Re:Default disappearing messages
by godelski on Wednesday August 11, 2021 @12:49PM
(#28144472)
Exactly this. But I wish Signal allowed us more time. They give us a custom option but it is extremely limited. Seconds, minutes, and hours are what one would expect. Days you can only set up to 6. Weeks you can select {1,2,3,4}. I don't see a reason these can't be arbitrary numbers. 3 months, 6 months, and a year are also another obvious points at which people want to delete. But why not just arbitrary? If it isn't any different, than just let users decide.
It is also still missing a key point we've been asking for for awhile, message archival. That's the big thing keeping me from using disappearing messages, because I don't want to take a screenshot anytime anything important is said. That's a terrible way to search for messages. With an arbitrary delete function (only limit I see is Signal's servers don't accept delete commands after 24hrs) you can have consent from the other party about archiving messages while disappearing messages is on. This provides a tremendous amount of utility.
I used to defend Signal a lot here. But with a lot of decisions they've made in the last year they seem to be just another company that "knows better" than the user. We don't need another tech company that's disconnected from users and makes changes just to make them[0]. (Beyond that, Signal isn't large enough to make people stick around when dumb decisions are made) I think this is a fine stance to take when it comes to the security portion --there are fairly objective "best practices" here-- but not for UI/UX and privacy functions. But with the latter there's a lot of subjective preferences and needs by different people and groups. Signal, you do not need to be and look like WhatsApp. Just be Signal. The progress has been very slow, new features come with footguns, and there is a lack of communication. They only seem to take communication from their community forums which has an extreme echo chamber and is the textbook example of "we know better than you" mentality. It's very frustrating and it's caused me to stop recommending Signal to people (my friends did the same for similar reasons). I just will not understand why when given the chance to continue to grow Signal decided to shoot themselves in the foot.
It is also still missing a key point we've been asking for for awhile, message archival. That's the big thing keeping me from using disappearing messages, because I don't want to take a screenshot anytime anything important is said. That's a terrible way to search for messages. With an arbitrary delete function (only limit I see is Signal's servers don't accept delete commands after 24hrs) you can have consent from the other party about archiving messages while disappearing messages is on. This provides a tremendous amount of utility.
I used to defend Signal a lot here. But with a lot of decisions they've made in the last year they seem to be just another company that "knows better" than the user. We don't need another tech company that's disconnected from users and makes changes just to make them[0]. (Beyond that, Signal isn't large enough to make people stick around when dumb decisions are made) I think this is a fine stance to take when it comes to the security portion --there are fairly objective "best practices" here-- but not for UI/UX and privacy functions. But with the latter there's a lot of subjective preferences and needs by different people and groups. Signal, you do not need to be and look like WhatsApp. Just be Signal. The progress has been very slow, new features come with footguns, and there is a lack of communication. They only seem to take communication from their community forums which has an extreme echo chamber and is the textbook example of "we know better than you" mentality. It's very frustrating and it's caused me to stop recommending Signal to people (my friends did the same for similar reasons). I just will not understand why when given the chance to continue to grow Signal decided to shoot themselves in the foot.
[0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28109842