I would like to propose a name change: rename “chatmail relay” to “chat relay”.
This may sound like a minor detail, but I think the current name creates a misleading mental model for users.
When people hear “mail”, they expect something like a traditional email service: mailboxes, email addresses, SMTP/IMAP access, sending and receiving regular emails, compatibility with email clients, etc. This can lead to recurring confusion when users try to use Delta Chat as if a chatmail relay were a classic email server.
Since DC 2.x the email standard is only a transport channel, while the user identity is cryptographic. In that context, “chatmail” no longer seems like the clearest description. Therefore I think “chat relay” is a more accurate and less confusing name for what the infrastructure actually does.
For end users, e.g. in the UI, we don’t use “chatmail” already, the dialog/screen is just called “relays” and ideally users don’t need to care about relays. “Chatmail” is mostly a technical term, it should not appear in the UI. For relay operators calling chatmail relay a “chat relay” is not precise enough, IRC relay is also a “chat relay”.
Does “chatmail relay” appear for the users anywhere other than FAQ? FAQ definitely needs a cleanup, it still talks about “chatmail servers” even and “chatmail profiles” (from the time when a profile had only one relay and it could either be a “chatmail server” or “classic email” server).
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