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Background

Hyperledger is considering switching chat channels. Hyperledger had previously considered moving to Element/Matrix, but that migration was canceled due to its inability to manage Hyperledger's volume. A Task Force was formed to research current chat channel usage in the community and explore options. This proposal is recommending Hyperledger moves from RocketChat to Discord. 

Rationale

Why Move At All?

RocketChat has provided some challenges for many community members with onboarding and user experience. It is also a more costly platform than alternative platforms. In the interest of providing Hyperledger community with an easy communication mechanism. The goal for Hyperledger's chat channel is to allow the community members to collaborate easily and easily onboard new community members into the chat channel.

Why Discord?

There are a few high-level reasons for selecting Discord as a recommended chat platform for Hyperledger

  1. Easy to use platform: The feedback generally from users has been that onboarding and using Discord platform is an easier user experience. An LFID login is not required to joining Hyperledger's Discord platform.
  2. Some familiarity already across the community: Many Hyperledger community members are already familiar with it and using it for different work: We are hoping to make it easier for Hyperledger community members to work 
  3. Cheaper than RocketChat: The costs are significantly lower than RocketChat to use Discord.

Feature Comparison between RocketChat and Discord can be found here. 

Cost Details

Discord is less expensive than RocketChat. Expected costs are:

Rocket.Chat: $150/mo, $1800/year

Discord: $100/year for maximum server boost

Proposed Migration Plan

  1. Send communications to Hyperledger community (publish blog post, notification in newsletters, and send notes in RocketChat channels). Give communication switch 1 month transition timeline. There should be communications on a weekly basis.

  2. At the end of 1 month transition timeline, RocketChat will be archived and all communications will be directed to Hyperledger's Discord instance.

Communications should include:

  1. Directions how to onboard into Discord and link to training for using Discord

  2. Clear timeline expectations on RocketChat Archival

  3. Mailing list to reach out to with questions/issues

  4. Benefits for switching to Discord

Cleanup

As part of the migration, we will also be taking the opportunity to clean up the channels.

Suggested Channel Organization and Naming

Categories

Discord provides the ability to group chat channels in categories. As such, we recommend the following categories:

  • A single category per project
  • TSC - These are channels related to the TSC
  • Special Interest Groups - These are channels related to special interest groups
  • Working Groups - These are channels related to working groups
  • Labs - These are channels related to Hyperledger Labs
  • Community - These are channels related to a specific community (e.g., community-india, community-meetup)

Channels

Within the project category, we recommend a consistent set of chat channels:

  • project - A text channel used by any one interested in the project to discuss topics and questions related to how to use the project.
  • project-contributors - A text channel used by the contributors to the project to discuss topics related to the development of the project.
  • project-announcements - An announcements channel used to make announcements about the project
  • project-meetings - A voice channel used for hosting meetings about the project

Within the TSC category, we recommend the following channels:

  • TSC - A text channel for discussions with the TSC.
  • TSC-announcements - An announcement channel for announcing decisions made by the TSC.
  • tfname-tf - A separate text channel for each task force created by the TSC.
  • tfname-tf-meetings - A separate voice channel for each task force used for hosting meetings.

Within the Special Interest Groups category, we recommend the following channels:

  • signame-sig - A separate text channel for each SIG.
  • signame-sig-subgroupname - Optionally, a separate text channel for each subgroup within a SIG.
  • signame-sig-meetings - A separate voice channel for each SIG used for hosting meetings.

Within the Working Groups category, we recommend the following channels:

  • wgname-wg - A separate text channel for each WG.
  • wgname-wg-meetings - A separate voice channel for each WG used for hosting meetings.

Within the Labs category, we recommend a single text channel named labs that would be used by anyone interested in Hyperledger Labs. In addition, a text channel will be created for any lab requesting a channel. The name of the channel should match the lab name. 

Chat Channel Expectations

The expectation is moving to Discord that this is the sole home for Hyperledger community's activities. We expect all Hyperledger community members and groups, including Special Interest Groups, Working Groups, Projects, etc. to operate their Hyperledger business on Hyperledger's Discord instance. We will be providing training and instructions to all teams to move their business to this chat channel forum.

References

You can review the Chat Task Force notes and materials here.



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