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2024-09-11 14:56:10

_elena@mastodon.social

? The Future is Federated - issue no.10 ?‍?

"My Fediverse summer & the top 3 lessons I learned"

https://blog.elenarossini.com/fediverse-summer-3-lessons/

with shout-outs to: @poliverso @phanpy @ivory @MonaApp @pixelfed @Tusky @MoogleMaestro

#TheFutureIsFederated #blog #tech #bigtech #socialmedia #FOSS #Fediverse #Mastodon #Wordpress #Friendica #Pixelfed #Lemmy #Kbin #Mbin #Firefish #Ivory #Phanpy

show all 17 comments

2024-09-11 15:19:38

Τρομοκρατιστής ✭

tromo@kafeneio.social

@_elena

mastodon.social instance has censorship in favor of Israel and Ukraine. Other instances uses their rules. There are issues with any countries - laws per server. For example the German CCC servers, was taken by Police. When you get inside the Fediverse select new instance instead of default, careful.

@poliverso @phanpy @ivory @MonaApp @pixelfed @Tusky @MoogleMaestro

2024-09-11 15:44:06

D1re_W0lf

d1re_w0lf@social.thewhole.site

@_elena @poliverso @phanpy @ivory @MonaApp @pixelfed @Tusky @MoogleMaestro Did you sent to many ppl to Sharkey? ? Their site is down.

2024-09-11 15:59:29

D1re_W0lf

d1re_w0lf@social.thewhole.site

@_elena @poliverso @phanpy @ivory @MonaApp @pixelfed @Tusky @MoogleMaestro Don’t know if you gave it a try but on iOS #IceCubesApp is pretty good. From quotes to using IA to help create the alt texts, I would say it’s a quite complete, and free, alternative.

2024-09-11 17:56:42

Alexey Skobkin

skobkin@lor.sh

@_elena @poliverso @phanpy @ivory @MonaApp @pixelfed @Tusky @MoogleMaestro

Some corrections from technical perspective here.

> I was able to scroll through my Pixelfed feed using an app originally intended for Mastodon.
> This is the beauty and the magic of ActivityPub: interoperability between Fediverse software seamlessly works.

This is NOT ActivityPub.

This is Mastodon being SO LARGE of a platform that other platforms like Pixelfed implement their own Mastodon-compatible API's.

Technical proof just in case:
Mastodon API: https://docs.joinmastodon.org/methods/accounts/#verify_credentials
Pixelfed API: https://github.com/pixelfed/pixelfed/blob/32d4b63a236c46cc7b538e7d64d69be830f4922d/routes/api.php#L94

Same goes for Pleroma and some other platforms.

And this is NOT related to the federation. Federation and ActivityPub come into action when instances communicate with each other.

> Mastodon earns over 19,000 Euros a month via Patreon donations. This gives me peace of mind

Just in case, this is somewhat equal to a salary of 2-4 developers in EU or US. But if managed carefully it still gives Mastodon a stable footing.

Nice article otherwise ?

P.S. I'd also add that it's a good idea to support your instance by subscribing to donations if possible since a lot of instances are paid out of owner's pocket.

2024-09-11 20:41:41

FeldGruen

FeldGruen@procial.tchncs.de

@_elena@mastodon.social @poliverso@mastodon.online @phanpy@hachyderm.io @ivory@tapbots.social @MonaApp@mastodon.social @pixelfed@mastodon.social @Tusky@mastodon.social @MoogleMaestro@lemmy.zip

#Hubzilla (feels like Friendica) is missing. You should take a look. Hard to learn (for me) but interesting.

2024-09-12 08:47:05

Chris 🦑

sturmsucht@mastodon.social

@_elena always a good read!

2024-09-12 10:23:32

Michiel Zandbelt ⚕️

zandbelt@mastodon.nl

@_elena not sure if I overlooked it but could you add Fediverse share button(s) to your blog poets?

2024-09-12 10:41:41

Elena Rossini ⁂

_elena@mastodon.social

@zandbelt oh I don't know how to do this. Please say more!

2024-09-12 10:50:04

Michiel Zandbelt ⚕️

zandbelt@mastodon.nl

@_elena in case of Wordpress websites there are plugins to add them, if I remember correctly. (I am on holiday abroad now, so cannot check at home)

2024-09-12 10:58:51

Elena Rossini ⁂

_elena@mastodon.social

@zandbelt Ah I will check thanks! I have a self-hosted Wordpress site and I don't use Jetpack... but hopefully I will find a plugin for it

2024-09-12 11:57:46

Jupiter Rowland

jupiter_rowland@hub.netzgemeinde.eu

@⁂ Elena Rossini ⁂ ✏️✨? I can agree with all three points.

The first one is particularly important when using my preferred Fediverse software, Hubzilla and (streams), as well as Friendica. Unlike Mastodon, all three aren't monoliths; they're rather modular with lots of add-ons that are delivered with the server installation, but that can be activated or deactivated by the admin. Not all instances have all features activated.

So if you don't have a feature at hand that someone promised you to have in Friendica/Hubzilla/(streams) in general, it wasn't necessarily a lie or lack of knowledge on that someone's side. It may rather be a case of the admin having deactivated that feature or not activated it in the first place.

The third point applies to (streams), too. Those of us who really know it saw it as the future of the Fediverse, at least ideally. But on August 31st, Mike Macgirvin threw in the towel and largely retired from Fediverse development altogether, leaving the streams repository to the community and unclear what'd happen to his few-weeks-old fork Forte.

It wasn't the first time that Mike has handed something over to the community. He did that with Friendica in 2012 when he concentrated on Red and the Zot protocol. He did it with Hubzilla in 2018 when he concentrated on Osada, Zap and Zot6. He did it again with Osada and Zap in 2020 when he concentrated on three new forks and the further advancement of Zot.

However, only Friendica and Hubzilla had big enough communities to really take over. Zap never really took off because it had no apparent advantages over Hubzilla in practice. Osada was soon discontinued because it was basically Zap with a different branding and different default settings. But at least Zap had someone to take care of it. And besides, on New Year's Eve of 2022, everything between Hubzilla and the streams repository was discontinued anyway because it was superseded by (streams) itself.

With (streams), it's different again. The existence of (streams) is fairly well-known on Hubzilla, except maybe among people who have only just joined Hubzilla. But hardly anyone knows what (streams) really is like, and that's only those who use it.

None of them has ever written and published a "test drive" that'd compare (streams) with Hubzilla. I've always wanted to, but I don't know if it makes sense anymore. It might even be counter-productive because it might lure people into (streams) at a point at which it's very buggy.

But as next to nobody on Hubzilla knows what advantages (streams) may have that might outweigh the cutting of lots of features, and as lots of features were cut on the way from Hubzilla to (streams) in the first place, there's zero incentive for Hubzilla users to try (streams).

And so there are only a few dozen (streams) users at best. There have never been more than seven public, open-registration instances, and they're dwindling now that nobody knows what'll become of the streams repository.

Worse yet, it looks like none of these few dozen users has both a) the time and b) the skills to pick up where Mike left. Several bugs are being hunted down, but it is unclear if anyone will fix them.

Fortunately, Mike has not entirely retired. Every few days or so, he is caught contributing to either the streams repository or Forte. But it looks like ironing out the bugs relies on community contributions.

Unfortunately, once-stable (streams) was left not only as a fairly unstable construction site, but it never reached the point that it was planned to reach: Fediverse-wide nomadic identity using ActivityPub. (streams) is nomadic, so it's possible to survive the shutdown of an instance if you've cloned your channel. But with there being fewer and fewer public instances, it becomes increasingly harder to find places where to clone your channel unless you set up your own instance.

Thanks to nomadic identity, it's possible to export the entirety of your channel into one or several JSON files. But these JSON files are so (streams)-specific that even the attempt at uploading them to a Hubzilla channel might destroy the whole hub. So nomadic identity couldn't save your channel if the last public (streams) instance vanished.

#Long #LongPost #CWLong #CWLongPost #FediMeta #FediverseMeta #CWFediMeta #CWFediverseMeta #Fediverse #Friendica #Hubzilla #Streams #(streams)

2024-09-12 12:59:43

Elena Rossini ⁂

_elena@mastodon.social

@jupiter_rowland thank you for the thorough explanation and two quick follow-up questions:

1) what are streams / what do they do?

2) are you saying the future of Hubzilla is uncertain / in peril?

2024-09-12 13:12:05

Jupiter Rowland

jupiter_rowland@hub.netzgemeinde.eu

@⁂ Elena Rossini ⁂ ✏️✨?

1) what are streams / what do they do?

(streams) is a fork of a fork of three forks of a fork (of a fork?) of Hubzilla. Everything in this line of forks is/was made by Mike.

It's basically Hubzilla based on a more advanced protocol (Nomad, which would actually be Zot12, instead of Zot6), minus articles, minus webpages, minus wikis, minus multiple profiles per channel, minus all connections except Nomad, Zot6, ActivityPub and its own Atom feeds, minus a frontend for the CalDAV server, minus a few other features, but with ActivityPub included into the core and not disturbing nomadic identity as much, with first steps taken towards nomadic identity via ActivityPub (which, unfortunately, seems to have caused some bugs), with a somewhat improved UI, with a new UI theme, and with the permissions system reworked.

2) are you saying the future of Hubzilla is uncertain / in peril?

(streams)' future is uncertain.

Hubzilla was handed over to the community in 2018. Ever since then, it has been maintained by @Mario Vavti with some help mostly from @Harald Eilertsen. It also has a lot more users than (streams).

(streams)' current problem is that it has no-one like Mario amongst its few dozen users. One of them has the ambition and may have the time, but he's so little of a developer that he has only just recently taught himself git to a) fork the streams repository and b) make his own branch based on a commit before the first preparations for nomadic identity via ActivityPub went into release. One or two more are apparently more skilled, but they don't have enough time.

#Long #LongPost #CWLong #CWLongPost #FediMeta #FediverseMeta #CWFediMeta #CWFediverseMeta #Hubzilla #Streams #(streams)

2024-09-12 13:45:52

Elena Rossini ⁂

_elena@mastodon.social

@jupiter_rowland @mario @harald thanks for the explanations ?

2024-09-12 14:47:52

Andy Piper

andypiper@macaw.social

@_elena @zandbelt there is a nice one that I use from @stefan https://stefanbohacek.com/project/fediverse-sharing-button/

2024-09-12 14:59:54

Elena Rossini ⁂

_elena@mastodon.social

@andypiper @zandbelt @stefan oooh nice!

2024-09-12 15:24:23

Stefan Bohacek

stefan@stefanbohacek.online

@andypiper Thank you for the shout-out!

@_elena @zandbelt

Yes, this is pretty usable now, I just got a bit sidetracked with other things and haven't made a lot of progress on the WordPress version. I wanted to add a Gutenberg block, and an internal endpoint that would handle redirecting to the appropriate URL, completely removing the reliance on JavaScript.

This definitely reminds me to get back to the project!