Element-web: Option to stop sending read receipts to other users

[richvdh]

For bonus points, configurable per room. cf: #2526

[richvdh]

cf also #395

[jooize]

Can someone point me to where I disable read receipts in the code of riot-web until there's a proper UI setting for it?

[ara4n]

Sure - the bluntest way to do it would be to have sendReadReceipt at https://github.com/matrix-org/matrix-react-sdk/blob/master/src/components/structures/TimelinePanel.js#L464 immediately return.

[turt2live]

Doing that recommendation ends up leaving some wonderfully stuck notifications. Is that an acceptable side effect? or is some other approach desirable for the checkbox?

Ftr: this is the commit that I ended up implementing, which has the potentially-buggy behaviour: https://github.com/turt2live/matrix-react-sdk/commit/1bdae495fa384a5d51b4d8665b258a4bd54332b6

[ara4n]

This is fine - i've filed the vector-im/riot-android#1151 to sort out the stuck notif problem. This doesn't exist on riot-ios as opening the app clears notifs anyway. Thanks for doing this!!

[ara4n]

reopening until this is PR'd :)

[turt2live]

@ara4n - PR opened: https://github.com/matrix-org/matrix-react-sdk/issues/821

The stuck notifications are also a problem in riot-web.

[ara4n]

oh, crap.

[turt2live]

I did only test against Synapse 0.20, however. It may be fixed with a homeserver with proper read marker support?

[ara4n]

nope, the new RM support doesn't fix this problem - it will need a spec addition. Have filed https://github.com/vector-im/riot-meta/issues/66 to track it; the PR will have to wait :(

[martindale]

Eager to see this land! Any low-hanging fruit to tackle in preparation?

[erciccione]

Any update? Would be really nice to have this feature implemented. Being forced to send read receipts it's not great from a privacy point of view.

[turt2live]

I've taken another stab at this from the Riot, Synapse, and Spec sides: see links off https://github.com/matrix-org/matrix-react-sdk/pull/3395

This new approach shouldn't need the special API mentioned above, making https://github.com/vector-im/riot-android/issues/1151 and https://github.com/vector-im/riot-meta/issues/66 not needed I think.

[turt2live]

I want to leave this open as a reminder to implement it as a proper setting.

[ara4n]

Yeah, we really need this as a proper UI setting both for the account and the rooms rather than being hidden in labs.

I also wonder if the sendReadReceipts setting should be enshrined in the spec, so that clients in general honour it correctly? (Or indeed whether there should be a separate API on the server which you use to toggle these on & off, rather than relying on clients getting it right?)

[turt2live]

making it a real flag for account data sounds like a good idea - will add it to the MSC

[ara4n]

wdyt about giving the server a way to enforce it rather than it being a client thing?

[turt2live]

Could theoretically be handled as some special account data event (yay) - the server could refuse to let the user edit it, and it could enforce it if the client forgets to send a hidden RR. I'd still want to support the m.hidden flag on the RR though so that clients can implement a "stop sending receipts for the next few minutes" without consulting the server (or something).

[turt2live]

Another thing to worry about is possibly never wanting to send read receipts to a particular server/user. It's a little unfortunate that clicking a room can alert the user to your presence despite you not wanting them to know about you.

[anon88391]

It's been almost 2 years and you still haven't managed to fix the most privacy invading feature of your app. Fix your shit please.

[turt2live]

@anon88391 the flag is in the app, there's a MSC to change the spec out, and the synapse PR has minor work to be done on it.

Please read the comments before getting angry about something.

[erciccione]

Any update about this? This issue is now more than 3 years old, but this feature is vey needed.

[tredondo]

Where can I find and toggle the flag in the app/labs?

[t3chguy]

In Labs which require special config.json options per the docs like on riot.im/develop . But as the title says, it needs a compatible homeserver otherwise all your rooms will always be flagged as unread.

[mcg-matrix]

For bonus points, configurable per room. cf: #2526

That doesn't seem to match:

1. This issue here (#2527) is a privacy issue about not _sending_ read receipts, i.e. not making the information available to others; issue #2526 is about not displaying available information ("read receipt markers" or "read avatars" or whatever exactly they are called; option "Show read receipts sent by other users").
2. #2526 is closed, but it did not lead to a config setting per room, AFAICS.

Personally, I'd like to have a per-room option of not sending read receipts, #14030.

[t3chguy]

For bonus points, configurable per room. and cf: #2526
are two separate statements. They are unrelated.

[dnut]

it needs a compatible homeserver

Are there any compatible homeservers? Synapse does not support this yet. https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/pull/5990 https://github.com/matrix-org/matrix-doc/pull/2285

otherwise all your rooms will always be flagged as unread.

This is not my experience. The read receipts are still being sent as if they are enabled. I wouldn't even mind everything being flagged as unread. I just really need to not send read receipts.