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How to geek out in [m]atrix

Do you want to talk to somebody, stat!? Are you a fan of group messaging / chat platforms, but you're wary of "big tech" owned platforms? Do you prefer tooting to tweeting?

Scratch your itch for realtime communication, without tech obligarch vanity concerns, on our Matrix server! (which is also synced with our Discord and Slack servers)


Matrix Discord Slack

Eh? What's this federated chat thing? Who own my data? (/me puts on tin-foil hat) !!

  1. Matrix is a federedated group messaging platform. This means that you can sign in to any Matrix instance (even your own!), and participate in any room on any server!
  2. Also, since Matrix is an open standard, there are a plethora of clients you can use!

How do I join the Matrix server?

  1. If you already have an account on a matrix server (a "home server"), you can use it to access our server (the magic of federation). See the channels list below for details
  2. If you don't have an account yet, create one, using your email address, or just login with GitHub
  3. Use the WebUI, or get one of the many available mobile / desktop clients
  4. Join the channels you're interested in (below)! and say hi!

Code of Conduct

With the goal of creating a safe and inclusive community, we've adopted the Contributor Covenant Code of Conduct, as described here, and use of our Matrix server is subject to this code of conduct.

Channels

📔 Information (read-only)

The following channels are automated, and provide updates for issues like new PRs, subreddit posts, etc:

Channel Name Channel Use
#announcements Used for community announcements
#blog-posts Receives announcemnets about new Geek Cookbook Blog Posts
#cookbook-updates Issues, PRs, commits on the geek-cookbook/geek-cookbook repo
#premix-updates Issues, PRs, commits on the funkypenguin/geek-cookbook-premix repo
#forum-threads New and updated forum threads
#subreddit-posts New topics in r/funkypenguin

💬 Discussion (read-write)

Channel Name Channel Use
#introductions New? Pop in here and say hi :)
#general General chat - anything goes
#cookbook Discussions specifically around the cookbook and recipes
#kubernetes Discussions about Kubernetes
#docker-swarm Discussions about Docker Swarm
#today-i-learned Post tips/tricks you've stumbled across
#jobs For seeking / advertising jobs, bounties, projects, etc
#promotion In here you can advertise your stream, services or websites, at a limit of 2 posts per day
#dev Used for collaboration around current development.

❤️ Premium (sponsors)

Sponsors get extra super-duper secrit access to the following:

Channel Name Channel Use
#premium-chat Premium discussion
#premium-support Premium support

How to get help.

If you need assistance at any time there are a few commands that you can run in order to get help.

!help Shows help content.

!faq Shows frequently asked questions.

Spread the love (inviting others)

Invite your co-geeks to Matrix by:

  1. Sending them a link to http://matrix.funkypenguin.co.nz, or
  2. Send them a direct link to our "space", #geek-cookbook

Maybe it's just my years of using Discord, but I expected to be able to enter any search string in the main "search" field in my Matrix client, and have the relevant messages surfaced. Turns out, that's not how it works! The primary "search" field in the Elements UI, for example, searches room names (i.e., show me all the rooms matching the string "chat"). To search within a room, it's necessary to first navigate to that room, and then "room search" is a contextual action you can take within the room. I've not yet found out how do a partial string match though ("chatgpt" matches, but "chatgp" does not).

Formatting your message

Discord supports minimal message formatting using markdown.

Editing your most recent message

You can edit your most-recent message by pushing the up arrow, make your edits, and then push Enter to save!