Hello everyone, For those who may not be familiar with it (I wasn't until looking into it tonight), Digital Independence Day (DI.DAY) is a German initiative by "Save Social - Networks for Democracy" that aims to raise awareness around digital sovereignty, vendor independence, and alternatives to centralized platforms. The campaign combines public messaging with practical actions, such as curated "recipes" for switching tools and local events that help people move towards more independent digital infrastructure. Speaking personally, I do not have objections to the initiative itself, and I agree that its general goals are well aligned with many of the values behind XMPP. At the same time, it would be wrong to assume that no one else might have reservations, or different ideas about how (or whether) XSF should associate itself with it. That in itself is a key reason for involving the members-list. I would also like to suggest that we take a bit of time to think about how we engage, rather than focusing on a simple public endorsement. At the moment, the initiative does not list XMPP-specific content or any of our projects. Promoting it outwardly in its current form may be nice, but arguably does little to directly benefit our members, our ecosystem, or our projects. Instead, I believe we may get much more value by first looking at ways to leverage this initiative for our community. For example: - Projects like Snikket or Quicksy could explore whether they qualify to be added as a "recipe" on the DI.DAY website. - Even for projects not on the DI.DAY website, we can probably think of ways to piggy-back on the initiative in a sensible way. - Some projects might want to participate in or align with the initiative's recurring local events that help people switch tools and platforms. The Communications Team could initially focus on reaching out within our ecosystem, making projects aware of the initiative and helping them engage with it where it makes sense. From my perspective, that kind of engagement would be far more meaningful than a token message of support for an initiative that does not yet reference our work. I am very interested in hearing other views on this - both regarding potential concerns, and ideas for more effective or mutually beneficial ways of associating ourselves with DI.DAY. Kind regards, Guus On Thu, Jan 8, 2026 at 7:45 PM E.M. <emus(a)mailbox.org> wrote:

Heiner, I think this is exactly the kind of thing that both underlines Guus's notion that we (the XSF) might help promote such projects to the DID people (and quite possibly others), and also the kind of outreach that emus's message to the Members list helps start - so I'm glad Board asked him to communicate internally first. As Guus says, I'm sure there's projects that I'm unaware of that would benefit, as well as projects like yours that I did know about but hadn't thought about in this context. We should uncover these projects for the XSF's own purposes as well, they're fascinating examples of the diverse ways in which XMPP is used, and would make for some great content for the blog I'd think. Plus we can help them promote themselves to sites and initiatives like DID, which may not care (and needn't be aware) they're using XMPP. Dave. On Fri, 9 Jan 2026 at 20:29, Heiner Wolf &lt;wolf.heiner(a)gmail.com&gt; wrote: > Hi all, > > I do not know how we/you can use that, but ... > > ... keywords and goals of "Save Social - Networks for Democracy" align > very much with our weblin.io project, were we have been using XMPP for a > long time to create a chat client with animated avatars that lets people > meet on web pages. > > So, > it's a social network without being a Social Media Silo > it's based in europe, > it's open source, > does not require a login or profile, > does not require you to pay by profile data in order to talk to people, > works everywhere. There is no dedicated domain like facebook, x, tiktok. > It makes every web page a place where peole meet and talk, any web page, > enabling communication on the long tail of the web, > where like minded people meet because they visit the same pages.. > > Reclaim the Web. > The Web is the Metaverse. > > All that aligns greatly with Di.Day's goals. > Of course, I also support XMPP in general for Di.Day. > Just wanted to mention a concrete XMPP based project that fits. > > Best > hw > -- > Dr. Heiner Wolf > Autor, Dev, Agile Coach, CTO > > > On Thu, 8 Jan 2026 at 22:44, Guus der Kinderen < > guus.der.kinderen(a)gmail.com&gt; wrote: > >> Hello everyone, >> >> For those who may not be familiar with it (I wasn't until looking into >> it tonight), Digital Independence Day (DI.DAY) is a German initiative by >> "Save Social - Networks for Democracy" that aims to raise awareness around >> digital sovereignty, vendor independence, and alternatives to centralized >> platforms. The campaign combines public messaging with practical actions, >> such as curated "recipes" for switching tools and local events that help >> people move towards more independent digital infrastructure. >> >> Speaking personally, I do not have objections to the initiative itself, >> and I agree that its general goals are well aligned with many of the values >> behind XMPP. At the same time, it would be wrong to assume that no one else >> might have reservations, or different ideas about how (or whether) XSF >> should associate itself with it. That in itself is a key reason for >> involving the members-list. >> >> I would also like to suggest that we take a bit of time to think about >> how we engage, rather than focusing on a simple public endorsement. At the >> moment, the initiative does not list XMPP-specific content or any of our >> projects. Promoting it outwardly in its current form may be nice, but >> arguably does little to directly benefit our members, our ecosystem, or our >> projects. >> >> Instead, I believe we may get much more value by first looking at ways >> to leverage this initiative for our community. For example: >> >> - Projects like Snikket or Quicksy could explore whether they >> qualify to be added as a "recipe" on the DI.DAY website. >> - Even for projects not on the DI.DAY website, we can probably think >> of ways to piggy-back on the initiative in a sensible way. >> - Some projects might want to participate in or align with the >> initiative's recurring local events that help people switch tools and >> platforms. >> >> The Communications Team could initially focus on reaching out within our >> ecosystem, making projects aware of the initiative and helping them engage >> with it where it makes sense. From my perspective, that kind of engagement >> would be far more meaningful than a token message of support for an >> initiative that does not yet reference our work. >> >> I am very interested in hearing other views on this - both regarding >> potential concerns, and ideas for more effective or mutually beneficial >> ways of associating ourselves with DI.DAY. >> >> Kind regards, >> >> Guus >> >> On Thu, Jan 8, 2026 at 7:45 PM E.M. &lt;emus(a)mailbox.org&gt; wrote: >> >>> Dear all, >>> >>> XSF Communication Team basically just intended to ask for permission >>> from Board. But they ask us to reach out to all of you. So here we go! >>> >>> Currently there is a new initiative going on from Save Social – >>> Networks >>> For Democracy. It's called the Digital Independence Day - Di.Day in >>> Germany. https://di.day/en (Sorry, no English version yet) >>> >>> While XMPP members already contacted them to list XMPP as recommended >>> technology as well (we were not involved). Though, we think it is a >>> good >>> thing, we wanted to ask if anything speaks against supporting this >>> campaign and aloow higher presence of XMPP as technology? >>> >>> We are basically asking whether we can write messages in the media >>> channels like this: >>> ________________ >>> In Germany the word spreads for the "Digital Independence Day" >>> (https://di.day), and we also find vendor-independent messaging great! >>> >>> Coincidentally, the first ‘DI.DAY’ was on the anniversary of XMPP, >>> January 4th! >>> >>> So let's go for digital independence and sovereignty! >>> ________________ >>> >>> We believe this could get us certain media attention in a significant >>> big media campaign in Germany. >>> >>> Best regards, >>> Eddie >>> >>

On Thu, Jan 15, 2026 at 10:47 AM Guus der Kinderen &lt;guus.der.kinderen(a)gmail.com&gt; wrote: to say there is general support for engaging with the DI.DAY initiative. \o/ this" because some XMPP community members have reached out to DI.DAY. I do not see that as a reason to slow down or stop further effort. If anything, it makes it more useful to make sure our own members and projects are aware of what is going on. awareness of the DI.DAY initiative within our own community. Not everyone follows the same channels, and not all projects will know about DI.DAY or about the opportunities it creates. Sharing this information simply gives people the chance to decide for themselves if and how they want to get involved. reached out does not mean others cannot or should not do the same. I do not know what approach was used in the first outreach. Seeing interest from multiple projects and people can actually be a good signal for the DI.DAY organizers. to lead with individual projects rather than the word XMPP itself. XMPP as a term is not very appealing to most end users, and DI.DAY mainly targets end users. Showing real projects and what they offer may be more attractive, and less off putting for the organizers. Those projects can still mention XMPP if they want, but the focus would be on their value, not just on the protocol they use. the DI.DAY website. Even if some projects decide not to be listed there, they could still benefit from the visibility around the initiative by aligning blog posts, announcements, or other outreach with it. involved are coordinating this work. Pointing interested members to that chat and inviting them to join the ongoing effort seems like a very practical next step. there is a lot more we could do here, and that a slightly more active approach could massively benefit our projects and the wider ecosystem. A bit of an update. Please try to keep this information more or less to this list for now. People have reached out to DI.DAY and the website now mentions XMPP in a footnote of a footnote. People are trying to get them to clean up the wording around that mention a bit but I’m afraid that is the maximum we will get out of them. I don’t think they will publish an official XMPP recipe. However the aforementioned channel has been working on a nice XMPP recipe that we plan to push hard on social media on February 1st. This is something the comm team can help with. (Social media and maybe a blog post) I think our official communication should mention Digital Independence day as a concept and push our "recipe" but not link to or acknowledge the official website. The official website recommends a competitor (Signal) and I don’t think any of our communication should include "Hey check out Signal". cheers Daniel

* Daniel Gultsch &lt;daniel(a)gultsch.de&gt; [2026-01-15 13:28]: I agree with that assessment (for now). I want to meet with the DI.DAY folks at FOSDEM and to talk to them about how realistic an inclusion of an XMPP recipe on the main page would be. To improve our chances I would like to see the following happen ahead of FOSDEM: 1. Prepare (and maybe already publish) a blog post on xmpp.org, - mentioning and linking the initiative (I don't consider linking to them an endorsement of Signal, but rather an endorsement of decentralized / federated communications, which fully aligns with our goals. - highlighting a few XMPP-based projects that are aimed at beginners, with one paragraph each, and maybe something like an "easy / medium / hard" rating. I'm thinking of Quicksy, Snikket, weblin, maybe also "regular" XMPP clients like Conversations and Monal. - outlining whatever "network effect" functionality we have, like the Quicksy directory, getting JIDs from address books, QR-code based contact invitations, ... I hope that user-oriented projects interested in a mention can provide a logo and a paragrpah of intro to commteam within the next week. My pessimist brain says that getting listed at DI.DAY will be hard without a free, low-barrier, multi-platform client, but we can show our best side and try. 2. Axel Reimer already wrote and published repsective recipes in German that are close enough to what I would like to see, under https://eversten.net/tags/xmpp/ I would like to add English translations and to use that material as the basis for our own outreach initiative, in whatever ways are deemed acceptable. 3. Prepare (and bring to FOSDEM) a pack of "How do I get XMPP" flyers or leaflets, based on Axel's work. They should mention DI.DAY, and maybe even be branded with the DI.DAY design (it is allowed to use their styles and logos for projects that promote the digital independence initiative, if they link to the DI.DAY site). The target audience IMO is not so much FOSDEM visitors, but rather their friends and families. I would like to provide the onboarding instructions for Quicksy and Conversations/Monal, in English and German. I plan to prepare these flyers, either privately or with an XSF mention, if we can get SCAM / Board approval. In the latter case, it would be also great to get them funded from the SCAM budget. Eddie kindly offered to print them together with the "XMPP News 2025" flyers. Kind regards Georg

Hello everyone, Thanks for the clarifications and suggestions. In general, also support the activities. With support we are also happy to publish blog posts and I am also very amused about what I see the community is doing to get the attention in the campaign and use the momentum. I also share with Guus that this effort, independent of DI.DAY, is a very valuable exercise for the XMPP Community. The only thing I don't think is the right direction, is to react offended, because they did not put us as number one. I personally don't wonder about this circumstance to be honest. Actually, they now did a step into our direction and listed us, at least in the side note. That is something we should admire, has potential to be improved and now the professional reaction would be to do what the community is already doing; stepping up improving how potential interested people will land in the XMPP universe. Thanks for that! Also many thanks to *IM* who is not directly affiliated with the community but backing us here. The general campaign goes beyond the choice of a chat app which Guus has pointed out along sharing the same values. Being listed there as organisation will also for sure bring us positive attention and I don't see where this should result in harm to be listed as partner organisation. Therefore, besides the other activities, I'm also advocating to make this official and see this as an opportunity for the technology one of the biggest countries in the EU. (Of course this should not block any moving forward with what has been exposed). Best regards, Eddie On 16/01/2026 11:07, Guus der Kinderen wrote: