Ancestors

Toot

Written by Dan Luu on 2024-09-19 at 18:16

What do people like about Telegram? I keep seeing people mention how it's nicer than Signal or WhatsApp. I recently tried it out to talk to someone who isn't on Signal or WhatsApp and the main "feature" I've noticed is that I get way more spam on Telegram than on other services (the redacted message below is the one recent non-spam message I've gotten).

I haven't tried replying to any of the spam, but from reading about it, it seems like the spam is generally from scammers.

=> View attached media

=> More informations about this toot | More toots from danluu@mastodon.social

Descendants

Written by Coach Pāṇini ® on 2024-09-19 at 18:21

@danluu it’s a honeypot for Russian ops

=> More informations about this toot | More toots from paninid@mastodon.world

Written by MJ on 2024-09-19 at 18:26

@danluu There are some nice features to it. One was that I think you can join groups that just exist to share files, but where there's no chit-chat. I do not remember the rest of the features, as I uninstalled it, since so few people have ever asked me to use it to talk to them. My understanding is that it's the least secure of all the major messaging phone apps.

=> More informations about this toot | More toots from jotaemei@social.coop

Written by MJ on 2024-09-19 at 18:27

@danluu Please say "hi" to Caroline and Elizabeth for me. They are so real people.

=> More informations about this toot | More toots from jotaemei@social.coop

Written by often frowned upon on 2024-09-19 at 18:30

@danluu spam is a problem if you expose your username somewhere, yeah, but I guess it's less noticeable when you actually use the thing regularly (I don't get any more than you do here, but no less either).

But to answer the question – it tends to just work, has native apps on all platforms and all the features you actually want from an IM (like no stupid limits on file sharing, proper and near-full markdown support, usable search, voice/video/group calling, groups and "channels", pretty flexible config and rather decent moderation features overall)

Now, I'm pretty sure a big part of "just works" is due to no E2EE by default. Which is kinda shit, and I'm aware their in-house implementation for the opt-in one is also kinda shit.

But truth is, most people don't seem to care very much. And even if they have an FSB backdoor (which, frankly, is more likely than not), the (verbal or literal) rubber hose and/or literally having moles in chat methods seem to work well enough that E2EE is really of little concern to the people who should, in theory, be concerned about it.

And they did some crypto garbage but I think they mostly wound that down in favor of (mostly cosmetic) premium features, which i have nothing against. Ads I do have something against but at least they're not putting them anywhere non-public yet, I think.

Basically it's a suspicious company run by a suspicious dude with suspicious interests, and most of those suspicions are likely true, but it's also the best tool to just chat with folks and share cat videos. :blobcatupsidedown:

=> More informations about this toot | More toots from virtulis@loud.computer

Written by Markus 🤓✨ on 2024-09-19 at 18:32

@danluu basically, Telegram is also a social network where you can broadcast on channels. Signal isn’t. Also, Telegram chats are afaik not encrypted by default. See also this excellent interview on Wired recently: https://www.wired.com/story/meredith-whittaker-signal/

=> More informations about this toot | More toots from markus@hachyderm.io

Written by Ronflaix on 2024-09-19 at 18:40

@danluu In 10 something years I have been using it to keep up with a group of buddies or friends and chat with one or two other friends outside the group. Back then its desktop client was one of the better ones I used and it didn't need some weird stuff for synchronizing the conversations or keeping logged on.

I only got spam this year and this actually upset me quite a lot even though I get magnitudes more spam over text.

=> More informations about this toot | More toots from Ronflaix@mastodon.gamedev.place

Written by Ronflaix on 2024-09-19 at 18:42

@danluu That coupled with the past years' "subtle" changes in communication and their monetization is slowly me away from it day by day. For what it was to me (a simple IM client that just worked) it used to good, now, eh, I guess I'm disillusioned I guess

=> More informations about this toot | More toots from Ronflaix@mastodon.gamedev.place

Written by Chris Krycho on 2024-09-19 at 19:10

@danluu Broad strokes, my experience matches yours. The Mac app was definitely nicer than Signal at various points, and I suspect (having just reopened Signal for the first time in a while) that Telegram feels lower hassle to a lot of people than does Signal, for all the reasons that Signal is a more secure platform.

=> More informations about this toot | More toots from chriskrycho@mastodon.social

Written by Mythique on 2024-09-19 at 19:20

@danluu Great UI/UX. It just works properly on every platform. The windows app is great. Android app too. I notice less bugs than other message apps. Overall a nice experience that is quite rare these days.

I have zero spams, most likely because I don't make my account discoverable (people need my number to contact me).

=> More informations about this toot | More toots from Mythique@mastodon.gamedev.place

Written by Kakurady 🛫 FC2025 on 2024-09-19 at 20:31

@danluu despite generally standing against the alt-right, furries have similarly embraced Telegram because we can upload stickers of our own characters, for free https://bunnypa.ws/search/1/nowandlater

(To be fair, you can do the same on Signal)

=> More informations about this toot | More toots from kakurady@fursuits.online