > >>>>> "steve---" == steve--- via WLUG <wlug(a)lists.wlug.org> writes: > > > What ever we decide if it ends up costing money Tim you should not > > take that on yourself. Can we at least provide an optional way to > > pitch in? A maybe a WLUG patreon? > > I love this idea and will be happy to pitch in too. > > > > On Feb 11, 2026, at 6:56 AM, Tim Keller via WLUG < > wlug(a)lists.wlug.org> wrote: > > > John's point that we are leaving people out of the loop because > they're not in the signal chat > > is a valid concern. > > > Since I'm not paying for meetup.. I'd be down to clown to run a DO > droplet that hosted a > > private *something* for us. > > > I do like the real-time nature of signal, I feel it has given wlug > the "community" thing that > > in the mailing lacks. For better or worse this feels like yelling > into the ether instead of a > > conversation. > > > We will definitely talk about this at the meeting tomorrow. > > > I've long talked about running a zulip server.. maybe that's an > option? > > > Tim. > > > On Tue, Feb 10, 2026, 9:33 PM Tracie Winslow < > traciewinslow7(a)gmail.com> wrote: > > > What about Mattermost? > > > "For a long time it seemed to me that life was about to begin - > real life. But there was > > always some obstacle in the way, something to be gotten through > first, some unfinished > > business, time still to be served, a debt to be paid. At last it > dawned on me that these > > obstacles were my life. This perspective has helped me to see > there is no way to > > happiness. Happiness is the way. So treasure every moment you > have and remember that time > > waits for no one." > > - Souza > > > On Tue, Feb 10, 2026, 7:05 PM eroc1990 via WLUG < > wlug(a)lists.wlug.org> wrote: > > > I did. I've also witnessed these attacks first-hand on other > spaces. It's only a > > problem for public servers because anyone can join. If your > space and rooms are > > private, that attack vector closes. > > > -------- Original Message -------- > > On Tuesday, 02/10/26 at 17:20 John Stoffel via WLUG < > wlug(a)lists.wlug.org> wrote: > >>>>>> "eroc1990" == eroc1990 <eroc1990(a)protonmail.com> writes: > > > Did you read the article i posted? Part of the issue is > CSAM being > > pushed into matrix servers and the management was hard to > make work. > > But maybe that's gotten better and if we ran our own server > it > > wouldn't be a problem? > > > Something to talk about for sure on thursday. I'm not up on > these > > tools at all, but I do want to make sure that email chats > and signal > > chats are shared widely as possible. > > > And one of the choices I failed to list is: > > > - instant messages (signal) > > - email threads. > > > Those are two aspects. When I got home sunday and found > 130+ messages > > in signal to catch up on, it was pretty funny. But did I > really need > > to read them all? Maybe. Did I enjoy it? Enventually once > I read > > them. > > > But I like the mailing list and how I don't need to be > watching it > > constantly, nor do I get dinged with notifications. Whcih > is both > > good and bad. LOL! > > > John > > >> I feel like the obvious winner in this case would be Matrix. Synapse > >> can be a bit of a bear to set up, but you get E2EE in both 1:1 and > >> Rooms, things can be organized into Spaces and you're able to freely > >> join and leave any room or space that's irrelevant to > >> you. Administration isn't all that bad when you're running a Private > >> server, but it comes with costs in terms of the resources needed to > >> store and serve the various components of Matrix. Would be curious > >> if anyone has any proclivities toward another service with similar > >> offerings. > > >> On Tuesday, February 10th, 2026 at 3:49 PM, John Stoffel via WLUG < > > wlug(a)lists.wlug.org> wrote: > > >>> > >>> Hi all, > >>> A bunch of us are also chatting on signal (look in the email archives > >>> for a link to join!) and I feel like we're leaving the email forum > >>> users behind. > >>> > >>> And we need to keep the WLUG community working together and sharing > >>> together, no matter what their systems or resources are. > >>> > >>> I found this interesting article on replacing discord with something > >>> new. > >>> > >>> https://taggart-tech.com/discord-alternatives/ > >>> > >>> And I thought we as a group show evaluate some of these options as > >>> well. In order of requirements I think: > >>> > >>> > >>> - needs to be open > >>> - WLUG needs to control the data > >>> - needs to have clients across a swath of systems. > >>> - web based > >>> - CLI / plain text based > >>> - Apple/Android clients. > >>> - searchable > >>> - able to organize a bit into channels. > >>> - announcements > >>> - regular chat > >>> - questions or howtos > >>> > >>> Right now I enjoy the signal chat and how free form it is, but since I > >>> can only read it on my phone because getting a CLI client working is a > >>> pain... and I don't want to install the signal app on my work > >>> laptop. > >>> > >>> So what do people think? > >>> > >>> John > >>> _______________________________________________ > >>> WLUG mailing list -- wlug(a)lists.wlug.org > >>> To unsubscribe send an email to wlug-leave(a)lists.wlug.org > >>> Create Account: https://wlug.mailman3.com/accounts/signup/ > >>> Change Settings: > https://wlug.mailman3.com/postorius/lists/wlug.lists.wlug.org/ > >>> Web Forum/Archive: > > > https://wlug.mailman3.com/hyperkitty/list/wlug@lists.wlug.org/message/XQDKN… > >>> > > _______________________________________________ > > WLUG mailing list -- wlug(a)lists.wlug.org > > To unsubscribe send an email to wlug-leave(a)lists.wlug.org > > Create Account: https://wlug.mailman3.com/accounts/signup/ > > Change Settings: > https://wlug.mailman3.com/postorius/lists/wlug.lists.wlug.org/ > > Web Forum/Archive: > > > https://wlug.mailman3.com/hyperkitty/list/wlug@lists.wlug.org/message/LCJ64… > > > _______________________________________________ > > WLUG mailing list -- wlug(a)lists.wlug.org > > To unsubscribe send an email to wlug-leave(a)lists.wlug.org > > Create Account: https://wlug.mailman3.com/accounts/signup/ > > Change Settings: > https://wlug.mailman3.com/postorius/lists/wlug.lists.wlug.org/ > > Web Forum/Archive: > > > https://wlug.mailman3.com/hyperkitty/list/wlug@lists.wlug.org/message/A7UIL… > > > _______________________________________________ > > WLUG mailing list -- wlug(a)lists.wlug.org > > To unsubscribe send an email to wlug-leave(a)lists.wlug.org > > Create Account: https://wlug.mailman3.com/accounts/signup/ > > Change Settings: > https://wlug.mailman3.com/postorius/lists/wlug.lists.wlug.org/ > > Web Forum/Archive: > > > https://wlug.mailman3.com/hyperkitty/list/wlug@lists.wlug.org/message/KLCVN… > > _______________________________________________ > > WLUG mailing list -- wlug(a)lists.wlug.org > > To unsubscribe send an email to wlug-leave(a)lists.wlug.org > > Create Account: https://wlug.mailman3.com/accounts/signup/ > > Change Settings: > https://wlug.mailman3.com/postorius/lists/wlug.lists.wlug.org/ > > Web Forum/Archive: > https://wlug.mailman3.com/hyperkitty/list/wlug@lists.wlug.org/message/RIJFG… > _______________________________________________ > WLUG mailing list -- wlug(a)lists.wlug.org > To unsubscribe send an email to wlug-leave(a)lists.wlug.org > Create Account: https://wlug.mailman3.com/accounts/signup/ > Change Settings: > https://wlug.mailman3.com/postorius/lists/wlug.lists.wlug.org/ > Web Forum/Archive: > https://wlug.mailman3.com/hyperkitty/list/wlug@lists.wlug.org/message/34YYR… >

Feb. 12, 2026

Re: Replacing discord...

by Joel

Curious. What is WLUG talking about today hourly (to need comms via ICQ / stack / slack / discord / mattermost / whatever ) ? Can I pour through a prior message log to decide my own level of interest in this extra comms? Thank you, Joel Feb 12, 2026 2:11:34 PM John Stoffel via WLUG <wlug(a)lists.wlug.org>: >>>>>> … > >> What ever we decide if it ends up costing money Tim you should not >> take that on yourself. Can we at least provide an optional way to >> pitch in? A maybe a WLUG patreon? > > I love this idea and will be happy to pitch in too. > > >> On Feb 11, 2026, at 6:56 AM, Tim Keller via WLUG <wlug(a)lists.wlug.org> wrote: > >> John's point that we are leaving people out of the loop because they're not in the signal chat >> is a valid concern. > >> Since I'm not paying for meetup.. I'd be down to clown to run a DO droplet that hosted a >> private *something* for us. > >> I do like the real-time nature of signal, I feel it has given wlug the "community" thing that >> in the mailing lacks. For better or worse this feels like yelling into the ether instead of a >> conversation. > >> We will definitely talk about this at the meeting tomorrow. > >> I've long talked about running a zulip server.. maybe that's an option? > >> Tim. > >> On Tue, Feb 10, 2026, 9:33 PM Tracie Winslow <traciewinslow7(a)gmail.com> wrote: > >> What about Mattermost? > >> "For a long time it seemed to me that life was about to begin - real life. But there was >> always some obstacle in the way, something to be gotten through first, some unfinished >> business, time still to be served, a debt to be paid. At last it dawned on me that these >> obstacles were my life. This perspective has helped me to see there is no way to >> happiness. Happiness is the way. So treasure every moment you have and remember that time >> waits for no one." >> - Souza > >> On Tue, Feb 10, 2026, 7:05 PM eroc1990 via WLUG <wlug(a)lists.wlug.org> wrote: > >> I did. I've also witnessed these attacks first-hand on other spaces. It's only a >> problem for public servers because anyone can join. If your space and rooms are >> private, that attack vector closes. > >> -------- Original Message -------- >> On Tuesday, 02/10/26 at 17:20 John Stoffel via WLUG <wlug(a)lists.wlug.org> wrote: >>>>>> … > >> Did you read the article i posted? Part of the issue is CSAM being >> pushed into matrix servers and the management was hard to make work. >> But maybe that's gotten better and if we ran our own server it >> wouldn't be a problem? > >> Something to talk about for sure on thursday. I'm not up on these >> tools at all, but I do want to make sure that email chats and signal >> chats are shared widely as possible. > >> And one of the choices I failed to list is: > >> - instant messages (signal) >> - email threads. > >> Those are two aspects. When I got home sunday and found 130+ messages >> in signal to catch up on, it was pretty funny. But did I really need >> to read them all? Maybe. Did I enjoy it? Enventually once I read >> them. > >> But I like the mailing list and how I don't need to be watching it >> constantly, nor do I get dinged with notifications. Whcih is both >> good and bad. LOL! > >> John > >>> I feel like the obvious winner in this case would be Matrix. Synapse >>> can be a bit of a bear to set up, but you get E2EE in both 1:1 and >>> Rooms, things can be organized into Spaces and you're able to freely >>> join and leave any room or space that's irrelevant to >>> you. Administration isn't all that bad when you're running a Private >>> server, but it comes with costs in terms of the resources needed to >>> store and serve the various components of Matrix. Would be curious >>> if anyone has any proclivities toward another service with similar >>> offerings. > >>> On Tuesday, February 10th, 2026 at 3:49 PM, John Stoffel via WLUG < >> wlug(a)lists.wlug.org> wrote: > >>>> >>>> Hi all, >>>> A bunch of us are also chatting on signal (look in the email archives >>>> for a link to join!) and I feel like we're leaving the email forum >>>> users behind. >>>> >>>> And we need to keep the WLUG community working together and sharing >>>> together, no matter what their systems or resources are. >>>> >>>> I found this interesting article on replacing discord with something >>>> new. >>>> >>>> https://taggart-tech.com/discord-alternatives/ >>>> >>>> And I thought we as a group show evaluate some of these options as >>>> well. In order of requirements I think: >>>> >>>> >>>> - needs to be open >>>> - WLUG needs to control the data >>>> - needs to have clients across a swath of systems. >>>> - web based >>>> - CLI / plain text based >>>> - Apple/Android clients. >>>> - searchable >>>> - able to organize a bit into channels. >>>> - announcements >>>> - regular chat >>>> - questions or howtos >>>> >>>> Right now I enjoy the signal chat and how free form it is, but since I >>>> can only read it on my phone because getting a CLI client working is a >>>> pain... and I don't want to install the signal app on my work >>>> laptop. >>>> >>>> So what do people think? >>>> >>>> John >>>> _______________________________________________ >>>> WLUG mailing list -- wlug(a)lists.wlug.org >>>> To unsubscribe send an email to wlug-leave(a)lists.wlug.org >>>> Create Account: https://wlug.mailman3.com/accounts/signup/ >>>> Change Settings: https://wlug.mailman3.com/postorius/lists/wlug.lists.wlug.org/ >>>> Web Forum/Archive: >> https://wlug.mailman3.com/hyperkitty/list/wlug@lists.wlug.org/message/XQDKN… >>>> >> _______________________________________________ >> WLUG mailing list -- wlug(a)lists.wlug.org >> To unsubscribe send an email to wlug-leave(a)lists.wlug.org >> Create Account: https://wlug.mailman3.com/accounts/signup/ >> Change Settings: https://wlug.mailman3.com/postorius/lists/wlug.lists.wlug.org/ >> Web Forum/Archive: >> https://wlug.mailman3.com/hyperkitty/list/wlug@lists.wlug.org/message/LCJ64… > >> _______________________________________________ >> WLUG mailing list -- wlug(a)lists.wlug.org >> To unsubscribe send an email to wlug-leave(a)lists.wlug.org >> Create Account: https://wlug.mailman3.com/accounts/signup/ >> Change Settings: https://wlug.mailman3.com/postorius/lists/wlug.lists.wlug.org/ >> Web Forum/Archive: >> https://wlug.mailman3.com/hyperkitty/list/wlug@lists.wlug.org/message/A7UIL… > >> _______________________________________________ >> WLUG mailing list -- wlug(a)lists.wlug.org >> To unsubscribe send an email to wlug-leave(a)lists.wlug.org >> Create Account: https://wlug.mailman3.com/accounts/signup/ >> Change Settings: https://wlug.mailman3.com/postorius/lists/wlug.lists.wlug.org/ >> Web Forum/Archive: >> https://wlug.mailman3.com/hyperkitty/list/wlug@lists.wlug.org/message/KLCVN… >> _______________________________________________ >> WLUG mailing list -- wlug(a)lists.wlug.org >> To unsubscribe send an email to wlug-leave(a)lists.wlug.org >> Create Account: https://wlug.mailman3.com/accounts/signup/ >> Change Settings: https://wlug.mailman3.com/postorius/lists/wlug.lists.wlug.org/ >> Web Forum/Archive: https://wlug.mailman3.com/hyperkitty/list/wlug@lists.wlug.org/message/RIJFG… > _______________________________________________ > WLUG mailing list -- wlug(a)lists.wlug.org > To unsubscribe send an email to wlug-leave(a)lists.wlug.org > Create Account: https://wlug.mailman3.com/accounts/signup/ > Change Settings: https://wlug.mailman3.com/postorius/lists/wlug.lists.wlug.org/ > Web Forum/Archive: https://wlug.mailman3.com/hyperkitty/list/wlug@lists.wlug.org/message/34YYR…

Feb. 12, 2026

Re: Replacing discord...

by John Stoffel

>>>>> "steve---" == steve--- via WLUG <wlug(a)lists.wlug.org> writes: > What ever we decide if it ends up costing money Tim you should not > take that on yourself. Can we at least provide an optional way to > pitch in? A maybe a WLUG patreon? I love this idea and will be happy to pitch in too. > On Feb 11, 2026, at 6:56 AM, Tim Keller via WLUG <wlug(a)lists.wlug.org> wrote: > John's point that we are leaving people out of the loop because they're not in the signal chat > is a valid concern. > Since I'm not paying for meetup.. I'd be down to clown to run a DO droplet that hosted a > private *something* for us. > I do like the real-time nature of signal, I feel it has given wlug the "community" thing that > in the mailing lacks. For better or worse this feels like yelling into the ether instead of a > conversation. > We will definitely talk about this at the meeting tomorrow. > I've long talked about running a zulip server.. maybe that's an option? > Tim. > On Tue, Feb 10, 2026, 9:33 PM Tracie Winslow <traciewinslow7(a)gmail.com> wrote: > What about Mattermost? > "For a long time it seemed to me that life was about to begin - real life. But there was > always some obstacle in the way, something to be gotten through first, some unfinished > business, time still to be served, a debt to be paid. At last it dawned on me that these > obstacles were my life. This perspective has helped me to see there is no way to > happiness. Happiness is the way. So treasure every moment you have and remember that time > waits for no one." > - Souza > On Tue, Feb 10, 2026, 7:05 PM eroc1990 via WLUG <wlug(a)lists.wlug.org> wrote: > I did. I've also witnessed these attacks first-hand on other spaces. It's only a > problem for public servers because anyone can join. If your space and rooms are > private, that attack vector closes. > -------- Original Message -------- > On Tuesday, 02/10/26 at 17:20 John Stoffel via WLUG <wlug(a)lists.wlug.org> wrote: >>>>>> "eroc1990" == eroc1990 <eroc1990(a)protonmail.com> writes: > Did you read the article i posted? Part of the issue is CSAM being > pushed into matrix servers and the management was hard to make work. > But maybe that's gotten better and if we ran our own server it > wouldn't be a problem? > Something to talk about for sure on thursday. I'm not up on these > tools at all, but I do want to make sure that email chats and signal > chats are shared widely as possible. > And one of the choices I failed to list is: > - instant messages (signal) > - email threads. > Those are two aspects. When I got home sunday and found 130+ messages > in signal to catch up on, it was pretty funny. But did I really need > to read them all? Maybe. Did I enjoy it? Enventually once I read > them. > But I like the mailing list and how I don't need to be watching it > constantly, nor do I get dinged with notifications. Whcih is both > good and bad. LOL! > John >> I feel like the obvious winner in this case would be Matrix. Synapse >> can be a bit of a bear to set up, but you get E2EE in both 1:1 and >> Rooms, things can be organized into Spaces and you're able to freely >> join and leave any room or space that's irrelevant to >> you. Administration isn't all that bad when you're running a Private >> server, but it comes with costs in terms of the resources needed to >> store and serve the various components of Matrix. Would be curious >> if anyone has any proclivities toward another service with similar >> offerings. >> On Tuesday, February 10th, 2026 at 3:49 PM, John Stoffel via WLUG < > wlug(a)lists.wlug.org> wrote: >>> >>> Hi all, >>> A bunch of us are also chatting on signal (look in the email archives >>> for a link to join!) and I feel like we're leaving the email forum >>> users behind. >>> >>> And we need to keep the WLUG community working together and sharing >>> together, no matter what their systems or resources are. >>> >>> I found this interesting article on replacing discord with something >>> new. >>> >>> https://taggart-tech.com/discord-alternatives/ >>> >>> And I thought we as a group show evaluate some of these options as >>> well. In order of requirements I think: >>> >>> >>> - needs to be open >>> - WLUG needs to control the data >>> - needs to have clients across a swath of systems. >>> - web based >>> - CLI / plain text based >>> - Apple/Android clients. >>> - searchable >>> - able to organize a bit into channels. >>> - announcements >>> - regular chat >>> - questions or howtos >>> >>> Right now I enjoy the signal chat and how free form it is, but since I >>> can only read it on my phone because getting a CLI client working is a >>> pain... and I don't want to install the signal app on my work >>> laptop. >>> >>> So what do people think? >>> >>> John >>> _______________________________________________ >>> WLUG mailing list -- wlug(a)lists.wlug.org >>> To unsubscribe send an email to wlug-leave(a)lists.wlug.org >>> Create Account: https://wlug.mailman3.com/accounts/signup/ >>> Change Settings: https://wlug.mailman3.com/postorius/lists/wlug.lists.wlug.org/ >>> Web Forum/Archive: > https://wlug.mailman3.com/hyperkitty/list/wlug@lists.wlug.org/message/XQDKN… >>> > _______________________________________________ > WLUG mailing list -- wlug(a)lists.wlug.org > To unsubscribe send an email to wlug-leave(a)lists.wlug.org > Create Account: https://wlug.mailman3.com/accounts/signup/ > Change Settings: https://wlug.mailman3.com/postorius/lists/wlug.lists.wlug.org/ > Web Forum/Archive: > https://wlug.mailman3.com/hyperkitty/list/wlug@lists.wlug.org/message/LCJ64… > _______________________________________________ > WLUG mailing list -- wlug(a)lists.wlug.org > To unsubscribe send an email to wlug-leave(a)lists.wlug.org > Create Account: https://wlug.mailman3.com/accounts/signup/ > Change Settings: https://wlug.mailman3.com/postorius/lists/wlug.lists.wlug.org/ > Web Forum/Archive: > https://wlug.mailman3.com/hyperkitty/list/wlug@lists.wlug.org/message/A7UIL… > _______________________________________________ > WLUG mailing list -- wlug(a)lists.wlug.org > To unsubscribe send an email to wlug-leave(a)lists.wlug.org > Create Account: https://wlug.mailman3.com/accounts/signup/ > Change Settings: https://wlug.mailman3.com/postorius/lists/wlug.lists.wlug.org/ > Web Forum/Archive: > https://wlug.mailman3.com/hyperkitty/list/wlug@lists.wlug.org/message/KLCVN… > _______________________________________________ > WLUG mailing list -- wlug(a)lists.wlug.org > To unsubscribe send an email to wlug-leave(a)lists.wlug.org > Create Account: https://wlug.mailman3.com/accounts/signup/ > Change Settings: https://wlug.mailman3.com/postorius/lists/wlug.lists.wlug.org/ > Web Forum/Archive: https://wlug.mailman3.com/hyperkitty/list/wlug@lists.wlug.org/message/RIJFG…

Feb. 12, 2026

REMINDER: WLUG Meeting Tonight! Topic: DNS Redirection.

by Tim Keller

Hey Everybody, We've got a meeting! Date/Time: February 12th, 2026 @ 7PM Location: Technocopia, 44 Portland St. Worcester MA Virtual Location: https://meet.jit.si/WlugMA Topic: DNS Interception. Speaker: Steve Thibault At every turn, companies are looking for ways to monetize data. It should be no surprise that DNS is one of these. Recently a fellow WLUG member Steve Thibault discovered that their upstream provider was intercepting his DNS queries and worked to fight against this. Steve is going to tell us his story of how he discovered what his provider was doing and what he did to foil their prying eyes. We have a signal group and the invite is here: https://signal.group/#CjQKIKlVuif-XKEyM_OE5NlItazdhKRrhXlI_l6aRlYx37T6EhCAK… It's turned into a very lively space where there's always a great conversation going on. At tonight's meeting we're going to talk about it and ways that we can integrate it with email or use some other technology so that people don't get left out of the conversation! As usual, after the meeting we'll head out for dinner and keep the conversation going! Thanks, Tim. -- I am leery of the allegiances of any politician who refers to their constituents as "consumers".

Feb. 12, 2026

Re: Replacing discord...

by Cara Salter

I like discourse as modern forum software. It's pleasant as both a user and an administrator/moderator, and the email integration is good. Cara -------- Original Message -------- From: Chuck Anderson via WLUG <wlug(a)lists.wlug.org> Sent: February 10, 2026 6:01:56 PM CST To: wlug(a)lists.wlug.org Cc: Chuck Anderson <cra(a)fea.st> Subject: [WLUG] Re: Replacing discord... Signal is too much--I have thousands of unread messages, most of which were sent by 2 people. Signal is for real-time conversations (like IRC), not discussions to be read at leisure (like email lists or forums). Fedora uses Discourse (not Discord). Maybe that's worth investigating? I've been mostly able to live with its email integration. "https://www.discourse.org/about Open source at heart Discourse has been open source since 2013, with our full codebase on GitHub. Your community data is never locked into a proprietary system; you can self-host, migrate away if your needs change, or customize the platform in ways closed software won't allow. Hundreds of developers have contributed security patches, accessibility improvements, and new features over the years. It's how we believe community software should be built." On Tue, Feb 10, 2026 at 05:20:16PM -0500, John Stoffel via WLUG wrote: > >>>>> "eroc1990" == eroc1990 <eroc1990(a)protonmail.com> writes: > > Did you read the article i posted? Part of the issue is CSAM being > pushed into matrix servers and the management was hard to make work. > But maybe that's gotten better and if we ran our own server it > wouldn't be a problem? > > Something to talk about for sure on thursday. I'm not up on these > tools at all, but I do want to make sure that email chats and signal > chats are shared widely as possible. > > And one of the choices I failed to list is: > > - instant messages (signal) > - email threads. > > Those are two aspects. When I got home sunday and found 130+ messages > in signal to catch up on, it was pretty funny. But did I really need > to read them all? Maybe. Did I enjoy it? Enventually once I read > them. > > But I like the mailing list and how I don't need to be watching it > constantly, nor do I get dinged with notifications. Whcih is both > good and bad. LOL! > > John > > > > I feel like the obvious winner in this case would be Matrix. Synapse > > can be a bit of a bear to set up, but you get E2EE in both 1:1 and > > Rooms, things can be organized into Spaces and you're able to freely > > join and leave any room or space that's irrelevant to > > you. Administration isn't all that bad when you're running a Private > > server, but it comes with costs in terms of the resources needed to > > store and serve the various components of Matrix. Would be curious > > if anyone has any proclivities toward another service with similar > > offerings. > > > > > On Tuesday, February 10th, 2026 at 3:49 PM, John Stoffel via WLUG <wlug(a)lists.wlug.org> wrote: > > >> > >> Hi all, > >> A bunch of us are also chatting on signal (look in the email archives > >> for a link to join!) and I feel like we're leaving the email forum > >> users behind. > >> > >> And we need to keep the WLUG community working together and sharing > >> together, no matter what their systems or resources are. > >> > >> I found this interesting article on replacing discord with something > >> new. > >> > >> https://taggart-tech.com/discord-alternatives/ > >> > >> And I thought we as a group show evaluate some of these options as > >> well. In order of requirements I think: > >> > >> > >> - needs to be open > >> - WLUG needs to control the data > >> - needs to have clients across a swath of systems. > >> - web based > >> - CLI / plain text based > >> - Apple/Android clients. > >> - searchable > >> - able to organize a bit into channels. > >> - announcements > >> - regular chat > >> - questions or howtos > >> > >> Right now I enjoy the signal chat and how free form it is, but since I > >> can only read it on my phone because getting a CLI client working is a > >> pain... and I don't want to install the signal app on my work > >> laptop. > >> > >> So what do people think? _______________________________________________ WLUG mailing list -- wlug(a)lists.wlug.org To unsubscribe send an email to wlug-leave(a)lists.wlug.org Create Account: https://wlug.mailman3.com/accounts/signup/ Change Settings: https://wlug.mailman3.com/postorius/lists/wlug.lists.wlug.org/ Web Forum/Archive: https://wlug.mailman3.com/hyperkitty/list/wlug@lists.wlug.org/message/G637C…

Feb. 12, 2026

Re: Replacing discord...

by John Stoffel

>>>>> "eroc1990" == eroc1990 <eroc1990(a)protonmail.com> writes: But I'd like our servers and spaces to be public! We want to encourage people to join, or at least make it trivial for people to join and see us and our community. > I did. I've also witnessed these attacks first-hand on other > spaces. It's only a problem for public servers because anyone can > join. If your space and rooms are private, that attack vector > closes. > -------- Original Message -------- > On Tuesday, 02/10/26 at 17:20 John Stoffel via WLUG <wlug(a)lists.wlug.org> wrote: >>>>> "eroc1990" == eroc1990 <eroc1990(a)protonmail.com> writes: > Did you read the article i posted? Part of the issue is CSAM being > pushed into matrix servers and the management was hard to make work. > But maybe that's gotten better and if we ran our own server it > wouldn't be a problem? > Something to talk about for sure on thursday. I'm not up on these > tools at all, but I do want to make sure that email chats and signal > chats are shared widely as possible. > And one of the choices I failed to list is: > - instant messages (signal) > - email threads. > Those are two aspects. When I got home sunday and found 130+ messages > in signal to catch up on, it was pretty funny. But did I really need > to read them all? Maybe. Did I enjoy it? Enventually once I read > them. > But I like the mailing list and how I don't need to be watching it > constantly, nor do I get dinged with notifications. Whcih is both > good and bad. LOL! > John >> I feel like the obvious winner in this case would be Matrix. Synapse >> can be a bit of a bear to set up, but you get E2EE in both 1:1 and >> Rooms, things can be organized into Spaces and you're able to freely >> join and leave any room or space that's irrelevant to >> you. Administration isn't all that bad when you're running a Private >> server, but it comes with costs in terms of the resources needed to >> store and serve the various components of Matrix. Would be curious >> if anyone has any proclivities toward another service with similar >> offerings. >> On Tuesday, February 10th, 2026 at 3:49 PM, John Stoffel via WLUG <wlug(a)lists.wlug.org> wrote: >>> >>> Hi all, >>> A bunch of us are also chatting on signal (look in the email archives >>> for a link to join!) and I feel like we're leaving the email forum >>> users behind. >>> >>> And we need to keep the WLUG community working together and sharing >>> together, no matter what their systems or resources are. >>> >>> I found this interesting article on replacing discord with something >>> new. >>> >>> https://taggart-tech.com/discord-alternatives/ >>> >>> And I thought we as a group show evaluate some of these options as >>> well. In order of requirements I think: >>> >>> >>> - needs to be open >>> - WLUG needs to control the data >>> - needs to have clients across a swath of systems. >>> - web based >>> - CLI / plain text based >>> - Apple/Android clients. >>> - searchable >>> - able to organize a bit into channels. >>> - announcements >>> - regular chat >>> - questions or howtos >>> >>> Right now I enjoy the signal chat and how free form it is, but since I >>> can only read it on my phone because getting a CLI client working is a >>> pain... and I don't want to install the signal app on my work >>> laptop. >>> >>> So what do people think? >>> >>> John >>> _______________________________________________ >>> WLUG mailing list -- wlug(a)lists.wlug.org >>> To unsubscribe send an email to wlug-leave(a)lists.wlug.org >>> Create Account: https://wlug.mailman3.com/accounts/signup/ >>> Change Settings: https://wlug.mailman3.com/postorius/lists/wlug.lists.wlug.org/ >>> Web Forum/Archive: https://wlug.mailman3.com/hyperkitty/list/wlug@lists.wlug.org/message/XQDKN… >>> > _______________________________________________ > WLUG mailing list -- wlug(a)lists.wlug.org > To unsubscribe send an email to wlug-leave(a)lists.wlug.org > Create Account: https://wlug.mailman3.com/accounts/signup/ > Change Settings: https://wlug.mailman3.com/postorius/lists/wlug.lists.wlug.org/ > Web Forum/Archive: https://wlug.mailman3.com/hyperkitty/list/wlug@lists.wlug.org/message/LCJ64…

Feb. 11, 2026

Re: Replacing discord...

by Tim Keller

My plan is to start my own stable coin.. I am leery of the allegiances of any politician who refers to their constituents as "consumers". On Wed, Feb 11, 2026, 7:34 AM <steve(a)patternsoft.net> wrote: > What ever we decide if it ends up costing money Tim you should not take > that on yourself. Can we at least provide an optional way to pitch in? A > maybe a WLUG patreon? > > On Feb 11, 2026, at 6:56 AM, Tim Keller via WLUG <wlug(a)lists.wlug.org> > wrote: > > > > John's point that we are leaving people out of the loop because they're > not in the signal chat is a valid concern. > > Since I'm not paying for meetup.. I'd be down to clown to run a DO droplet > that hosted a private *something* for us. > > I do like the real-time nature of signal, I feel it has given wlug the > "community" thing that in the mailing lacks. For better or worse this feels > like yelling into the ether instead of a conversation. > > We will definitely talk about this at the meeting tomorrow. > > I've long talked about running a zulip server.. maybe that's an option? > > Tim. > > On Tue, Feb 10, 2026, 9:33 PM Tracie Winslow <traciewinslow7(a)gmail.com> > wrote: > >> What about Mattermost? >> >> >> *"For a long time it seemed to me that life was about to begin - real >> life. But there was always some obstacle in the way, something to be gotten >> through first, some unfinished business, time still to be served, a debt to >> be paid. At last it dawned on me that these obstacles were my life. This >> perspective has helped me to see there is no way to happiness. Happiness is >> the way. So treasure every moment you have and remember that time waits for >> no one."*- Souza >> >> On Tue, Feb 10, 2026, 7:05 PM eroc1990 via WLUG <wlug(a)lists.wlug.org> >> wrote: >> >>> I did. I've also witnessed these attacks first-hand on other spaces. >>> It's only a problem for public servers because anyone can join. If your >>> space and rooms are private, that attack vector closes. >>> >>> -------- Original Message -------- >>> On Tuesday, 02/10/26 at 17:20 John Stoffel via WLUG <wlug(a)lists.wlug.org> >>> wrote: >>> >>>>> "eroc1990" == eroc1990 <eroc1990(a)protonmail.com> writes: >>> >>> Did you read the article i posted? Part of the issue is CSAM being >>> pushed into matrix servers and the management was hard to make work. >>> But maybe that's gotten better and if we ran our own server it >>> wouldn't be a problem? >>> >>> Something to talk about for sure on thursday. I'm not up on these >>> tools at all, but I do want to make sure that email chats and signal >>> chats are shared widely as possible. >>> >>> And one of the choices I failed to list is: >>> >>> - instant messages (signal) >>> - email threads. >>> >>> Those are two aspects. When I got home sunday and found 130+ messages >>> in signal to catch up on, it was pretty funny. But did I really need >>> to read them all? Maybe. Did I enjoy it? Enventually once I read >>> them. >>> >>> But I like the mailing list and how I don't need to be watching it >>> constantly, nor do I get dinged with notifications. Whcih is both >>> good and bad. LOL! >>> >>> John >>> >>> >>> > I feel like the obvious winner in this case would be Matrix. Synapse >>> > can be a bit of a bear to set up, but you get E2EE in both 1:1 and >>> > Rooms, things can be organized into Spaces and you're able to freely >>> > join and leave any room or space that's irrelevant to >>> > you. Administration isn't all that bad when you're running a Private >>> > server, but it comes with costs in terms of the resources needed to >>> > store and serve the various components of Matrix. Would be curious >>> > if anyone has any proclivities toward another service with similar >>> > offerings. >>> >>> >>> >>> > On Tuesday, February 10th, 2026 at 3:49 PM, John Stoffel via WLUG < >>> wlug(a)lists.wlug.org> wrote: >>> >>> >> >>> >> Hi all, >>> >> A bunch of us are also chatting on signal (look in the email archives >>> >> for a link to join!) and I feel like we're leaving the email forum >>> >> users behind. >>> >> >>> >> And we need to keep the WLUG community working together and sharing >>> >> together, no matter what their systems or resources are. >>> >> >>> >> I found this interesting article on replacing discord with something >>> >> new. >>> >> >>> >> https://taggart-tech.com/discord-alternatives/ >>> >> >>> >> And I thought we as a group show evaluate some of these options as >>> >> well. In order of requirements I think: >>> >> >>> >> >>> >> - needs to be open >>> >> - WLUG needs to control the data >>> >> - needs to have clients across a swath of systems. >>> >> - web based >>> >> - CLI / plain text based >>> >> - Apple/Android clients. >>> >> - searchable >>> >> - able to organize a bit into channels. >>> >> - announcements >>> >> - regular chat >>> >> - questions or howtos >>> >> >>> >> Right now I enjoy the signal chat and how free form it is, but since I >>> >> can only read it on my phone because getting a CLI client working is a >>> >> pain... and I don't want to install the signal app on my work >>> >> laptop. >>> >> >>> >> So what do people think? >>> >> >>> >> John >>> >> _______________________________________________ >>> >> WLUG mailing list -- wlug(a)lists.wlug.org >>> >> To unsubscribe send an email to wlug-leave(a)lists.wlug.org >>> >> Create Account: https://wlug.mailman3.com/accounts/signup/ >>> >> Change Settings: >>> https://wlug.mailman3.com/postorius/lists/wlug.lists.wlug.org/ >>> >> Web Forum/Archive: >>> https://wlug.mailman3.com/hyperkitty/list/wlug@lists.wlug.org/message/XQDKN… >>> >> >>> _______________________________________________ >>> WLUG mailing list -- wlug(a)lists.wlug.org >>> To unsubscribe send an email to wlug-leave(a)lists.wlug.org >>> Create Account: https://wlug.mailman3.com/accounts/signup/ >>> Change Settings: >>> https://wlug.mailman3.com/postorius/lists/wlug.lists.wlug.org/ >>> Web Forum/Archive: >>> https://wlug.mailman3.com/hyperkitty/list/wlug@lists.wlug.org/message/LCJ64… >>> >>> _______________________________________________ >>> WLUG mailing list -- wlug(a)lists.wlug.org >>> To unsubscribe send an email to wlug-leave(a)lists.wlug.org >>> Create Account: https://wlug.mailman3.com/accounts/signup/ >>> Change Settings: >>> https://wlug.mailman3.com/postorius/lists/wlug.lists.wlug.org/ >>> Web Forum/Archive: >>> https://wlug.mailman3.com/hyperkitty/list/wlug@lists.wlug.org/message/A7UIL… >>> >> _______________________________________________ > WLUG mailing list -- wlug(a)lists.wlug.org > To unsubscribe send an email to wlug-leave(a)lists.wlug.org > Create Account: https://wlug.mailman3.com/accounts/signup/ > Change Settings: > https://wlug.mailman3.com/postorius/lists/wlug.lists.wlug.org/ > Web Forum/Archive: > https://wlug.mailman3.com/hyperkitty/list/wlug@lists.wlug.org/message/KLCVN… > >

Feb. 11, 2026

Re: Replacing discord...

by steve＠patternsoft.net

Feb. 11, 2026

Re: Replacing discord...

by Tim Keller

John's point that we are leaving people out of the loop because they're not in the signal chat is a valid concern. Since I'm not paying for meetup.. I'd be down to clown to run a DO droplet that hosted a private *something* for us. I do like the real-time nature of signal, I feel it has given wlug the "community" thing that in the mailing lacks. For better or worse this feels like yelling into the ether instead of a conversation. We will definitely talk about this at the meeting tomorrow. I've long talked about running a zulip server.. maybe that's an option? Tim. On Tue, Feb 10, 2026, 9:33 PM Tracie Winslow <traciewinslow7(a)gmail.com> wrote: > What about Mattermost? > > > *"For a long time it seemed to me that life was about to begin - real > life. But there was always some obstacle in the way, something to be gotten > through first, some unfinished business, time still to be served, a debt to > be paid. At last it dawned on me that these obstacles were my life. This > perspective has helped me to see there is no way to happiness. Happiness is > the way. So treasure every moment you have and remember that time waits for > no one."*- Souza > > On Tue, Feb 10, 2026, 7:05 PM eroc1990 via WLUG <wlug(a)lists.wlug.org> > wrote: > >> I did. I've also witnessed these attacks first-hand on other spaces. It's >> only a problem for public servers because anyone can join. If your space >> and rooms are private, that attack vector closes. >> >> -------- Original Message -------- >> On Tuesday, 02/10/26 at 17:20 John Stoffel via WLUG <wlug(a)lists.wlug.org> >> wrote: >> >>>>> "eroc1990" == eroc1990 <eroc1990(a)protonmail.com> writes: >> >> Did you read the article i posted? Part of the issue is CSAM being >> pushed into matrix servers and the management was hard to make work. >> But maybe that's gotten better and if we ran our own server it >> wouldn't be a problem? >> >> Something to talk about for sure on thursday. I'm not up on these >> tools at all, but I do want to make sure that email chats and signal >> chats are shared widely as possible. >> >> And one of the choices I failed to list is: >> >> - instant messages (signal) >> - email threads. >> >> Those are two aspects. When I got home sunday and found 130+ messages >> in signal to catch up on, it was pretty funny. But did I really need >> to read them all? Maybe. Did I enjoy it? Enventually once I read >> them. >> >> But I like the mailing list and how I don't need to be watching it >> constantly, nor do I get dinged with notifications. Whcih is both >> good and bad. LOL! >> >> John >> >> >> > I feel like the obvious winner in this case would be Matrix. Synapse >> > can be a bit of a bear to set up, but you get E2EE in both 1:1 and >> > Rooms, things can be organized into Spaces and you're able to freely >> > join and leave any room or space that's irrelevant to >> > you. Administration isn't all that bad when you're running a Private >> > server, but it comes with costs in terms of the resources needed to >> > store and serve the various components of Matrix. Would be curious >> > if anyone has any proclivities toward another service with similar >> > offerings. >> >> >> >> > On Tuesday, February 10th, 2026 at 3:49 PM, John Stoffel via WLUG < >> wlug(a)lists.wlug.org> wrote: >> >> >> >> >> Hi all, >> >> A bunch of us are also chatting on signal (look in the email archives >> >> for a link to join!) and I feel like we're leaving the email forum >> >> users behind. >> >> >> >> And we need to keep the WLUG community working together and sharing >> >> together, no matter what their systems or resources are. >> >> >> >> I found this interesting article on replacing discord with something >> >> new. >> >> >> >> https://taggart-tech.com/discord-alternatives/ >> >> >> >> And I thought we as a group show evaluate some of these options as >> >> well. In order of requirements I think: >> >> >> >> >> >> - needs to be open >> >> - WLUG needs to control the data >> >> - needs to have clients across a swath of systems. >> >> - web based >> >> - CLI / plain text based >> >> - Apple/Android clients. >> >> - searchable >> >> - able to organize a bit into channels. >> >> - announcements >> >> - regular chat >> >> - questions or howtos >> >> >> >> Right now I enjoy the signal chat and how free form it is, but since I >> >> can only read it on my phone because getting a CLI client working is a >> >> pain... and I don't want to install the signal app on my work >> >> laptop. >> >> >> >> So what do people think? >> >> >> >> John >> >> _______________________________________________ >> >> WLUG mailing list -- wlug(a)lists.wlug.org >> >> To unsubscribe send an email to wlug-leave(a)lists.wlug.org >> >> Create Account: https://wlug.mailman3.com/accounts/signup/ >> >> Change Settings: >> https://wlug.mailman3.com/postorius/lists/wlug.lists.wlug.org/ >> >> Web Forum/Archive: >> https://wlug.mailman3.com/hyperkitty/list/wlug@lists.wlug.org/message/XQDKN… >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> WLUG mailing list -- wlug(a)lists.wlug.org >> To unsubscribe send an email to wlug-leave(a)lists.wlug.org >> Create Account: https://wlug.mailman3.com/accounts/signup/ >> Change Settings: >> https://wlug.mailman3.com/postorius/lists/wlug.lists.wlug.org/ >> Web Forum/Archive: >> https://wlug.mailman3.com/hyperkitty/list/wlug@lists.wlug.org/message/LCJ64… >> >> _______________________________________________ >> WLUG mailing list -- wlug(a)lists.wlug.org >> To unsubscribe send an email to wlug-leave(a)lists.wlug.org >> Create Account: https://wlug.mailman3.com/accounts/signup/ >> Change Settings: >> https://wlug.mailman3.com/postorius/lists/wlug.lists.wlug.org/ >> Web Forum/Archive: >> https://wlug.mailman3.com/hyperkitty/list/wlug@lists.wlug.org/message/A7UIL… >> >

Feb. 11, 2026

Re: Replacing discord...

by Tracie Winslow

What about Mattermost? *"For a long time it seemed to me that life was about to begin - real life. But there was always some obstacle in the way, something to be gotten through first, some unfinished business, time still to be served, a debt to be paid. At last it dawned on me that these obstacles were my life. This perspective has helped me to see there is no way to happiness. Happiness is the way. So treasure every moment you have and remember that time waits for no one."*- Souza On Tue, Feb 10, 2026, 7:05 PM eroc1990 via WLUG <wlug(a)lists.wlug.org> wrote: > I did. I've also witnessed these attacks first-hand on other spaces. It's > only a problem for public servers because anyone can join. If your space > and rooms are private, that attack vector closes. > > -------- Original Message -------- > On Tuesday, 02/10/26 at 17:20 John Stoffel via WLUG <wlug(a)lists.wlug.org> > wrote: > >>>>> "eroc1990" == eroc1990 <eroc1990(a)protonmail.com> writes: > > Did you read the article i posted? Part of the issue is CSAM being > pushed into matrix servers and the management was hard to make work. > But maybe that's gotten better and if we ran our own server it > wouldn't be a problem? > > Something to talk about for sure on thursday. I'm not up on these > tools at all, but I do want to make sure that email chats and signal > chats are shared widely as possible. > > And one of the choices I failed to list is: > > - instant messages (signal) > - email threads. > > Those are two aspects. When I got home sunday and found 130+ messages > in signal to catch up on, it was pretty funny. But did I really need > to read them all? Maybe. Did I enjoy it? Enventually once I read > them. > > But I like the mailing list and how I don't need to be watching it > constantly, nor do I get dinged with notifications. Whcih is both > good and bad. LOL! > > John > > > > I feel like the obvious winner in this case would be Matrix. Synapse > > can be a bit of a bear to set up, but you get E2EE in both 1:1 and > > Rooms, things can be organized into Spaces and you're able to freely > > join and leave any room or space that's irrelevant to > > you. Administration isn't all that bad when you're running a Private > > server, but it comes with costs in terms of the resources needed to > > store and serve the various components of Matrix. Would be curious > > if anyone has any proclivities toward another service with similar > > offerings. > > > > > On Tuesday, February 10th, 2026 at 3:49 PM, John Stoffel via WLUG < > wlug(a)lists.wlug.org> wrote: > > >> > >> Hi all, > >> A bunch of us are also chatting on signal (look in the email archives > >> for a link to join!) and I feel like we're leaving the email forum > >> users behind. > >> > >> And we need to keep the WLUG community working together and sharing > >> together, no matter what their systems or resources are. > >> > >> I found this interesting article on replacing discord with something > >> new. > >> > >> https://taggart-tech.com/discord-alternatives/ > >> > >> And I thought we as a group show evaluate some of these options as > >> well. In order of requirements I think: > >> > >> > >> - needs to be open > >> - WLUG needs to control the data > >> - needs to have clients across a swath of systems. > >> - web based > >> - CLI / plain text based > >> - Apple/Android clients. > >> - searchable > >> - able to organize a bit into channels. > >> - announcements > >> - regular chat > >> - questions or howtos > >> > >> Right now I enjoy the signal chat and how free form it is, but since I > >> can only read it on my phone because getting a CLI client working is a > >> pain... and I don't want to install the signal app on my work > >> laptop. > >> > >> So what do people think? > >> > >> John > >> _______________________________________________ > >> WLUG mailing list -- wlug(a)lists.wlug.org > >> To unsubscribe send an email to wlug-leave(a)lists.wlug.org > >> Create Account: https://wlug.mailman3.com/accounts/signup/ > >> Change Settings: > https://wlug.mailman3.com/postorius/lists/wlug.lists.wlug.org/ > >> Web Forum/Archive: > https://wlug.mailman3.com/hyperkitty/list/wlug@lists.wlug.org/message/XQDKN… > >> > _______________________________________________ > WLUG mailing list -- wlug(a)lists.wlug.org > To unsubscribe send an email to wlug-leave(a)lists.wlug.org > Create Account: https://wlug.mailman3.com/accounts/signup/ > Change Settings: > https://wlug.mailman3.com/postorius/lists/wlug.lists.wlug.org/ > Web Forum/Archive: > https://wlug.mailman3.com/hyperkitty/list/wlug@lists.wlug.org/message/LCJ64… > > _______________________________________________ > WLUG mailing list -- wlug(a)lists.wlug.org > To unsubscribe send an email to wlug-leave(a)lists.wlug.org > Create Account: https://wlug.mailman3.com/accounts/signup/ > Change Settings: > https://wlug.mailman3.com/postorius/lists/wlug.lists.wlug.org/ > Web Forum/Archive: > https://wlug.mailman3.com/hyperkitty/list/wlug@lists.wlug.org/message/A7UIL… >

Feb. 11, 2026

Re: Replacing discord...

by eroc1990

I did. I've also witnessed these attacks first-hand on other spaces. It's only a problem for public servers because anyone can join. If your space and rooms are private, that attack vector closes. -------- Original Message -------- On Tuesday, 02/10/26 at 17:20 John Stoffel via WLUG <wlug(a)lists.wlug.org> wrote: >>>>> "eroc1990" == eroc1990 <eroc1990(a)protonmail.com> writes: Did you read the article i posted? Part of the issue is CSAM being pushed into matrix servers and the management was hard to make work. But maybe that's gotten better and if we ran our own server it wouldn't be a problem? Something to talk about for sure on thursday. I'm not up on these tools at all, but I do want to make sure that email chats and signal chats are shared widely as possible. And one of the choices I failed to list is: - instant messages (signal) - email threads. Those are two aspects. When I got home sunday and found 130+ messages in signal to catch up on, it was pretty funny. But did I really need to read them all? Maybe. Did I enjoy it? Enventually once I read them. But I like the mailing list and how I don't need to be watching it constantly, nor do I get dinged with notifications. Whcih is both good and bad. LOL! John > I feel like the obvious winner in this case would be Matrix. Synapse > can be a bit of a bear to set up, but you get E2EE in both 1:1 and > Rooms, things can be organized into Spaces and you're able to freely > join and leave any room or space that's irrelevant to > you. Administration isn't all that bad when you're running a Private > server, but it comes with costs in terms of the resources needed to > store and serve the various components of Matrix. Would be curious > if anyone has any proclivities toward another service with similar > offerings. > On Tuesday, February 10th, 2026 at 3:49 PM, John Stoffel via WLUG <wlug(a)lists.wlug.org> wrote: >> >> Hi all, >> A bunch of us are also chatting on signal (look in the email archives >> for a link to join!) and I feel like we're leaving the email forum >> users behind. >> >> And we need to keep the WLUG community working together and sharing >> together, no matter what their systems or resources are. >> >> I found this interesting article on replacing discord with something >> new. >> >> https://taggart-tech.com/discord-alternatives/ >> >> And I thought we as a group show evaluate some of these options as >> well. In order of requirements I think: >> >> >> - needs to be open >> - WLUG needs to control the data >> - needs to have clients across a swath of systems. >> - web based >> - CLI / plain text based >> - Apple/Android clients. >> - searchable >> - able to organize a bit into channels. >> - announcements >> - regular chat >> - questions or howtos >> >> Right now I enjoy the signal chat and how free form it is, but since I >> can only read it on my phone because getting a CLI client working is a >> pain... and I don't want to install the signal app on my work >> laptop. >> >> So what do people think? >> >> John >> _______________________________________________ >> WLUG mailing list -- wlug(a)lists.wlug.org >> To unsubscribe send an email to wlug-leave(a)lists.wlug.org >> Create Account: https://wlug.mailman3.com/accounts/signup/ >> Change Settings: https://wlug.mailman3.com/postorius/lists/wlug.lists.wlug.org/ >> Web Forum/Archive: https://wlug.mailman3.com/hyperkitty/list/wlug@lists.wlug.org/message/XQDKN… >> _______________________________________________ WLUG mailing list -- wlug(a)lists.wlug.org To unsubscribe send an email to wlug-leave(a)lists.wlug.org Create Account: https://wlug.mailman3.com/accounts/signup/ Change Settings: https://wlug.mailman3.com/postorius/lists/wlug.lists.wlug.org/ Web Forum/Archive: https://wlug.mailman3.com/hyperkitty/list/wlug@lists.wlug.org/message/LCJ64…

Feb. 11, 2026

Re: Replacing discord...

by Chuck Anderson

Signal is too much--I have thousands of unread messages, most of which were sent by 2 people. Signal is for real-time conversations (like IRC), not discussions to be read at leisure (like email lists or forums). Fedora uses Discourse (not Discord). Maybe that's worth investigating? I've been mostly able to live with its email integration. "https://www.discourse.org/about Open source at heart Discourse has been open source since 2013, with our full codebase on GitHub. Your community data is never locked into a proprietary system; you can self-host, migrate away if your needs change, or customize the platform in ways closed software won't allow. Hundreds of developers have contributed security patches, accessibility improvements, and new features over the years. It's how we believe community software should be built." On Tue, Feb 10, 2026 at 05:20:16PM -0500, John Stoffel via WLUG wrote: > >>>>> "eroc1990" == eroc1990 <eroc1990(a)protonmail.com> writes: > > Did you read the article i posted? Part of the issue is CSAM being > pushed into matrix servers and the management was hard to make work. > But maybe that's gotten better and if we ran our own server it > wouldn't be a problem? > > Something to talk about for sure on thursday. I'm not up on these > tools at all, but I do want to make sure that email chats and signal > chats are shared widely as possible. > > And one of the choices I failed to list is: > > - instant messages (signal) > - email threads. > > Those are two aspects. When I got home sunday and found 130+ messages > in signal to catch up on, it was pretty funny. But did I really need > to read them all? Maybe. Did I enjoy it? Enventually once I read > them. > > But I like the mailing list and how I don't need to be watching it > constantly, nor do I get dinged with notifications. Whcih is both > good and bad. LOL! > > John > > > > I feel like the obvious winner in this case would be Matrix. Synapse > > can be a bit of a bear to set up, but you get E2EE in both 1:1 and > > Rooms, things can be organized into Spaces and you're able to freely > > join and leave any room or space that's irrelevant to > > you. Administration isn't all that bad when you're running a Private > > server, but it comes with costs in terms of the resources needed to > > store and serve the various components of Matrix. Would be curious > > if anyone has any proclivities toward another service with similar > > offerings. > > > > > On Tuesday, February 10th, 2026 at 3:49 PM, John Stoffel via WLUG <wlug(a)lists.wlug.org> wrote: > > >> > >> Hi all, > >> A bunch of us are also chatting on signal (look in the email archives > >> for a link to join!) and I feel like we're leaving the email forum > >> users behind. > >> > >> And we need to keep the WLUG community working together and sharing > >> together, no matter what their systems or resources are. > >> > >> I found this interesting article on replacing discord with something > >> new. > >> > >> https://taggart-tech.com/discord-alternatives/ > >> > >> And I thought we as a group show evaluate some of these options as > >> well. In order of requirements I think: > >> > >> > >> - needs to be open > >> - WLUG needs to control the data > >> - needs to have clients across a swath of systems. > >> - web based > >> - CLI / plain text based > >> - Apple/Android clients. > >> - searchable > >> - able to organize a bit into channels. > >> - announcements > >> - regular chat > >> - questions or howtos > >> > >> Right now I enjoy the signal chat and how free form it is, but since I > >> can only read it on my phone because getting a CLI client working is a > >> pain... and I don't want to install the signal app on my work > >> laptop. > >> > >> So what do people think?

Feb. 11, 2026

Re: Replacing discord...

by John Stoffel

>>>>> "eroc1990" == eroc1990 <eroc1990(a)protonmail.com> writes: Did you read the article i posted? Part of the issue is CSAM being pushed into matrix servers and the management was hard to make work. But maybe that's gotten better and if we ran our own server it wouldn't be a problem? Something to talk about for sure on thursday. I'm not up on these tools at all, but I do want to make sure that email chats and signal chats are shared widely as possible. And one of the choices I failed to list is: - instant messages (signal) - email threads. Those are two aspects. When I got home sunday and found 130+ messages in signal to catch up on, it was pretty funny. But did I really need to read them all? Maybe. Did I enjoy it? Enventually once I read them. But I like the mailing list and how I don't need to be watching it constantly, nor do I get dinged with notifications. Whcih is both good and bad. LOL! John > I feel like the obvious winner in this case would be Matrix. Synapse > can be a bit of a bear to set up, but you get E2EE in both 1:1 and > Rooms, things can be organized into Spaces and you're able to freely > join and leave any room or space that's irrelevant to > you. Administration isn't all that bad when you're running a Private > server, but it comes with costs in terms of the resources needed to > store and serve the various components of Matrix. Would be curious > if anyone has any proclivities toward another service with similar > offerings. > On Tuesday, February 10th, 2026 at 3:49 PM, John Stoffel via WLUG <wlug(a)lists.wlug.org> wrote: >> >> Hi all, >> A bunch of us are also chatting on signal (look in the email archives >> for a link to join!) and I feel like we're leaving the email forum >> users behind. >> >> And we need to keep the WLUG community working together and sharing >> together, no matter what their systems or resources are. >> >> I found this interesting article on replacing discord with something >> new. >> >> https://taggart-tech.com/discord-alternatives/ >> >> And I thought we as a group show evaluate some of these options as >> well. In order of requirements I think: >> >> >> - needs to be open >> - WLUG needs to control the data >> - needs to have clients across a swath of systems. >> - web based >> - CLI / plain text based >> - Apple/Android clients. >> - searchable >> - able to organize a bit into channels. >> - announcements >> - regular chat >> - questions or howtos >> >> Right now I enjoy the signal chat and how free form it is, but since I >> can only read it on my phone because getting a CLI client working is a >> pain... and I don't want to install the signal app on my work >> laptop. >> >> So what do people think? >> >> John >> _______________________________________________ >> WLUG mailing list -- wlug(a)lists.wlug.org >> To unsubscribe send an email to wlug-leave(a)lists.wlug.org >> Create Account: https://wlug.mailman3.com/accounts/signup/ >> Change Settings: https://wlug.mailman3.com/postorius/lists/wlug.lists.wlug.org/ >> Web Forum/Archive: https://wlug.mailman3.com/hyperkitty/list/wlug@lists.wlug.org/message/XQDKN… >>

Feb. 10, 2026

Re: Replacing discord...

by eroc1990

I feel like the obvious winner in this case would be Matrix. Synapse can be a bit of a bear to set up, but you get E2EE in both 1:1 and Rooms, things can be organized into Spaces and you're able to freely join and leave any room or space that's irrelevant to you. Administration isn't all that bad when you're running a Private server, but it comes with costs in terms of the resources needed to store and serve the various components of Matrix. Would be curious if anyone has any proclivities toward another service with similar offerings. On Tuesday, February 10th, 2026 at 3:49 PM, John Stoffel via WLUG <wlug(a)lists.wlug.org> wrote: > > Hi all, > A bunch of us are also chatting on signal (look in the email archives > for a link to join!) and I feel like we're leaving the email forum > users behind. > > And we need to keep the WLUG community working together and sharing > together, no matter what their systems or resources are. > > I found this interesting article on replacing discord with something > new. > > https://taggart-tech.com/discord-alternatives/ > > And I thought we as a group show evaluate some of these options as > well. In order of requirements I think: > > > - needs to be open > - WLUG needs to control the data > - needs to have clients across a swath of systems. > - web based > - CLI / plain text based > - Apple/Android clients. > - searchable > - able to organize a bit into channels. > - announcements > - regular chat > - questions or howtos > > Right now I enjoy the signal chat and how free form it is, but since I > can only read it on my phone because getting a CLI client working is a > pain... and I don't want to install the signal app on my work > laptop. > > So what do people think? > > John > _______________________________________________ > WLUG mailing list -- wlug(a)lists.wlug.org > To unsubscribe send an email to wlug-leave(a)lists.wlug.org > Create Account: https://wlug.mailman3.com/accounts/signup/ > Change Settings: https://wlug.mailman3.com/postorius/lists/wlug.lists.wlug.org/ > Web Forum/Archive: https://wlug.mailman3.com/hyperkitty/list/wlug@lists.wlug.org/message/XQDKN… >

Feb. 10, 2026

Replacing discord...

by John Stoffel

Hi all, A bunch of us are also chatting on signal (look in the email archives for a link to join!) and I feel like we're leaving the email forum users behind. And we need to keep the WLUG community working together and sharing together, no matter what their systems or resources are. I found this interesting article on replacing discord with something new. https://taggart-tech.com/discord-alternatives/ And I thought we as a group show evaluate some of these options as well. In order of requirements I think: - needs to be open - WLUG needs to control the data - needs to have clients across a swath of systems. - web based - CLI / plain text based - Apple/Android clients. - searchable - able to organize a bit into channels. - announcements - regular chat - questions or howtos Right now I enjoy the signal chat and how free form it is, but since I can only read it on my phone because getting a CLI client working is a pain... and I don't want to install the signal app on my work laptop. So what do people think? John

Feb. 10, 2026

Reminder: WLUG Meeting Feb 12th, 2026: Topic: DNS Interception.

by Tim Keller

Hey Everybody, We've got a meeting! Date/Time: February 12th, 2026 @ 7PM Location: Technocopia, 44 Portland St. Worcester MA Virtual Location: https://meet.jit.si/WlugMA Topic: DNS Interception. Speaker: Steve Thibault At every turn, companies are looking for ways to monetize data. It should be no surprise that DNS is one of these. Recently a fellow WLUG member Steve Thibault discovered that their upstream provider was intercepting his DNS queries and worked to fight against this. Steve is going to tell us his story of how he discovered what his provider was doing and what he did to foil their prying eyes. As usual, after the meeting we'll head out for dinner and keep the conversation going! Thanks, Tim. -- I am leery of the allegiances of any politician who refers to their constituents as "consumers".

Feb. 10, 2026

First WLUG meeting of the year!! January 8th 2026 @ 7PM Location: Technocopia!

by Tim Keller

Hey Everybody! This is our first WLUG meeting of the year! Date & Time: 1/8/26 @ 7PM Location: Technocopia, 44 Portland St. Worcester MA Virtual Location: https://meet.jit.si/WlugMA Topic: Still figuring that out! Got ideas let me know. At a minimum we'll talk about what we want to talk about this year. Looking at the signal chat we can have a more thorough talk about BcacheFS vs OpenZFS vs. Btrfs. I can give people an update with my wife and her fun with Bazzite. I'm hoping I can get my hands on a couple pieces of identical laptop hardware and do a head to head performance test of CachyOS vs. some other distro to show off the greatness or lack thereof of the BORE (Burst-Oriented Response Enhancer) scheduler. We can talk about the Helium browser vs. Chromium vs. Chrome.. Lots to talk about. As usual we'll head out for dinner afterwards and we'll keep the conversation going! Thanks, Tim. -- I am leery of the allegiances of any politician who refers to their constituents as "consumers".

Jan. 5, 2026