Really? Is there an alternative that hits all the points above? I’m really asking.

• persistent IRC style chat rooms
• virtual “servers” to organize said chat rooms, manage privileges, control visibility
• integration with bots for all sorts of things (moderation, user welcome, dice rollers, etc.)
• integration with games/music players/etc (I don’t use it but it’s very popular)
• privacy and moderation controls
• client allows fine grained notification controls
• voice, video, and screen casting simultaneously
• “server” templates: use an existing server config (roles, permissions, rooms, etc.) when creating a new server.

That’s just off the top of my head.

It’s enshittifying, but the value proposition is still hard to beat. I’m really hoping Matrix catches up with the feature set soon.

Nheko provides an interface that is reminiscent of Discord. Fully featured and fast Matrix client.

That depends. A lot of the power consumption comes from spinning media. Even very old desktop Intel chips have CPU throttling and consume very little while idle. Corporate desktops, even old ones, are usually quite economical.

You don’t need more than an old desktop with a low powered i3/i5 and a free drive bays to build your first NAS. Just install TrueNAS and get going.