I appreciate all the work that you and your team have put into Element and Matrix over the last few years. While I still think there's plenty to go, I think there's been clear communication about what the project has worked on, what you're trying to do with it, and acceptance that certain features, while important, aren't as important as more core features. (My personal pet one is custom emoji, MSC1951).
I still think that this is one of the more important open-source future-facing projects around and will continue supporting it, and urge others to, as well. If you dislike the hegemony of centralized services, then throw some money towards projects that support ideals you believe in.
Thanks :) In terms of custom emoji, it may be worth checking out our new public roadmap for Element (which is new this week and hasn't yet been announced): https://github.com/vector-im/roadmap/projects/1. On the plus side, custom emoji are on the roadmap. On the minus side, they're on the 'Later' column - so you can see where they stack up relative to other work. Agreed that they would make a massive difference. We will get there eventually though (or perhaps folks will contribute them sooner :)
I'd like to agree with the comment above yours that how communicative you are being and the openness about issues combined with the transparency of the project really raises my and probably many others' opinion of the project and that if you continue this way, it's really looking bright!
I still think that this is one of the more important open-source future-facing projects around and will continue supporting it, and urge others to, as well. If you dislike the hegemony of centralized services, then throw some money towards projects that support ideals you believe in.