[Markdown]

Watch Party Wiki: Home

Watch Party Wiki - Home

This is just an experiment at the moment to see if it's possible to use Hubzilla to make a collaborative wiki and calendar for watch parties on the Fediverse or other free-libre platforms & systems.

Below I'll put some text I've prepared, later I'll see about breaking it into different wiki pages, formatting, completing content etc.

Hubzilla Wiki Issues

Markdown Wiki treats hashtags at start of line as H1.
How to do anchors & sections?
How to make a new page?

What is a watch party? How does it work?

I'm a newb to watch parties, so here I'll put a little info on what I've learned so far for fellow newbs, or for those who are unsure which "format" a certain watch party event is.

What is a watch party?

People in different places watch a movie or TV show at the same time and chat with each other about it online. (Also called group watch, social viewing.)

Wikipedia - social viewing

How does it work?

"All-in-one"

The watch party host has a website and runs software on it that provides both the video stream and the chat window. (Typically using software like Owncast.)

You go to the website at the appointed time and the host will press play. The video starts playing one part of the webpage and everyone chats in the chat window on another part of that same webpage.

You do not need to have an account to view the movie or participate in the chat. You are assigned a random name but you can change it to what you want. The website will remember the name you chose on your subsequent visits.

Examples: VCR Party, Disks n' Flicks.

Note: the above examples often have a "pre-show" and/or "post-show" section, showing other media before and after the feature presentation. Sometimes the choices are quite kooky and you might wonder if you're in the right place!

E.g. on 17th August, at the appointed start time, Disks n' Flicks started showing a VHS copy of a home decorating show from the early 00s, and only began the movie at 10-15 minutes after the start time.

"Any which way you can"

Each person finds their own way to view the movie: physical media, streaming service, download etc.

The chat happens on a separate service or website, e.g. Mastodon (a fediverse microblogging platform), usually including in every post a specific hashtag (#NameOfWatchParty) for that event.

You need to have a Mastodon account to participate in the chat. See {XYZ}.

At the appointed time, the host will post on Mastodon something like "Press Play now!" and each viewer starts playing whichever version they're using (e.g. DVD, Netflix, .mp4) and begins posting comments on Mastodon, making sure their comment includes the hashtag for that watch party, and maybe also a hashtag for the movie title.

Examples: #KungFuSat, #MondayActionMovie, #Monsterdon

Note - devices: some people do everything on a computer, with one window for the movie and another window for Mastodon. Some people watch the movie on their TV and use their phone or tablet for Mastodon.

Note - streaming ads: some streaming services have ads, which mean people using those services might "fall behind" those who aren't. For me, I don't get ads when viewing the movie in the Firefox web browser with the uBlock Origin ad blocker.

I like to watch / Stewarama / SymSat / BaroqueSun ???

"Hybrid"

Only one example in my limited experience: https://miru.miyaku.media/

Monsterdon is an "Any which way you can" watch party, but one person, Ryan, hosts an Owncast stream of the #monsterdon movie on miru.miyaku.medi that usually has:

a pre-show (beginning before the #Monsterdon official start time)
the feature presentation
a post-show
but no chat window. All the chat is on Mastodon along with everyone else.

For example, the #Monsterdon movie on 23rd August 2025 is Swamp Thing starting at 9pm US Eastern time. On Miru, there will be:

before 9.00pm: music from the movie soundtrack and the trailer
9.00pm: Swamp Thing (1982)
followed by the sequel Return of Swamp Thing (1982)
and then another movie The Legend of Gator Face (1996)

Miru also has the occasional non-Monsterdon event, e.g. 30th anniversary showing of Hackers (1995) on 15th September. Again, the chat happens on Mastodon, using a specific hashtag, in this case #Hackers30th .

https://fedv.link/ohai.social/@ryan@social.miyaku.media/114964676482283076

TV Watch Party

People watch something being shown on TV and post about online.

Other

Apparently, some streaming services like Amazon Prime Video and Disney+, offer watch party functionality.

I haven't tried that, and I don't see it on Prime (supposedly: Desktop browser > Prime > movie page > Details > Watch Party).