Matrix, our main communication channel with ICP node providers, is currently offline due to a DB incident.
See https://status.matrix.org/
We hope for a resolution soon!
Why are we on matrix? It’s perfect for little hidden private chats.
I guess that was what suited Aviate and Wenzel.
Why don’t we move it to a bigger discussion on slack or OpenChat?
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OpenChat is not suitable in case IC is down and we need NP coordination, so it has to be off-chain.
Slack is a centrally-controlled entity that is not in the spirit of decentralized system that ICP is.
Thus Matrix was the choice, AFAIK.
90% of Node Providers can’t even work out how to ssh without Aviate charging them for the privilege.
Slack’s good enough for the foundation, why not the Node Providers? The very thing that we’re trying to stamp out the corruption, and you choose some uncensored P2P messaging service to facililate backroom deals.
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Personally I found Matrix to be not very user-friendly. There seems to be lots of silo’ed groups and the main chat is completely dead. The Matrix chats seem to be more centralised than any slack I have seen. The administrator basically dictates who communicates with whom and the visibility of each conversation.
This is not great for transparency and does not instill faith in the current node provider system.
Legitimate concerns have been raised that Aviate has a vested interest in providing support to less technical NPs. Many node providers were onboarded with little to no knowledge of who the UBO is or why they would want to invest in hardware for the IC. The monthly node provider calls are ran by a member of Aviate who decides who gets to ask their questions and for how long.
With full transparency, I was not paying attention to node providers at that time. I think a lot of what was implemented was done in good faith with the best of intentions, when the IC was an unknown to many but it doesn’t really work for the long term.
There are many ways that the current system can be improved and we can rule out conspiracy theories as everything will be laid out in the open and cryptographically proven.
I do understand the need to be able to contact NPs should there be an issue with the IC but feel that communication channels should be more open. Can we at least explore other alternatives?
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If people want to conspire, they will find their own way to communicate bypassing any official channels. Thus the tech choices for the official channels are irrelevant 
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I don’t threaten people or do anything that would otherwise put them in danger.
I do how ever still think the whole voting for Season Two scenario was a complete ham-fisted mess. Yes I did draw attention to it, but no threats were made.
I still think Zenith Code and Rivram Inc were robbed of a chance to show what they could do and I am glad the time is shortened. Gives time for the foundation to evaluate just how effective the grants for neurons system really is and think of a better alternative.
Anyway this is off-topic, but that seems to be what you and your bud’s like to do to all threads that have any kind of discussion.
@alexu you are right, you cant stop people if they really want to do bad things, just seems strange to use something which makes that far easier than other software.
I see a big overhaul in the way node providers work coming in the not too distant future anyway so its prob not that important anyway
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Agree, Slack/Discord/Telegram would make for great replacement. The non-node provider crowd should be able to get a feel for what’s happening on the other side of the ecosystem.
Is the node provider chat open for the public?
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The matrix one is open for the public, it’s just not very user friendly as @Thyassa was noting.
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Yes. You’ll need a Matrix client (there are several options available).
The incident has been resolved.
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