Thanks all for the responses - the whole “matrix doesn’t have voice channels” thing is much clearer now: it’s not the hard bit (voice/video conferencing!) but just the UX of how it’s hooked up. This we can fix :)

"it's not the hard bit but just the UX" – I think this is not a good statement. Maybe I'm reading too much into it, but it shows a certain state of mind: Tech/protocol/crypto/algorithms are hard, but UX is just decor and easy. That's just wrong. For many users, UX is way more important than Key Backups and Cross signing of devices. If FOSS projects want to be an alternative to Slack/Discord, then these things are precisely what matters – a lot.

Well, tech/protocol/crypto/algorithms require changes to all servers involved. UX is something that can be deployed and iterated upon much more easily. That makes it the "easy bit", for some definition of easy.

Good to know you guys are listening, but I'll dispute that UX isn't hard! I think Matrix/Element is great but open source projects at large are let down by UX/UI issues more than anything.

That's great to hear that you are open to addressing this UX feature.

Being able to hang out in a room alone to signal that you are open to chat if someone wants to join makes for a completely different user journey from calling someone and interrupting your interlocutor.