Tried to set up a matrix homeserver for my family to use and gave up trying to keep synapse online. Shoddy af, IRC just werks and has just werked for over 30 years
If you want to replace one of the most resilient, reliable, battle-tested tools in my workflow, with 30 years of inertia building clients, servers, libraries, bots, and tools, then you had better do a fucking great job at it, and Matrix doesn't.
Stop chasing the shiny things for a minute and make your goddamn software work
@sir this really is the biggest issue i have with matrix. why does everything have to be built on a thirty-eight layer docker stack that nobody understands anymore and is impossible to debug
(the answer always boils down to: "because it was easier to build")
Server run by the main developers of the project 
It is not focused on any particular niche interest - everyone is welcome as long as you follow our code of conduct!
@Ludonaut @sir Fair, I'm not a fan of React either (or Element in general). But that's for if you're hosting the webclient and it's literally entirely optional.