why not matrix?

at this point it seems like most of the tech community is familiar with matrix, the "open network for decentralized communication". lots of projects and communities have migrated from a host of other platforms, including irc, discord and slack with the promise that their new spaces will be free forever. i first discovered matrix in 2021 and have dedicated a lot of time trying to understand exactly how it works, as well as trawling through github issues to try and understand whether we should consider matrix…