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2026-03-05 19:34:00

fediversereport@mastodon.social

new from me: FR#156 - Share Where?

on @Mastodon 's new Share button, the Mastodon API and protocol ownership

https://connectedplaces.online/reports/fr156-share-where/

2026-03-05 19:49:20

julian

julian@activitypub.space

@fediversereport@mastodon.social I'd say a protocol handler would be one small step in making this better handled.

The friction with a global "share to the fediverse" button is the instance chooser. Not knowing what your home instance is is a major sticking point.

A protocol handler could allow you to skip this step, assuming you have an app that has registered against it.

Otherwise, yes, the same fallback would need to continue to exist (enter your home server! blah blah)

2026-03-05 19:59:15

Julian Fietkau

julian@fietkau.social

@fediversereport Good overview as usual.

One point I would have added is that, while Mastodon announced this Share button a while back, a “pure” ActivityPub-based way to expose share URLs and similar features exists in FEP-3b86 (https://fediverse.codeberg.page/fep/fep/3b86/) and has also been gaining prominence recently (c.f. the list of implementations).

For example, ActivityPub for WordPress published its v8.0.0 today, which includes new “Like” and “Share” buttons that use this proposal.

2026-03-05 20:37:59

ikuturso 🇪🇺

ikuturso@mastodon.social

@fediversereport @Mastodon it's interesting to mention email protocols like IMAP or SMTP as the example of what should be since neither of those (and indeed POP) started out as a standard either, they lived for a long time as same kind of defacto standards as the Mastodon API but after many versions eventually became actual ones.

2026-03-05 20:53:40

Seth of the Fediverse ⁂

phillycodehound@indieweb.social

@fediversereport @Mastodon Is this a failure of Mastodon for not being more open or on the great AP community for not stepping up and getting a more generic share button setup sooner?

🤔

2026-03-05 22:42:39

Eugen Rochko

Gargron@mastodon.social

@fediversereport @Mastodon The share button does not use the Mastodon API and has nothing to do with whether 3rd party apps or different platforms choose to implement the Mastodon API or not.

2026-03-06 05:30:01

django

django@social.coop

@Mastodon @fediversereport glad to see an extended critique of the way the Mastodon API has been getting entrenched in the Fediverse to the expense of the ActivityPub API

2026-03-07 20:20:15

silverpill

silverpill@mitra.social

@fediversereport

The Mastodon API is open source, but it is not an open standard. It is designed, maintained, and changed by one project, without input from the rest of the ecosystem.

Not without. The design of this API is shaped by the needs Mastodon users. Sometimes PRs are submitted by developers of 3rd party clients and by developers of other servers. Independent implementers of Mastodon API often extend it, and copy each other's extensions, there is even a discussion about Mastodon API Enhancement Proposals (similar to FEPs).

So I think that by now it is very much an open standard.

ActivityPub API may have W3C's stamp or approval, but that doesn't mean anything if nobody uses it.

P.S. Does your blog not federate anymore?

2026-03-07 21:09:56

julian

julian@activitypub.space

@silverpill@mitra.social yea I was about to ask, @fediversereport@mastodon.social

AP.space has everything up until this one I think. @laurenshof@connectedplaces.online isn't posting anymore.

2026-03-08 07:27:11

Jupiter Rowland

jupiter_rowland@hub.netzgemeinde.eu

@silverpill @Connected Places The problem with the Mastodon client API is still that it's a Mastodon API. As in, geared towards only one Fediverse server application. In fact, as in, geared towards a very lack-lustre server application that lacks features which have been present in many other places in the Fediverse for years.

This means that you can use a whole lot of microblogging server applications with Mastodon clients. You can even use Friendica with some Mastodon clients. But then you're limited to the features which Mastodon has as well because the Mastodon client API doesn't support any features that Mastodon doesn't have. Why should it, after all?

At the end of the day, the Mastodon client API is designed and maintained by the Mastodon developers. It's them who decide what it can do and what it can't do. For one, they won't waste their time adding features to it that Mastodon itself doesn't have. Besides, if they did, they'd support Mastodon's direct competition and strengthen their advantages over Mastodon when they could throw rocks into their paths instead like they've always done.

This, by the way, is also one reason why both the developers of Hubzilla and the developer of (streams) and Forte refuse to implement the Mastodon client API. It simply wouldn't cover at least 90% of the features of these server applications, including features which you'll need all the time, everyday. That, and they don't want their software to end up at the mercy of Mastodon's developers and Mastodon's product politics by making it depend on Mastodon's technology. They'd rather have no native mobile app at all (and currently they do).

#Long #LongPost #CWLong #CWLongPost #FediMeta #FediverseMeta #CWFediMeta #CWFediverseMeta #Mastodon #Hubzilla #Streams #(streams) #Forte #MastodonAPI #MastodonClientAPI

2026-03-08 18:15:39

Evan Prodromou

evan@cosocial.ca

@silverpill @fediversereport

It would probably be really good for the ecosystem if @Mastodon was explicit about reuse and reimplementation of its API.

In particular, a license or IP non-assertion pledge that says, as far as Mastodon is concerned, anyone can clone their API in a new implementation, regardless of code license, and Mastodon won't assert patent, trademark, copyright, or other rights against them.

2026-03-08 01:34:34

Bocchi the Ryu :archlinux:

ryusei@techhub.social

@fediversereport

This is a really nice read, and I would love to keep up with your stuff, but I don't do newsletters. Any chance you could implement an RSS feed, or did I just not see it?

2026-03-12 11:35:17

prex

prex@livellosegreto.it

We’re pleased to be able to share that Mastodon GmbH has formally joined the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), the multi-stakeholder community organisation that develops standards like ActivityPub. We look forward to collaborating in the evolution of the <br />open social web through the Social Web Working Group. Several members of the team took part in the first meeting of the group at the end of last week, and we are excited to be part of this important work.

@fediversereport I've read on the latest Trunk and Tidbits, published after this newsletter, that mastodon is joining the W3C, so maybe they are going to pick up their responsibilities in solving the issue?
Really liked the article btw, pretty clear even to a layman like myself