Hi,
Moonchild wrote:
Although there's some merit to Aryo's suggestions, there's a problem with it:
Most people should primarily be looking for an XMPP server that is in their
region of the world, not necessarily one that "scores highest". Sorting by
country/region is therefore preferred.
The shorter the data transmission paths, the smaller the chance of
interception of data and the better the overall user experience. In
addition, XMPP's network gets its strength from being distributed,
In addition, only including score grade "A" is a little short-sighted, IMHO,
as server operators may be very good admins running a secure server while
not getting a grade A (for example by offering potentially weaker ciphers
for extended compatibility with clients - the test seems to pick the lowest
available to grade servers on). Pushing specific servers to the foreground
based on their score is a breeding ground for favoritism which I think we
should avoid.
Right. Security isn't everything, but it's part of the solution. We're working
on a solution for the problem of answering the question: What's the ideal XMPP
service for me?
Things that influence the answer to that question include, but are not limited
to:
- Security
That's what Thijs' great work is answering.
- Availability
Downtime: Users probably would like to *use* the service, so it'd need to be
up.
- Maintainance
How recent is the software run on the service? There are quite some services
out there that run old software of their XMPP server. This doesn't only lead
to delayed feature deployment to the users but could also lead to security
vulnerabilities.
- Location
Ideally a user registers on a service that is closes to his usual location.
Not only for reduced latency, but also so their messages aren't needlessly
traveling around the globe.
- Privacy
How are messages stored? How are passwords handled?
- Terms of Service
Don't know if it'd make sense to decide on a common or at least one per
country ToS. Having only a few would make it easier for the users to read it
once and then choose a service.
Cheers,
Tobias
