The #dataverse chat room has moved from IRC to Matrix!

[Philip Durbin]

The short version:

Since 2012 we've used the #dataverse channel on the Freenode IRC network to chat. On Friday I announced there that we've moved to Matrix, which you are very welcome to join from the link at https://chat.dataverse.org

I'm attaching enough screenshots of the Matrix signup process to explain that to join you can create a dedicated account or sign in with GitHub, Google, GitLab, Facebook, or Apple accounts.

If you haven't tried https://chat.dataverse.org before or in a while, I'd be happy for you to say hi and give feedback!

As before, you can preview the conversation without signing up. The new URL for previewing is https://view.matrix.org/alias/%23dataverse:matrix.org

Thanks!

The long version (more of the story):

Two factors accelerated this move, which was probably long overdue, given that IRC is a technology from the 80s. :)

First, I was faced with doing something with our IRC log server which was running on ancient hardware. I ended up archiving those logs to GitHub Pages: https://github.com/IQSS/irclog.iq.harvard.edu

Second, I heard rumblings about a takeover at Freenode and many open source projects leaving ( http://irclog.iq.harvard.edu/dataverse/2021-05-26 ). While Freenode was the place to be for an open source project in 2012, I think Matrix will be a much better home in 2021 and beyond.

Thanks for reading. Looking forward to chatting!

Phil

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Philip Durbin
Software Developer for http://dataverse.org
http://www.iq.harvard.edu/people/philip-durbin