Kenridge Manor Chat

A private message board for residents of Kenridge Manor.

This page is a skeleton. The structure and the factual bits below are correct, but the wording is a starting point to edit, not finished copy. Nothing links here yet.

What this is

A chat service run by and for the building, on a server owned by the condo corporation. It is not Facebook, WhatsApp or a third-party group. There are no adverts, nothing is sold, and nobody outside the building can read it or join it.

It runs on Matrix, an open messaging standard, so you are not locked into one company's app.

Getting an account

Fill in the short form at register.kenridgemanor.ca.
A board member checks your name and unit against the resident list.
You get an email when your account is ready, with a link to finish setting it up.

Accounts are approved by hand, one at a time. That is deliberate: it keeps the building's chat to the building.

Request an account

Your username

Your full address looks like @firstname.lastname_u14:kenridgemanor.ca, where 14 is your unit. The unit number is part of the address on purpose, so neighbours can tell who they are talking to without anyone publishing a resident list.

The rooms

Room	Who is in it
Community	Everyone. General conversation.
Welcome Room	Everyone. Start here.
Events	Everyone. Social events and notices.
Neighbourhood Watch	Everyone. Safety and suspicious activity.
Official Business	Board announcements to residents.
Owners / Owners General Discussion	Owners only, by invitation.
Board of Directors / BoD rooms	Board members only.

Setting up the app

The app is called Element X. It is free, and it works on phones, tablets and in a web browser.

iPhone / iPad Android Use in a browser

When it asks for your account, type your full address (@firstname.lastname_u14:kenridgemanor.ca) and the password you chose. You do not need to enter a server address.

To add: short walkthrough videos for iPhone, Android and browser. Record these once the sign-up flow is final, so what is on screen matches what residents will actually see. Store them under /video/ and link them here.

Privacy

The shared rooms above are readable by anyone in the building who joins, including their history. They are the building's noticeboard, not private correspondence.
Direct messages between two residents are end-to-end encrypted. Nobody else can read them, including whoever runs the server.
The server is run by the condo corporation. Messages are not sold, scanned or shared.

Help

Stuck? Reply to the email you were sent, or speak to a board member. If you are already in, ask in the Welcome Room.