I always heard that rolling out an initial Matrix instance isn't terrible, especially with ansible and/or docker, but I also have heard that a lot of updates have breaking changes and that updating your server is less simple.
As someone who runs your own Matrix server, would you agree with this sentiment or disagree and why? I have considered rolling out my own many times but get discouraged by those who say keeping it updated is kind of a nightmare. For example, a private tracker I am a member of used to have a Matrix server and an IRC server, but they eventually dumped the Matrix server entirely to reduce complexity as well as the fact that fewer people used it.
I don't even really plan to use any bridges, as I understand it those are for if you want to pass messages from other services through your matrix server. I would rather keep those separate personally, even though I understand certain benefits, including having all your messaging in one application instead of numerous.