I've created a task about this on Google Code-in https://codein.withgoogle.com/dashboard/tasks/4570393266356224/ and I plan to mentor it.

As these are hosted, do you intend for this research GCI task to be done using test instances provided by Zulip/Mattermost, or the participant would use toollabs to install and evaluate?

For what is worth, my initial suggestion (that I didn't write down anywhere, I'm sorry!) was to slice several GCi tasks:

• Go through T150732: Provide a group chat system for mentoring and extract a list of requirements
• 2x request a Labs instance.
• Set up a Zulip test instance.
• Set up a Mattermost test instance.
• Check the requirements against Zulip and Mattermost.

In T154001#2898341, @Qgil wrote:

For what is worth, my initial suggestion (that I didn't write down anywhere, I'm sorry!) was to slice several GCi tasks:

• Go through T150732: Provide a group chat system for mentoring and extract a list of requirements
• 2x request a Labs instance.
• Set up a Zulip test instance.
• Check the requirements against Zulip and Mattermost.

Thank you for suggesting these tasks! I think that in the context of Google Code-in, tasks that would help introduce students to the Tool Labs project such as setting up instances for Zulip, and Mattermost, set up an account, etc. would be a good learning experience. But, my concern/ question is that:

• Did we finalize yet on going with either of these tools and not dig any further into other tools?
• Before we jump to any conclusion or evaluate which of these tools might be useful for us, why set up their instances first? How about we consider evaluating these tools from their test instances: https://gitlab.mattermost.com/ and https://chat.zulip.org/?

@Qgil I would be happy to modify the tasks I've added on GCI, and integrate the ones you've suggested, but I am curious to learn what you think about the two points I've mentioned above :)

• Set up a Mattermost test instance.

We already have this http://mattermost.wmflabs.org/. I can ping someone from Labs to see if it was a successful installation and if they could help bring it on.

I have no better ideas and I don't want to block the tasks. Whatever makes sense to you, @srishakatux.

@srishakatux As you're working, would you mind commenting on this GitHub issue ("Write documentation about how Zulip is different from IRC/Slack/etc.") with a link to your work? The Zulip team would find your comparison useful. Thanks!

In T154001#2903816, @sumanah wrote:

@srishakatux As you're working, would you mind commenting on this GitHub issue ("Write documentation about how Zulip is different from IRC/Slack/etc.") with a link to your work? The Zulip team would find your comparison useful. Thanks!

Done

I made some edits to the grammar for better English here https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Zulip_vs._Mattermost_comparison. Should I post my thoughts on improving it here or somewhere else?
Thanks!

Here is good, or on the talk page.

thank you @jayvdb for providing mentoring support and @MtDu for working on this task! :) Will analyze results soon, and hopefully, we'll have a tool setup before the beginning of our next mentoring program!

@srishakatux , do you want to do this again for GCI 2017? Gitter is now open source, Zulip has improved a lot in the last 12 months, and RocketChat was mentioned frequently at the GSOC summit.

Another potential research type task is research on IRC bridges / IRC webapps / IRC foo . So that Wikimedia provides newcomers with good information on how to get 'into' IRC with the best tools for their situation.

For what is worth, I am suggesting another possibility at T155678#3728874, using Discourse (maybe with a chat plugin?). One main reason being simplification of technology choices. Discourse is known for being easy to use and very newcomer friendly. Groups and permissions would allow GSoC/Outreachy teams to work as openly or privately as they wish.

@jayvdb Based on your comment, I've created a task around updating our existing documentation on communication tools T179989: Update the research documentation on open source team communication tools in Meta . Would you be willing to mentor along with me?