XMPP chats

[/home/user/]

Heya!

Remember XMPP? At its heart, it's a protocol to exchange marked-up data over the webz... but it is also the most important interoperable chat protocol out there! XMPP is designed to work with other protocols and to be as versatile as possible so in theory everyone can talk to everyone no matter what program or chat service they used.

So much so that almost all huge chat providers used to run on XMPP as a basis and used to be XMPP compatible! Facebook Messages, MSN, Google Talk, LiveJournal, AOL, and so on. And it's still used in plenty of places like Origin chat, the PlayStation messengers, Skype and more!

That said, XMPP by itself is a great way to chat to people live, somewhat like IRC but with way more features. Since it's still actively developed, it even supports voice and video calls these days!! And the other great thing is that since it is somewhat old already, a few of the programs that are made for XMPP and some of the community around it also embrace the retro feeling. This, for example, is my current setup using the Pidgin messenger, which is a free and open source chat client that supports all kinds of protocols (even Discord, if you're looking to migrate from the official Discord app to a more friendly and lightweight one!).

(Here's the link to the Pidgin messenger if you want to try for yourself. But you can use any XMPP-compatible chat client!)

A word of warning: I personally like Pidgin for its retro interface, but other clients support way more features of the XMPP protocol like large file uploads, voice and video calls, big images... Check out Gajim or Dino for such clients. They usually tend to have a more modern interface though which I see as a drawback, and can easily compete with Discord.)

If you use XMPP and want to chat every once in a while, or better yet, if you know cool XMPP servers and chatrooms, please please post them here. C: I am a big fan and I want to use XMPP much more in my daily life. I might even host one in the future!

If you want, write me on XMPP or add me on your buddy list: lian@tchncs.de

I just yearn for the days back where I used to sit around in random "teen chatrooms" online. x3

[/home/user/]

How do I get started with XMPP?

Well, XMPP is a federated thingy, sort of like e-mail, so you will need an account on any XMPP server out there; just like to write e-mail, you need SOME kind of e-mail account, like at google mail, hotmail, protonmail or tutanota.

That means for you it's time to choose an XMPP server that you like! I don't have a list ready (oop), but a cool German tech collective called tchncs.de provides free and very easy XMPP. I also have my account there (that's why my XMPP address is lian@tchncs.de!).

You just go here and register with a name and a password, and you have an XMPP account! Of course, if you find another XMPP server, perhaps if registering on a German website makes you uncomfortable, go ahead and register there. No matter which one you choose you can talk to anyone using XMPP.

You just need to put your login into your XMPP client like Pidgin or Gajim and you have a workable XMPP chat and can start joining groups and adding people to your buddies, chat with them, and so on! :}

Mind you though that XMPP is a fleeting chat protocol, meaning it does not retain a history, like Discord, Matrix, or Telegram would. And you only get messages when you're online. Just like old chatboxes, so view it as a feature, not something it's missing. :} You chat in your own tempo.

[orcuslightningearth]

Thank you very much for both this guide and your welcoming nature.

I'd never used this, but was familiar with its existence. Am excited to continue exploring and trying things out.

[sig]

Thanks for the write-up, I'll definitely check it out! Waaaay too tired right now to get set up but I'll get started and see what's up tomorrow.

[/home/user/]

IMPORTANT

I added some information on clients because I feel it is unfair to only mention Pidgin. Pidgin is great for me but it's also only slowly developed and thus wayy behind in XMPP protocol development, so it doesn't have some huge features XMPP theoretically supports like calls, images, file uploads, and many more things.

If you use another, more recent client like Gajim or Dino, you can use all these features, but it will also look and work more like Discord than a retro chatroom.

[Melooon]

This is a great guide and I enjoy the colours! - You might wanna move it to the tutorials section though? If you like you're welcome to link to it in the wiki, maybe we could make a guides collection!

[/home/user/]

This is a great guide and I enjoy the colours! - You might wanna move it to the tutorials section though? If you like you're welcome to link to it in the wiki, maybe we could make a guides collection!

I didn't intend it to be a tutorial first and foremost honestly, I just wanted it to be a thread where one could talk about XMPP, share links to chatrooms, servers or their own addresses. I just added a little tutorial so people who were curious knew where to start.