[Tools-implementation] Draft of message about chat trials

[Robert Sparks <[e-mail]>]

Do you think this is sufficient or do we need to take a different approach?

===========

To: ietf-announce

Subject: Next steps: chat service trials

We have been running trial zulip, matrix, and xmpp services since October.
See
<https://mailarchive.ietf.org/arch/browse/ietf-announce/?q=%22trial%20chat%22>

As noted in those announcements, the issue that we are trying to address 
is the difficulty people have been reporting obtaining jabber services 
and clients. We are hopeful that these trials will help the community 
develop a better sense of whether to focus on improving the experiences 
with xmpp or to pursue other chat solutions. We are also open to the 
possibility that these other solutions may be worth operating in 
addition to improving the experiences from xmpp.

However, usage and feedback so far has not been sufficient to inform 
what services we should run in the future.

We had around 50 local jabber accounts created on xmpp-trial1.ietf.org, 
and around 40 accounts were created on each of the matrix and zulip 
services.
Few rooms have been created on the matrix service other than those 
bridging to xmpp.
Few streams were created on the zulip service other than those bridging 
to xmpp and those ingesting a few mailing lists.

We are not aware of anyone trying to use the zulip or matrix servers for 
ietf work outside the main meeting.

If you've used the services, please take a few minutes to provide 
feedback at [e-mail].

Is providing local jabber accounts and a web interface to jabber sufficient?
Are there features that matrix or zulip provide that are truly helpful 
for progressing IETF work? If so, please describe how they are helping.

To collect more feedback, we are planning to extend the trials through 
IETF 110. Please take advantage of these services between now and then 
(at interim meetings for example) and let us know what you find to be 
effective.

Thanks again to the volunteers that have been helping configure these 
services and keep them going.

Robert Sparks, Tools Team Chair