WordPress Contributors Continue Exploring Migration of Public and Private Messages from Slack to Matrix – WP Tavern

In early 2023, WordPress and Matrix contributors proposed a brand new Meta workforce subproject to explore replacing Slack communication with Matrix, an open supply federated chat system. After the workforce’s most up-to-date assembly, Automattic-sponsored contributor Alex Kirk published an replace on the standing of latest experiments in migration.

After researching extra on migrating public messages, Kirk stated the workforce is now evaluating whether or not the Apache-2.0 licensed Slack Matrix migration tool may work for this venture.

“It operates on Slack export information and requires a recent Synapse server,” Kirk stated.

“We haven’t but been capable of verify whether or not it truly can import the messages and hope to have the ability to share extra on the subsequent assembly.”

As regards to migrating personal messages, Kirk stated the workforce is leaning in the direction of guaranteeing customers have the instruments to save lots of their very own exterior archives.

“For migrating personal messages in DMs or personal teams we’ve concluded that we received’t wish to try their migration however will look into offering instruments for attaining that,” Kirk stated.

“Right here we’ve discovered that browser extensions exist which let you obtain your individual Slack direct messages inside your browser as a textual content file. Probably it’ll be our advice to make use of these instruments to export the messages for your self.”

Kirk additionally addressed some accessibility issues that WordPress Accessibility Group contributor Alex Stine raised throughout a meeting on the finish of March:

Slack is nicely supported and accessible to a really broad viewers. One thing that isn’t up for argument, numerous these open-source/decentralized ideas aren’t accessible to all or most.

The decentralized media world walks a wonderful line between an important factor and numerous hypocrisy. On one hand, claiming to provide customers a voice, then again, knowingly excluding customers of assistive tech.

Years of GitHub points don’t lie. Matrix has not been round all that lengthy however there are many different examples which have been round lengthy sufficient…The Slack accessibility workforce is greatest in its class. They’re continually responsive and really engaged with customers.

Kirk linked to an article printed by Mozilla accessibility engineer Marco Zehe titled How to use Element and Matrix with a screen reader. Mozilla changed IRC with Matrix in 2020, figuring out Matrix as an “wonderful open group collaboration device, with strong help for accessibility and group security.”

Zehe’s publish is basically a information to assist these utilizing assistive know-how discover their method round Component and the Matrix Eco system extra simply. It additionally highlights a number of issues that don’t but work nicely, together with keyboard navigation for the members checklist and messages.

“I hope a few of these points are now not issues,” Stine stated in response to Kirk sharing the article. “In the event that they nonetheless are, this might be little question a far worse expertise than Slack was in a few of its worst occasions. The truth that customers have to modify their display reader modes simply to have fundamental performance help will not be cool. Right here is the way in which I see it. If fashionable apps don’t comply with an analogous sample to your OS to the purpose the place you need to lookup docs to determine use it, it’s most likely too sophisticated and/or not accessible by my definition.”

The query of whether or not it might be useful for the WordPress venture to replace Slack communication with Matrix remains to be but unanswered, however the preliminary response to the thought was overwhelmingly constructive. Extra analysis into the logistics of migration shall be a essential a part of the choice.

The Matrix contributors proposing this new exploration will meet once more on Wednesday, April 19, for the repeatedly scheduled bi-weekly assembly and plan to debate the analysis on migrating messages from Slack.