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2026-08-16 18:16:45

Evan Prodromou 🇨🇦🇺🇸🇬🇷🇵🇸

evan@cosocial.ca

Is it OK to write code that does new things on the Fediverse?

#EvanPoll #poll #ActivityPub #Fediverse

Yes

164 Stimmen | 71%

Yes, but...

63 Stimmen | 27%

No, but...

0 Stimmen | 0%

3 Stimmen | 1%

230 Stimmen insgesamt
Umfrage ist beendet

2026-08-16 18:25:53

Graham Perrin

grahamperrin@bsd.cafe

@evan 100% yes but no but yes but no but

2026-08-16 18:26:18

Astro

astro@c3d2.social

@evan
Very strong yes.

2026-08-16 18:28:18

Alaa, family in Gaza ❤️‍🩹

alaasamour@mastodon.social

@evan
Please🙏🙏🥹🥹🥹

2026-08-16 18:47:42

Almino :autism:

almino@ursal.zone

@evan I plan to do so next year.

I will try to prove that #ActivityPub can be way more useful that it already is by implementing it in a different system, in a new social case.

2026-08-16 18:58:56

Pau Amma

pauamma@mstdn.social

@evan That entirely depends on which new things you're thinking of, so neither "yes but" nor "no but" fits the question as asked.

2026-08-16 19:13:40

HubertManne

HubertManne@piefed.social

I don’t see the point of this. its gpl. you can fork or see about working for an existing project or make your own thing. its like saying is doing art in a different way is ok.

2026-08-16 20:29:33

Tim Chase

gumnos@bsd.cafe

@evan

a "Yes but…don't be a jerk" vote here

2026-08-16 20:50:02

gabboman the wafrn dev

gabboman@gabboman.xyz

@evan@cosocial.ca

yes, but you will recive death threats!
#some-people-got-very-annoyed-at-invisible-mentions-in-wafrn #and-there-is-a-reason-they-are-now-the-first-line-on-this-reply #butt-you-should-check-this-post-in-original-instance

2026-08-16 20:51:33

gabboman the wafrn dev

gabboman@gabboman.xyz

@evan@cosocial.ca

In another note: "yes but", the code shall not violate the spirit of the social contract of fedi.

example:

just a scraper: GTFO
vs: "yeah I made this fedi software with a bunch of users and has this cool feature to backfill an user's profile's public posts as long as they dont block us"

2026-08-17 11:44:37

Jupiter Rowland

jupiter_rowland@hub.netzgemeinde.eu

@gabboman the wafrn dev (streams) has been mentioning people invisibly since its inception in October, 2022, AFAIK.

It comes from a culture where everyone in a conversation receives all comments in the conversation without mentions. Where mentions only serve to visibly signalise whom you're replying to. Where more than one mention are considered clutter.

But it was born into a culture where only those receive replies who are visibly mentioned. Where the concept of receiving anything without being visibly mentioned or following the author is completely alien to the point of being entirely unimaginable.

That is, maybe one of (streams)' various predecessors (there have been seven different repositories between Hubzilla and the streams repository) has actually introduced this at some point between 2018 and 2022.

Of course, Mastodon users freak the hell out whenever something happens that isn't supposed to happen on Mastodon. This already starts with "toots" with over 500 characters.

Guess why (streams) has three built-in ways of blocking the entirety of Mastodon in self-defence, two exclusive to the admin, one also available to users. Even though all except one admin-level counter-measure cause considerable collateral damage.

CC: @Evan Prodromou 🇨🇦🇺🇸🇬🇷🇵🇸

#Long #LongPost #CWLong #CWLongPost #FediMeta #FediverseMeta #CWFediMeta #CWFediverseMeta #CharacterLimit #CharacterLimits #CharacterLimitMeta #CWCharacterLimitMeta #500Characters #Mastodon #Streams #(streams) #MastodonCulture #MastodonCentricity #MastodonNormativity

2026-08-16 22:18:19

Bill Statler

billstatler@forum.statler.ws

It's a strange question, like "Is it OK to write code that does new things in Linux?" The only universally not-OK code is criminal malware. Other than that, it's just personal preferences.

People are working on federating torrents over ActivityPub. People are taking old code in new directions. People are scraping major Mastodon instances and providing AI-generated summaries. None of this will stop just because some people think it's not OK.

2026-08-17 04:35:50

hiphopheaven

hiphopheaven@mastodon.social

@evan it is ok but if I find the new thing gimmick and that I don't like it I say it