Comparisons

[erlend-sh]

Discourse

Roomy is heavily inspired by Discourse. There are two key differentiators:

• Discourse is forum-first rather than chat-first. This has major implications on grassroots traction and ease-of-use. (See "Duality of (A)synchronicity" in Communal Bonfires.)
• Discourse is not built on top of a protocol. Roomy is built on top of AT protocol, connecting it to a network of 25m users.

Discord

The general user experience of Roomy is modeled after Discord since it's the most widely used group messenger in the world with a best-in-class onboarding experience (though it still leaves a lot to be desired).

Key differentiators:

• Discord is not web-public, i.e. linkable and conducive to collaborative content gardening.
• Discord is closed source and highly prone to "enshittification".
• Discord is not federated, greatly limiting the ability for different servers/rooms to interact and cross-pollinate.

The pros and cons of Discourse and Discord are covered in great detail in the Communal Bonfires blog post.

Element (Matrix)

The Matrix-based Element platform is the most popular alternative for group chat among OSS communities.

Key differentiators:

• Element is not web-public by default; users need to log in to see the contents of a room.
• Element is encrypted by default, which comes with some setup challenges that excludes regular internet users. Commune is eventually-encrypted, opting instead to prioritize for first-contact connectivity and reliable message delivery.
• Matrix is effectively an enterprise-protocol. You become what you sell, and Element is an enterprise company, B2E not B2C. Explicitly not aiming for feature-parity with Discord.

Gitter

The first MVP of Roomy will be very similar to Gitter in that Gitter was 'a chat add-on for the GitHub network', Roomy is 'a chat add-on for the atprot network'.

Key differentiators:

• Roomy aims to be a massively-multiplayer digital garden.
• More client polish (the client experience is our top priority)
• Roomy will have turnkey two-way bridge with Discord, taking higher priority than GitHub integration.