Some days I'm glad my instance of #GNUsocial doesn't support #ActivityPub and isolates me from the idiocy on Mastodon of which I already get plenty from #Birdsite.
At the time when NuFN becomes #ActivityPub capable, there will be some instance blocks instituted. I'll publish a list, but at the very least, it will include: * poa.st * anime.website * nnia.space
I'll write up a list of criteria for blocking, most of which will apply to every !fnetworks instance, and a TOS/TOU document soon.
I’m still looking for a low priced annual payment VPS provider that has a somewhat lower risk (of closure, hardware failure, etc) than most LEB hosts, so I can launch temporary testing instances (for example, the upgrade of GS to the #ActivityPub enabled 2.0 branch, and looking at how well #Zap, #Pleroma, #Friendica instances fit into the !FNetworks roadmap).
I’m also considering adding a Federati #Pump.io instance, but I need to talk with the Pump.io project about SSO options. Since they use Node.JS, I’d want it on a completely separate VPS, with some restrictions to prevent incidents. Also, if utilization is too low, that would likely close.
Currently, everything is still coming out of my pocket.
(1) #Twitter has millions of users. There is no #ActivityPub nor #OStatus implementation in which an instance hosted on a $5/mo #DigitalOcean / #Linode / #Vultr #VPS could handle the volume of a seamless connection with #Twitter. If they adopted AP OStatus, #Diaspora, or any other current open federation protocol, instances that didn't use firewall blocking would topple once the two userbases had sufficient interconnections (within a few hours or a few days after they started federating).
(2) Twitter's business model is to push ads disguised as tweets. If their users could escape those and still interact with all the same contacts, they would. I'm certain that Twitter's management know this. They also turn all links into tracking links, and sell access to media (images, video, audio) uploads of important news events to news organizations.
(3) Most Fediverse instances are financed out of the admin's pocket. Some have financial contributors, but nothing like Twitter's revenue. As the largest and best-financed instance, they would immediately have to start implementing modifications to make AP or other existing federation protocols useful to them, and those modifications would (as Mastodon's currently do) become unofficially mandatory in order to be compatible.
(4) This isn't the first time that Twitter has considered federation, though this may be the first time they openly discussed it. Back when Identica was still a happening place (during Twitter's fail-whale days), Twitter considered federating. They didn't do it then, and I honestly do not believe they will do it now.
(5) I'd say that Twitter's #BlueSky initiative is more meant to try to get bidirectional connections across #Facebook's moat and wall than it is to surround Twitter with a cloud of #Fediverse instances.
He's talking about things that decentralized networks (and the people and software projects involved in them) can do to be better (more attractive to users) than #corpocentric networks. Naturally, he's focused on the #ActivityPub subset of the #Fediverse, but some of this applies to other decentralized networks as well.
♲ @AlexVoss@fosstodon.org: Student of mine is conducting a survey on the barriers to uptake of alternative social media platforms. Your input would be much appreciated. Please boost.
♲ @FediFollows@mastodon.online: Matthias Pfefferle is the creator of a plug-in which lets you connect WordPress blogs to the Fediverse. You can follow here:
The plug-in lets people follow a WordPress blog from Mastodon or from any other Fediverse account, with new blog posts appearing to followers as toots.
♲ @bkoehn@mammoth.home.koehn.com: Added documentation and a few NPMs to solve dependency issues I've been having. Looking for brave souls who want to test out running my #ActivityPub application.
https://github.com/friendica/friendica/issues/8642 #Friendica Someone that is familiar with #Diaspora is writing a new socnet based on #ActivityPub, wishes to change other #Fediverse software to follow Diaspora's model (viewer's server hijacks hashtags so the #hashtag search points to the viewer's home server, not the original poster's home server). The model that has been followed by almost all federated socnets for over a decade is that hashtag search links are inserted by the poster's server and point back there.
IMO, a remote server changing the links is sketchy as heck*, but if they added local hashtag links in a separate area outside the post itself, that's acceptable. Or if they followed the #Pump.io idea of keeping hashtags completely separate from the basic server, then an external server (e.g. ragtag\.io) would be called to index and link the tag during the posting process, and searches would be performed based on results from the tag server.
Anyway, I can't be bothered logging into Github to comment, but maybe @heluecht and other Friendica devs will see this and take this into consideration.
* Remote servers editing the contents of one's posts is about as sketchy as it gets. There are rare occasions where that may be acceptable (i.e., to insert NSFW tags / image hiding on posts from instances where untagged NSFW content originates), but editing content to hijack hashtag search is about as questionable as one could get.
@sl #Mastodon version 3.x and later (and #Pleroma version 2.x and later) does not use #OStatus as a federation protocol, so they broke federation with #GNUSocial. There's a little more work to do before the release of GS v.2.0, which adds #ActivityPub support.
@licho #Mastodon 3.x and #Pleroma 2x no longer speak the #OStatus federation protocol. !GNUsocial 2.0 will add the #ActivityPub federation protocol, so ask your admin to be ready to upgrade soon.