It’s a Thing!

Das Fediverse tut sich schwer, das volle Potential der verschiedenen Activity-Objects auszunutzen, hauptsächlich aus Angst, sie falsch oder schlecht darzustellen und deshalb teilen die meisten großen Netzwerke leider nur Notes.<p>Dabei könnte es so einfach sein!</p><p><a href="https://social.wedistribute.org/users/deadsuperhero">@<span>deadsuperhero</span></a> schreibt auf seinem Blog, dass er eigentlich gerne Articles veröffentlichen will, aber (hauptsächlich) durch Mastodon zu Note gezwungen wird, wenn er sicher gehen will, dass der Text […]</p>

Das Fediverse tut sich schwer, das volle Potential der verschiedenen Activity-Objects auszunutzen, hauptsächlich aus Angst, sie falsch oder schlecht darzustellen und deshalb teilen die meisten großen Netzwerke leider nur Notes.

Dabei könnte es so einfach sein!

@deadsuperhero schreibt auf seinem Blog, dass er eigentlich gerne Articles veröffentlichen will, aber (hauptsächlich) durch Mastodon zu Note gezwungen wird, wenn er sicher gehen will, dass der Text vollständig dargestellt wird.

Here’s the problem, though: the biggest player in the space, Mastodon, does a poor job of supporting Article. Instead, every post Mastodon uses is instead a Note. From a semantic point of view, it might not seem like there’s a lot of difference between the two: both are effectively texts posts that can contain some formatting markup, both can hold an arbitrary amount of characters, and both can effectively be used to represent a full article.

A Content-Fallback Mechanism for the Fediverse

Ironischerweise zeigt Mastodon eine föderierte Note vollständig an, auch wenn der Text weit über die eigentlich erlaubten 500 Zeichen hinaus geht, bei einem Article wird statt dessen aber nur die kurze summary benutzt.

Seine Idee: Ein Content-Fallback Mechanismus!

Das heißt jede Aktivität, egal von welchem Typ, liefert zusätzlich zu dem spezifischen Objekt, eine standardisierte Note (content-fallback):

{ "@context":[ "https://www.w3.org/ns/activitystreams", { "Hashtag":"as:Hashtag" } ], "id":"https://wedistribute.org/2024/04/iftas-dsa-guide/", "type":"Article", "content-fallback": { "content":"IFTAS, the dedicated Trust & Safety organization ...", "mediaType":"text/plain", "summary":"", "tag":[{ "href":"https://wedistribute.org/tags/fediverse", "name":"#fediverse", "type":"Hashtag" }], "type":"Note", "updated":"2024-04-11T20:55:29Z" }}Code-Sprache:JSON / JSON mit Kommentaren(json)

Ich verstehe das Problem und finde die Idee generell nicht schlecht, aber eigentlich bietet ActivityPub alles Nötige schon von Haus aus! ActivityPub oder besser ActivityStreams ist so aufgebaut, dass alle Objekte von einem Art Base-Object abgeleitet werden. Das heißt Article, Note, Event oder Place, haben ein gleiches Minimal-Set an Attributen:

Und auch wenn beispielsweise Place oder Event einige spezifische Eigenschaften haben, die nicht jede Plattform „kennt“ und „versteht“, sollte es immer möglich sein, die Beschreibung (content oder summary) und den Titel (name) anzuzeigen.

Das Prinzip ist ähnlich wie, wenn nicht sogar inspiriert durch, schema.org/Thing. Auch hier basieren alle Objekte letztendlich auf einem Thing und trotz der wesentlich größeren Anzahl1 an Objekten und Attributen, können Suchmaschinen sich immer sicher sein, dass es zumindest einen name, eine description und eine url zum Anzeigen gibt.

Bevor wir über also über ein `content-fallback` nachdenken, sollten wir (meiner Meinung nach) erst einmal dafür sorgen, dass die vorhanden Möglichkeiten richtig genutzt werden.

  1. The vocabulary currently consists of 806 Types, 1474 Properties 14 Datatypes, 90 Enumerations and 480 Enumeration members. – https://schema.org/docs/schemas.html↩︎

Island Networks aka. &quot;Archipelagos&quot;: consentual, cooperative, opt-in social networks; an alternative, or a companion to the fediverse

Note: The Island One Network or "ION" is simply the first of what will be many island networks ("archipelagos"), the intent of the "One" network is to provide a proof of concept and "anchor network" that can provide a sort of index of other available islands, and will eventually spin off into launching other networks.

Quick breakdown: What is an Island network?

An island network model is an opt-in (allowlist or "limited federation") network; contrasted to the current fediverse, which is overwhelmingly an opt-out (denylist) model.

In an island network model, no one controls "the network" because an island network (or "archipelago") is simply a conceptual term for a collaborative block of servers who mutually allowlist each other, rather than relying on blocklists, and agree to abide by at least a core set of common standards.

You can learn more about island networks here which explains things in more detail: That page also links to how to create an island and/or a network. It also explains how you can host your own island for ~$8 or less per month (depending on your hosting provider).

What's an Island?

Islands are fedi servers with a smaller population (recommended 50 or less per island), democratized by being cheap to host ($8/mo or less, depending on hosting provider, easily covered by donations), and configured in allowlist mode (or "limited federation"), with open signups disabled (reviewed signups are fine, or invite-only links), creating a much less porous network. By contrast, mastodon.social is a Continent, and uses denylists, not allowlists, like most fedi servers.

Continents makes it very hard to enforce norms or expectations of behavior due to their style of federation. I don't have to really explain this very much, as this is the water you're swimming in now. It's how you're reading this post.

Island networks themselves have rules, and the rules are "whatever that island network says they are" and by asking to join the network, you agree to follow those rules and help enforce them, along with allowlisting the islands in the network, as they will be allowlisting you back in return.

The best part of all of this is that we don't have to write new code for this. We don't have to wait for any particular dev timetable, this is available now.

This uses all the same existing fediverse software. Your apps will still work (and most support the ability to toggle between multiple accounts.) There can be Mastodon islands, GoToSocial islands (my preference), Akkoma, Catodon, Pixelfed islands, all strung together into a larger archipelago! The only requirements for an island is that the server software has to support allowlist mode, rather than denylist (this is also known by Mastodon as "Limited Federation").

Are there any existing island networks or archipelagos?

Yes, the Island One Network or ION.

Currently, there are now three GoToSocial servers forming the basis of the new ION closed federation network, although the allowlist will only grow over time:

https://uno.1sland.social (Island One)
https://dos.1sland.social (Isla Dos)
https://tres.1sland.social (Isla Tres)

Note about "closed federation": A closed federation island network is unreachable via the wider fediverse, and only federates with other islands on its allowlist. (Open federation networks that allowlist continents can exist, but someone else will have to build that one.)

Signups are open for all three above servers, though space is limited. I'm looking for a couple admins, too, to basically "take over" Isla Dos and Isla Tres as admins and help govern the network. Note that every admin and every moderator have a governing role (and a vote) in a network.

The population needs to expand across servers, rather than creating new monoliths. So, rather than joining one of those servers, for those looking to add their island server to the network, the current server allowlist will always be found here, along with documentation and some (very basic, but important) rules for the network itself:

I'm on the 'Uno' server (@oliphant@uno.1sland.social) as an admin as a means of testing the network via ION.

I would like to prioritize slots for BIPOC willing to join, and invite friends, including those who might have been run off of Mastodon in the past. This is a closed network, meaning it only federates with other islands and does not connect to the rest of the fediverse.

There is no account migration, you create a new account to join an island network. Your island user, as part of your associated island server, may encompass multiple networks.

I encourage you to create your own island, your own networks, and/or join mine.

#IslandNetwork#IslandOneNetwork#ION #fedi #fediverse #Mastodon#MastoAdmin

What if the Harris campaign - or the White House - wanted to join the fediverse properly?

They'd have to admin their own Mastodon (or similar) instance.

I'm convinced there's a need for a VIP hosted instance for brands, government, professional organizations, and anyone who cares about branding, brand safety, analytics, tight links to other branded web properties, and professional moderation.

#fediverse

Ich hab mir über die letzten Wochen viele Gedanken zum Thema „Sharing im Fediverse“ gemacht. Das Thema kommt zwar immer wieder und scheitert dann auf die immer gleiche ähnliche Weise, trotzdem (oder vielleicht gerade deshalb) fasziniert es mich seit jeher.

Als gestern dann auch noch @stefan mit seinem „Fediverse Sharing Button“ um die Ecke kam, dachte ich: Der perfekte Zeitpunkt um die naheliegendste Version eines „Share-Icons für das Fediverse“ vorzuschlagen!

Gebt es zu, die Idee ist grandios (nur die Idee, nicht die Umsetzung)!!!

😉

There must be some tech reporters out there who would be eager to write a story about @heidilifeldman's #MastodonForHarris campaign. Over $150K has now been raised. It's still going strong. On its way to raising $200K.

https://secure.actblue.com/donate/mastodon-for-harris

#Mastodon #Fediverse#KamalaHarris#Democrats