Yes! And you don't need a new username or password. You can use the same username and password you currently use for email, logging into support or most of the other MF/PL resources.
Using your May First/People Link chat account, you will be able to communicate with users on google talk, riseup.net, fsf.org, conversations.im accounts and more. And, if you pick a client that supports end-to-end encryption, your messages cannot be intercepted.
This chat service is supported across all platforms, including mobile devices.
For added privacy, please pick a client that supports the OMEMO private chat protocol.
To use your IM account, use any IM client like.
For desktop users (Windows and Linux) we recommend gajim and we have a gajim specific setup page.
However, most chat clients are similar.
To get started:
Go to Accounts --> Manage Accounts --> Add
In the Add Account Window
Click on Protocol drop-down menu Select XMPP or Jabber
then Click Add.
That's it! You can now add contacts using their XMPP/Jabber address.
Once your account is up, you can tell people that your XMPP or Jabber address is:
@mayfirst.org
Replace "" with your username, for example if your username is "sara.lopez" your address would be: sara.lopez@mayfirst.org
.
Yes you can setup chat rooms through our own server. Please use the following server when creating rooms.
conference.mayfirst.org
Also depending on the client software you choose, starting a chatroom will vary, in most cases it is "Start a Chat Room" where you can then invite other buddies into the room. Keep in mind we have tested and verified that these chatrooms are available for buddies to join from other xmpp servers. So you can create a room and invite buddies that use gtalk, @jabber.org, @riseup.net and any other xmpp server that is not closed (i.e facebook chat is closed).
If you have trouble with any of the above please open a support ticket
MF/PL Adminstrators: See also our Prosody admin docs