message history in group chat

[topaz]

Hi! When i create chat room and invite new user to room, hes don't view messages history. How to fix this?

[PitaJ]

This is expected behavior and is how most group chats operate (like WhatsApp, etc)

[oplik0]

Is it really most?
First, WhatsApp, Signal and other encrypted communicators work that way for a reason. They can't read old messages because they don't have the keys to decrypt the old messages, even if for some reason they'd have access to their ciphertext form - which they also don't, as at least with Signal messages aren't even stored on the server after being delivered.
So seeing message history from before joining would require getting other clients in the group to replay their messages just for the new person to even have access to them.

By contrast, services that aren't E2EE and store messages on the server don't have either of these problems - so for example Messenger can easily just fetch a new member the old messages, and it does so.
NodeBB isn't ent-to-end encrypted, and is entirely server based with AFAIK no local storage for messages at all - I don't think they're even cached in any way. So there isn't a technical limitation to implementing this.

[PitaJ]

WhatsApp worked this way even before they implemented E2EE.

Yes, there's no technical barrier to allowing this. It comes down to a choice. We choose for chats to act like WhatsApp, SMS, IRC, etc because the chats are meant more for real-time communication. The forum exists for persistent communication.

Unlike Discord and Slack, the text chat is not supposed to be the primary form of textual communication.

[JimReid]

message history in group chat is one of the essential to review messages like on yo whatsapp app

[gotwf]

@jimreid

@pitaj said in message history in group chat:

Yes, there's no technical barrier to allowing this. It comes down to a choice. We choose for chats to act like WhatsApp, SMS, IRC, etc because the chats are meant more for real-time communication. The forum exists for persistent communication.

I concur with @PitaJ on this one. While technically feasible, socially unacceptable. Private chat should be private. If that private chat subsequently becomes a group chat I have the option to opt out and cease participating. But to replay any and all prior messages would be a violation of trust. Twixt both the end user to end user and site operators who facilitated such.

My $0.02. Caveat Emptor.

[phenomlab]

@gotwf I have to agree with this also. The entire purpose of the chat function is to communicate in real-time with another user. It's not meant to be and should not be seen as long term storage.

[JimReid]

message history in group chat is one of the essential to review messages like on yo whatsapp app on https://yowaplus.net

[dunlix]

@pitaj I agree that this behavior is acting how it is supposed to be, but I also think that there should be an option for admins/group chat owners to turn this setting on.