Digital Independence Day - Di.Day in Germany
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
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@mailbox.org> 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
Hello, Thanks for elaborating the background. Just to clarify on:
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.
We are beyond this actually, as some XMPP Community members have already reached out to the DI.DAY initiative to list XMPP. (We were not involved). They've even created a group chat for this already: di.day@conference.anoxinon.me Regardless of not yet being considered to be listed, which I don't wonder about, we still could take an opportunity out of their momentum. There is of course also the chance to be listed in the future and we can make aware of us. Cheers, Eddie On 08/01/2026 22:43, Guus der Kinderen 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. <emus@mailbox.org> 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
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@gmail.com> 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. <emus@mailbox.org> 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
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 <wolf.heiner@gmail.com> 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@gmail.com> 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. <emus@mailbox.org> 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
Hi everyone, As a few days have passed and no objections have come up, it seems safe to say there is general support for engaging with the DI.DAY initiative. \o/ I want to clarify one point about the idea that we are already "beyond 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. One helpful role for the Communications Team could be to spread 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. It is also worth saying that the fact that some people have already 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. When it comes to showing solutions, I think it can sometimes be better 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. I also think there is more we can do than just aiming for a listing on 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. Finally, I understand there is already a group chat where people 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. To be clear, I am not against a simple public endorsement. I just feel 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. Kind regards, Guus On Fri, Jan 9, 2026 at 9:50 PM Dave Cridland <dave@cridland.net> 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 <wolf.heiner@gmail.com> 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@gmail.com> 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. <emus@mailbox.org> 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 <guus.der.kinderen@gmail.com> wrote:
As a few days have passed and no objections have come up, it seems safe to say there is general support for engaging with the DI.DAY initiative. \o/
I want to clarify one point about the idea that we are already "beyond 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.
One helpful role for the Communications Team could be to spread 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.
It is also worth saying that the fact that some people have already 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.
When it comes to showing solutions, I think it can sometimes be better 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.
I also think there is more we can do than just aiming for a listing on 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.
Finally, I understand there is already a group chat where people 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.
To be clear, I am not against a simple public endorsement. I just feel 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
Thanks Daniel, that sounds like a sensible approach to me. One thing I am still not entirely clear on is what we mean by an XMPP recipe. Do we mean something that explicitly promotes XMPP itself, or something that promotes specific products built on XMPP. My original suggestion was to focus on promoting products rather than the protocol. The website currently lists Signal, Threema, Matrix, and Element, and it is not obvious to me why it could not also include Conversations, Quicksy, and Snikket, to name just a few examples. I am also not convinced that we should limit ourselves to a single product. Even if the DI.DAY team ultimately decides not to add all or any of our suggestions to their website, each project in our ecosystem would still benefit from going through the process of preparing a clear and reusable proposition. That material could be used on individual project pages, within our community, and by the communications team when reaching a broader audience. It would of course be a shame if none of this made it onto the DI.DAY website, but I think we would still get a lot of value out of the work regardless. Kind regards, Guus On Thu, Jan 15, 2026 at 1:28 PM Daniel Gultsch <daniel@gultsch.de> wrote:
On Thu, Jan 15, 2026 at 10:47 AM Guus der Kinderen <guus.der.kinderen@gmail.com> wrote:
As a few days have passed and no objections have come up, it seems safe to say there is general support for engaging with the DI.DAY initiative. \o/
I want to clarify one point about the idea that we are already "beyond 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.
One helpful role for the Communications Team could be to spread 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.
It is also worth saying that the fact that some people have already 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.
When it comes to showing solutions, I think it can sometimes be better 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.
I also think there is more we can do than just aiming for a listing on 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.
Finally, I understand there is already a group chat where people 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.
To be clear, I am not against a simple public endorsement. I just feel 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 <daniel@gultsch.de> [2026-01-15 13:28]:
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.
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
Hi all, Thanks Georg for laying this out. I really like the direction you are proposing, and I think it fits with where the discussion has landed so far. Based on the thread and some follow up discussion, I would suggest the following approach, which I think keeps things moving while avoiding unnecessary process overhead: First, I do not think we need formal XSF approval to move forward with practical outreach materials like the flyer you describe. If the goal is to help people get started with XMPP, then just doing the work is likely more valuable than waiting for a formal stamp. Trying to frame this as an official XSF endorsed artifact also risks opening discussions about completeness and representation that we simply do not have time for before FOSDEM. So my suggestion would be: just create the flyer. Mentioning the XSF or linking to xmpp.org is fine, but without positioning it as an official or comprehensive XSF statement. From my perspective, that removes most of the risk while keeping all of the upside. On the funding side, I am confident we can sort something out one way or another, so I would not let that be a blocker. Second, building on the earlier discussion, this feels like a good opportunity for the Communications Team to play a more active role than just posting a simple message of support. A blog post on xmpp.org that: - mentions and links to the DI.DAY initiative and the shared values around decentralization and digital independence, - highlights the concrete, user friendly XMPP based projects that already fit well with DI.DAY goals, - and explicitly invites other XMPP projects to do their own outreach, recipes, or materials, would be a great way to support this effort. This also shifts the focus slightly from "projects submit a paragraph to XSF" to "projects tell their own story, and we help point people to it", which feels more scalable and more in line with the ecosystem. This way, we keep the XSF out of the critical path, we support Georgs concrete plans for FOSDEM, and we still give visibility and coordination where it makes sense. It also leaves plenty of room for others to join in, including via the existing chat where coordination is already happening. If this sounds reasonable to others, I think it gives us a clear and practical next step. Kind regards, Guus On Fri, Jan 16, 2026 at 1:24 AM Georg Lukas <georg@op-co.de> wrote:
* Daniel Gultsch <daniel@gultsch.de> [2026-01-15 13:28]:
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.
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:
Hi all,
Thanks Georg for laying this out. I really like the direction you are proposing, and I think it fits with where the discussion has landed so far.
Based on the thread and some follow up discussion, I would suggest the following approach, which I think keeps things moving while avoiding unnecessary process overhead:
First, I do not think we need formal XSF approval to move forward with practical outreach materials like the flyer you describe. If the goal is to help people get started with XMPP, then just doing the work is likely more valuable than waiting for a formal stamp. Trying to frame this as an official XSF endorsed artifact also risks opening discussions about completeness and representation that we simply do not have time for before FOSDEM.
So my suggestion would be: just create the flyer. Mentioning the XSF or linking to xmpp.org is fine, but without positioning it as an official or comprehensive XSF statement. From my perspective, that removes most of the risk while keeping all of the upside. On the funding side, I am confident we can sort something out one way or another, so I would not let that be a blocker.
Second, building on the earlier discussion, this feels like a good opportunity for the Communications Team to play a more active role than just posting a simple message of support. A blog post on xmpp.org that:
- mentions and links to the DI.DAY initiative and the shared values around decentralization and digital independence, - highlights the concrete, user friendly XMPP based projects that already fit well with DI.DAY goals, - and explicitly invites other XMPP projects to do their own outreach, recipes, or materials,
would be a great way to support this effort. This also shifts the focus slightly from "projects submit a paragraph to XSF" to "projects tell their own story, and we help point people to it", which feels more scalable and more in line with the ecosystem.
This way, we keep the XSF out of the critical path, we support Georgs concrete plans for FOSDEM, and we still give visibility and coordination where it makes sense. It also leaves plenty of room for others to join in, including via the existing chat where coordination is already happening.
If this sounds reasonable to others, I think it gives us a clear and practical next step.
Kind regards,
Guus
On Fri, Jan 16, 2026 at 1:24 AM Georg Lukas <georg@op-co.de> wrote:
* Daniel Gultsch <daniel@gultsch.de> [2026-01-15 13:28]:
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.
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, Here is a proposal for a blog post which attempts to be formulated as a community activity. We would like to publish by tomorrow, as there is the next DI.Day. Sorry for the delay, but Summit, FOSDEM and everything in between left few capacity. https://github.com/xsf/xmpp.org/pull/1635 Best regards and talk to you (actually right now!), Eddie On 16/01/2026 21:59, E.M. wrote:
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:
Hi all,
Thanks Georg for laying this out. I really like the direction you are proposing, and I think it fits with where the discussion has landed so far.
Based on the thread and some follow up discussion, I would suggest the following approach, which I think keeps things moving while avoiding unnecessary process overhead:
First, I do not think we need formal XSF approval to move forward with practical outreach materials like the flyer you describe. If the goal is to help people get started with XMPP, then just doing the work is likely more valuable than waiting for a formal stamp. Trying to frame this as an official XSF endorsed artifact also risks opening discussions about completeness and representation that we simply do not have time for before FOSDEM.
So my suggestion would be: just create the flyer. Mentioning the XSF or linking to xmpp.org is fine, but without positioning it as an official or comprehensive XSF statement. From my perspective, that removes most of the risk while keeping all of the upside. On the funding side, I am confident we can sort something out one way or another, so I would not let that be a blocker.
Second, building on the earlier discussion, this feels like a good opportunity for the Communications Team to play a more active role than just posting a simple message of support. A blog post on xmpp.org that:
- mentions and links to the DI.DAY initiative and the shared values around decentralization and digital independence, - highlights the concrete, user friendly XMPP based projects that already fit well with DI.DAY goals, - and explicitly invites other XMPP projects to do their own outreach, recipes, or materials,
would be a great way to support this effort. This also shifts the focus slightly from "projects submit a paragraph to XSF" to "projects tell their own story, and we help point people to it", which feels more scalable and more in line with the ecosystem.
This way, we keep the XSF out of the critical path, we support Georgs concrete plans for FOSDEM, and we still give visibility and coordination where it makes sense. It also leaves plenty of room for others to join in, including via the existing chat where coordination is already happening.
If this sounds reasonable to others, I think it gives us a clear and practical next step.
Kind regards,
Guus
On Fri, Jan 16, 2026 at 1:24 AM Georg Lukas <georg@op-co.de> wrote:
* Daniel Gultsch <daniel@gultsch.de> [2026-01-15 13:28]:
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.
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
participants (6)
-
Daniel Gultsch -
Dave Cridland -
E.M. -
Georg Lukas -
Guus der Kinderen -
Heiner Wolf