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Welcome to our community chat server!

Powered by Synapse, a Matrix implementation

Please read everything carefully. There are some important things to know and understand before you proceed.

Usage of this service constitutes acceptance of responsibility for your own content and conduct. Also be aware that while every intention and effort goes into providing and maintaining this place, I beg your understanding and patience with any issues or outages that may unexpectedly arise. This is a complex service to provide and operate securely on the open internet, with ongoing maintenance and support obligations, and unlike the Discord devs, I'm not making a living doing this. I'm doing my best to create and maintain this place for us because I deeply value the community we have, the connections we have grown, the trust we have developed, and because I absolutely believe in the principle of free and unmonitored expression and the power of human communication. All of these are things that are now more important than ever, in the current environment we find ourselves.

Things I will never do, unlike Discord or any of the corporate platforms you're used to:

Sell your data, in any way, shape, or form
Transfer/copy your data anywhere outside of my control, or make it available in any way to anyone other than myself and you
Ask for a selfie or ID for any reason
Paywall basic access and functionality. Certain spaces/rooms may be created for Twitch and/or Patreon subscribers, but general public access to our main list of channels will always remain free
Access anything you've posted in any encrypted chat rooms or DMs that I am not a member of - Not only do I not want to, I simply can't, that's the point of encryption

Now, on to the cool parts...

1. App Availability and Account Creation

Step one for everyone: create your account. The easiest way is the webchat, no installs needed:

Go to https://app.element.io/#/welcome
Click Create Account
Edit the target server to oldmanbroski.nl
Choose your username and password. I recommend using the same name as your Twitch to make it easier for everyone to recognize each other, but this is entirely up to you.

That's it, you're in. You'll be auto-joined to our Pub space and most of its rooms. We have other spaces and rooms you may discover later. You can keep using the webchat to access the server at anytime, or move on to a full app anytime.

Want to use an app right away instead?

Many apps exist for using our community server, for Linux, Windows, iOS, and Android. You can check out some of the most popular options at https://matrix.org/ecosystem/clients/. I personally prefer Fluffy's mobile UI and Element's desktop UI, but all are fine.

Not every app can create new accounts, though. Some can, and some can't (Element X is one that can't), and I haven't had time to test each individually. If your app of choice won't let you sign up, no problem:

Create your account via the webchat steps above
Open your app and log in with that username and password (set the server to oldmanbroski.nl if it asks)

Any app can log in to an account made via any other app or the webchat, so feel free to mix and match.

2. Your Recovery Key - READ THIS CAREFULLY

After creating your account, you will be logged in and immediately prompted to create and save a recovery key. This is THE most important step of your setup.

Critical facts about your recovery key:

If you lose your recovery key, all your past message history in all encrypted rooms and ALL DMs is gone forever.
The Admin (me) CANNOT recover your messages for you - this is BY DESIGN, so no Admin or Mod can impersonate you or backdoor access to your data.
To repeat: This server is built so that YOU own your data - even the admin cannot decrypt it.
I can reset your password if you forget it, but that only gets you back into your account - it does NOT unlock any encrypted messages or files you've previously sent or received. It forces the creation of a new encryption key to be used for all future access. Password resets are upon request for now, but an automated system is coming soon.
Your recovery key is YOUR responsibility.

Save your recovery key in multiple secure locations - notes section of your password manager [if you don't use one, I strongly recommend Bitwarden, it'll change your online life, securely] or USB stick or external drive, physical paper in a safe place, tattoo on your forehead, or wherever you usually save important things. Treat it like you would a bank PIN or passport. If you lose it, and thus all your encrypted history, it is impossible for me to do anything about it, but you can create a new one to secure all your new posts and DMs going forward.

3. Privacy & Encryption Features

This server is built with privacy at its core:

Room History Privacy:

When you join a room that is sensitive/private in nature, and thus one I've enabled encryption, you only see messages posted AFTER you joined
You will never see historical messages from before you joined - this protects everyone's privacy, so things X user posted yesterday don't unexpectedly get seen by Y user who just joined today

End-to-End Encryption:

Your direct messages are encrypted end-to-end.
Even I, as the server admin, cannot read your DMs. It is literally impossible.
Files you share in encrypted rooms appear as encrypted blobs to me - only you and your intended recipients can decrypt them.
This is true privacy - no backdoors, no admin access.

4. Privacy Policy & Legal Disclaimer

This was addressed at the top, but I want to emphasise again: I am committed to protecting your privacy and data. This server is intended as a wide-open forum for all of us to communicate freely, and that principle is sacred here.

However:

If law enforcement arrives with a legitimate warrant concerning actual criminal activity that causes harm to others, I will cooperate and turn over requested data. If outright illegal activity is reported to me by other users, I will investigate, and refer the matter to law enforcement if what I find is severe, harmful, or downright evil enough. These are the SOLE exceptions to our privacy commitment. It is worth noting that even in such an event, neither I or the 'authorities' will be able to decrypt or otherwise access your DMs or any of your posts in E2EE rooms.

To be clear: This is a place for private socializing, sharing, and open discussion - but NOT for actual crime. Use common sense and respect other users, your dearly beloved Admin, and basic human decency.

5. Cross-Device Verification

After initial account creation and login, whenever you log in from a new device, you may be asked to verify your identity. You have three options:

Verify from your existing logged-in device (recommended).
Use your recovery key to verify.
Message me (oldmanbroski) to manually verify you if you can't do #1 or #2.

This security step helps to ensure nobody else can access your account even if they know your password.

6. Spaces & Rooms Explained

What are Spaces?
Think of Spaces like Discord servers - they're collections of rooms (which are like Discord channels).

Our current Spaces:

Pub:

Multiple rooms for general public usage. NOT encrypted, NOT intended for sensitive content, and always available to read past and current posts even if you've lost your applicable recovery key
All new users are automatically joined
Open discussion and community gathering
Two of the rooms are end-to-end encrypted (E2EE) anyway, for a layer of privacy: nsfw_public (which is also not autojoined, but can be found and joined from the Pub Space) and selfies, which is public and autojoined, but also E2EE and only allows new users to see posts made after their join date)

Private Space:

Invite-only access to the Space itself
The 2 current rooms are joinable by anyone with a valid Priv Space invite, but this may change on a room-by-room basis pending user preference feedback
More rooms and purposes coming soon
To request access, send me (OldManBroski) a direct message

If I don't respond immediately to your access request, please don't take it personally - I may be busy, or our community may need to get to know you better first.

7. Known Issue: Room/DM Deletion

Occasionally when you delete a DM or leave a room, it may fail to fully remove from your client's room list - you'll see a "ghost" entry.

What's actually happening:

The data IS actually deleted and GONE.
I cannot see it either - it's truly deleted from the server. That is, your content and participation/membership in the room is gone, though any other user's side of it remains, and is accessible to them if they have their recovery key. They can only see their own msgs though, yours are gone, don't worry.
It's just a client-side display glitch.
You can safely mark it as "hidden" in your client, or message me to manually clear it with a command that forces your client to update the list.

The ghost is harmless, but if it bothers you, I'm happy to clean it up on request.

8. Known Issue: Unprivileged Users Are Able to Create New 'Public' Spaces and Rooms

One frustrating shortcoming of the current Matrix protocol implementation is that the function to prevent normal users from creating spaces/rooms does not work. Please, do not intentionally abuse this - I will notice and delete the rooms, and issue bans.

9. Known Issue: Inability to Specify the Order/Arrangement of Rooms in Client's List

Yep, this is an annoying one for all of us, including me. I'd love to be able to pin Announcements, SERVER_NOTICES, SERVER_HELP, and General at the top of the list, but that's just not how Matrix works. Your client apps do have the ability to set your sort order to alphabetical, unread, most active, and possibly other options, so I hope you don't mind taking a little time to poke around and get comfy.

What About [Feature X]?

You might notice some features aren't available yet:

Custom sticker/emote/GIF packs (mostly easy!)
Voice/video calls (high priority, very doable, don't worry!)
Screen sharing (comes along with voice/video)
Web-based chat interface (easy, coming ASAP, already working but needs very careful configuration, same as any web-based app)
Other convenience features (please point out anything I've missed that you want/need!)

Why not yet?

These features are either:

In active development/implementation by the Matrix protocol, Synapse server, or various client app developers
Work just fine, but are add-ons that I haven't gotten to yet
Under security/privacy review - I won't enable anything until I'm satisfied it maintains our privacy standards

Feel free to ask about any of them at any time, though usually the answer will be: when it's ready!

Yes, this server might not be as "pretty" or "convenient" as commercial options right now. But: It's OURS. Your data is YOURS. This is what you asked for - privacy and control over your own data. Pretty features will come, but never at the expense of your privacy and security.

Questions or Issues?

Check the SERVER_HELP room in the Pub space, or message OldManBroski directly for any questions, technical issues, or access requests. If you cannot access the server at all, feel free to msg me on Discord or just shout in my stream chat anytime I'm live.

Welcome aboard, and enjoy your truly private communication space.