Is there a Matrix space/room for ESPHome? I cannot use Discord for safety reasons.
More seriously, I’d never heard of the Matrix chat before, and I’m not aware of it being used by HA or ESPHome officially.
I’m not a big fan of Discord, but it’s where the action is. What specific safety concerns do you have? Obviously I wouldn’t post anything in it that I wanted to be kept private.
Matrix is decentralized (like Email) and free software/open source.
Many tech communities have migrated, or are in the process.
It’s disgusting how many F/LOSS projects are using Discord these days.
Matrix would be better than Discord (as Matrix is F/LOSS) but still too graphical/heavy for my taste, so I still prefer IRC. I did recently learn there is a
#homeassistant
channel on Libera.chat. Not official of course but it’s decently active.