cross-posted from: https://sopuli.xyz/post/13985430

> The problem: > > Most #fedi authors post links with no idea if the hosting server discriminates against people, or who. The consequence is that the fedi is muddied with references to exclusive venues that do not treat people equally, which wastes the time of readers who are impacted by discrimination. A variety of walled gardens pollute our threadiverse experience. So how can we remedy this? > > Proposed fix: > > Suppose we create a community and designate it as a testing area which welcomes bots. So e.g. I post something in the test community, and a bot that is paywall-aware replies yes or no whether the link is paywall-free. A bot that is Cloudflare-aware does the same. A regional bot, such as a bot in Poland can check that Polish IP addresses can reach the URL and make noise if the website blocks Poland. Etc. It need not be just bots.. someone in some oppressed region might manually attempt to visit links and report access problems. We would certainly like a bot in a GDPR region to test whether access is refused on the basis of a data controller’s unwillingness to respect GDPR rules. The OONI project could have a bot that reports anything interesting in their database. > > There could also be anti-enshitification bots, which point out things like cookie walls. > > There are bots that find better links to replace Cloudflare links. Those bots could help direct authors to better URLs to share. > > There could be a TL-DR bot that replies with a summary or even the full text, so an author can decide before posting in the target community whether to omit a shitty link and just post the content. > > --- > > (update) It’s worth noting that for Mastodon there an ad hoc tool. If you follow @[email protected], that bot will follow you back and analyze every URL you share for whether it is Cloudflared. If yes, it will DM you with alternative URLs. > > Note that the mitigator bot is quite loose it its judgement. If the host is not Cloudflared but another host on the same domain is Cloudflared, it is treated as a positive because it’s assumed that when you visit the host it will link to other hosts on the same domain.

It’s interesting to visit threads from an mbin instance because it shows you the number of up votes and down votes. When I see a Lemmy thread with 10 up votes then I go over to visit the same thread from mbin and see 20 up votes and 10 down votes, it really gives a different perspective.

i think this is for maintenance so mabye nothing too much to worry about.

The psychology of this problem is that users are too lazy to maintain multiple accounts when all they have is Lemmy’s stock web client. So they choose one of the big nodes: lemmy.world, sh.itjust.works, lemm.ee, lemmy.ca, etc.

These Cloudflare-centralized nodes are able to greedily exploit the #networkEffect because due to lack of multi-account software. If there were some well-made 3rd party client apps for Lemmy that would be designed for multiple accounts, then more users would be willing to create accounts in more decentralized parts of the fedi.

Mastodon somewhat proves this because the client-side tooling is in place to make it convenient to have 6 or Mastodon accounts. And Mastodon nodes are better balanced.

This noob is testing the interconnectivity of the #Fediverse, with the AP (Mastodon, etc.) and AT (Bluesky) Protocol protocols, and also starting to test #Nostr this week.

https://mastodon.social/@PlasticParagraph/112410298729450013

#ActivityPub #Bluesky #ATProtocol

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/14845042

> Fedify is an ActivityPub server framework in TypeScript & JavaScript. It aims to eliminate the complexity and redundant boilerplate code when building a federated server app, so that you can focus on your business logic and user experience. > > The key features it provides currently are: > > - Type-safe objects for Activity Vocabulary (including some vendor-specific extensions) > - WebFinger client and server > - HTTP Signatures > - Middleware for handling webhooks > - NodeInfo protocol > - Node.js, Deno, and Bun support > > If you're curious, take a look at the Fedify website! There's comprehensive docs, a demo, a tutorial, example code, and more.

cross-posted from: https://discuss.online/post/6776820

> The Sublinks team has written up a little survey, which we feel is both thorough and inclusive. It covers a wide range of topics, such as user privacy, and community engagement, along with trying to gauge things that are difficult when moderating. > > Also please be aware the information collected by this survey is completely anonymous. As many of us in the social sciences background know, if you want the REAL feelings of individuals, they need to feel safe to express themselves. > > 👉Moderation Survey HERE👈 > > Please feel free to comment in this thread, we will do our best to respond to any genuine questions. > > We look forward to hearing from each and every one of you! > > Sincerely, > The Sublinks Team

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/12856281

> It's sort of a different concept. Posts and users also have position in addition to age and score. The sorting algorithm gives you complete control over how much to weight each one. It's like if new and hot existed on a continuous spectrum. It's sort of like what Aaron Swartz initially wanted to do with Reddit where what you like would be able to inform what you might like in the future. But in this case you get complete control over how much that matters. > > I'm adding bits and knobs here and there every day. Yesterday I added the ability to have posts that are hidden from the front page. It's probably not a feature people will use every day but it's there if someone wants it and it's things like that I'm working on every day. In a little bit I'm going to add a "post whenever" feature in case someone wants to post a ton of content and have it actually post over time. > > I'd say all and all the project has been a success for what I wanted to do with it and I'm happy with what I've built. The other side of it is trying to build community on the site. For example we do a movie night once a week on Saturdays. > > Oh. Another thing that is different to most reddit clones is that every community exists. Like you don't have to create a community to post to it. Just post to it. Different capitalization maps to the same community. > > You guys should check it out. It would be super awesome if anynone wants to help fill in the more obscure topics. > > https://matrix.gvid.tv

Don't miss this comment https://join.piefed.social/?c=49

cross-posted from: https://literature.cafe/post/7623713

> I made a blog post discussing my biggest issues with Lemmy and why I am kind of done with it as a software.

This article will describe how lemmy instance admins can purge images from pict-rs.

| [!Nightmare on Lemmy St - A GDPR Horror Story](https://tech.michaelaltfield.net/2024/03/04/lemmy-fediverse-gdpr/) | |:--:| | Nightmare on Lemmy Street (A Fediverse GDPR Horror Story) |

This is (also) a horror story about accidentally uploading very sensitive data to Lemmy, and the (surprisingly) difficult task of deleting it.

cross-posted from: https://discuss.online/post/5772572

> The current state of moderation across various online communities, especially on platforms like Reddit, has been a topic of much debate and dissatisfaction. Users have voiced concerns over issues such as moderator rudeness, abuse, bias, and a failure to adhere to their own guidelines. Moreover, many communities suffer from a lack of active moderation, as moderators often disengage due to the overwhelming demands of what essentially amounts to an unpaid, full-time job. This has led to a reliance on automated moderation tools and restrictions on user actions, which can stifle community engagement and growth. > > In light of these challenges, it's time to explore alternative models of community moderation that can distribute responsibilities more equitably among users, reduce moderator burnout, and improve overall community health. One promising approach is the implementation of a trust level system, similar to that used by Discourse. Such a system rewards users for positive contributions and active participation by gradually increasing their privileges and responsibilities within the community. This not only incentivizes constructive behavior but also allows for a more organic and scalable form of moderation. > > Key features of a trust level system include: > > - Sandboxing New Users: Initially limiting the actions new users can take to prevent accidental harm to themselves or the community. > - Gradual Privilege Escalation: Allowing users to earn more rights over time, such as the ability to post pictures, edit wikis, or moderate discussions, based on their contributions and behavior. > - Federated Reputation: Considering the integration of federated reputation systems, where users can carry over their trust levels from one community to another, encouraging cross-community engagement and trust. > > Implementing a trust level system could significantly alleviate the current strains on moderators and create a more welcoming and self-sustaining community environment. It encourages users to be more active and responsible members of their communities, knowing that their efforts will be recognized and rewarded. Moreover, it reduces the reliance on a small group of moderators, distributing moderation tasks across a wider base of engaged and trusted users. > > For communities within the Fediverse, adopting a trust level system could mark a significant step forward in how we think about and manage online interactions. It offers a path toward more democratic and self-regulating communities, where moderation is not a burden shouldered by the few but a shared responsibility of the many. > > As we continue to navigate the complexities of online community management, it's clear that innovative approaches like trust level systems could hold the key to creating more inclusive, respectful, and engaging spaces for everyone. > > #### Related > > - Grant users privileges based on activity level > - Understanding Discourse Trust Levels > - Federated Reputation

Ever noticed how people online will jump through hoops, climb mountains, and even summon the powers of ancient memes just to earn some fake digital points? It's a wild world out there in the realm of social media, where karma reigns supreme and gamification is the name of the game.

But what if we could harness this insatiable thirst for validation and turn it into something truly magnificent? Imagine a social media platform where an army of monkeys tirelessly tags every post with precision and dedication, all in the pursuit of those elusive internet points. A digital utopia where every meme is neatly categorized, every cat video is meticulously labeled, and every shitpost is lovingly sorted into its own little corner of the internet.

Reddit tried this strategy to increase their content quantity, but alas, the monkeys got a little too excited and flooded the place with reposts and low-effort bananas. Stack Overflow, on the other hand, employed their chimp overlords for moderation and quality control, but the little guys got a bit too overzealous and started scaring away all the newbies with their stern glares and downvote-happy paws.

But fear not, my friends! For we shall learn from the mistakes of our primate predecessors and strike the perfect balance between order and chaos, between curation and creativity. With a leaderboard showcasing the top users per day, week, month, and year, the competition would be fierce, but not too fierce. Who wouldn't want to be crowned the Tagging Champion of the Month or the Sultan of Sorting? The drive for recognition combined with the power of gamification could revolutionize content curation as we know it, without sacrificing the essence of what makes social media so delightfully weird and wonderful.

And the benefits? Oh, they're endless! Imagine a social media landscape where every piece of content is perfectly tagged, allowing users to navigate without fear of stumbling upon triggering or phobia-inducing material. This proactive approach can help users avoid inadvertently coming across content that triggers phobias, traumatic events, or other sensitive topics. It's like a digital safe haven where you can frolic through memes and cat videos without a care in the world, all while basking in the glory of a well-organized and properly tagged online paradise.

So next time you see someone going to great lengths for those fake internet points, just remember - they might just be part of the Great Monkey Tagging Army, working tirelessly to make your online experience safer, more enjoyable, and infinitely more entertaining. Embrace the madness, my friends, for in the chaos lies true innovation! But not too much chaos, mind you – just the right amount to keep things interesting.

Related

• Post Tags
• Advanced Search and Tag Filtering
• Filter for Hiding Unwanted Content
• Comprehensive Tagging System
• Post tags
• Request for Comments: Flexible Tag System
• Booru-Style Image View, Search and Tagging by Users
• Grant users privileges based on activity level

February 22, 2024 Bluesky writes:

> Up until now, every user on the network used a Bluesky PDS (Personal Data Server) to host their data. We’ve already federated our own data hosting on the backend, both to help operationally scale our service, and to prove out the technical underpinnings of an openly federated network. But today we’re opening up federation for anyone else to begin connecting with the network. > > The PDS, in many ways, fulfills a simple role: it hosts your account and gives you the ability to log in, it holds the signing keys for your data, and it keeps your data online and highly available. Unlike a Mastodon instance, it does not need to function as a full-fledged social media service. We wanted to make atproto data hosting—like web hosting—into a fairly simple commoditized service. The PDS’s role has been limited in scope to achieve this goal. By limiting the scope, the role of a PDS in maintaining an open and fluid data network has become all the more powerful. > > We’ve packaged the PDS into a friendly distribution with an installer script that handles much of the complexity of setting up a PDS. After you set up your PDS and join the PDS Admins Discord to submit a request for your PDS to be added to the network, your PDS’s data will get routed to other services in the network (like feed generators and the Bluesky Appview) through our Relay, the firehose provider. Check out our Federation Overview for more information on how data flows through the atproto network.

Read Early Access Federation for Self-Hosters

February 20, 2024 piefedadmin writes:

> For a very small instance with only a couple of concurrent users a CDN might not make much difference. But if you take a look at your web server logs you’ll quickly notice that every post / like / vote triggers a storm of requests from other instances to yours, looking up lots of different things. It’s easy to imagine how quickly this would overwhelm an instance once it gets even a little busy. > > One of the first web performance tools people reach for is to use a CDN, like Cloudflare. But how much difference will it make? In this video I show you my web server logs before and after and compare them.

Read How much difference does a CDN make to a fediverse instance?

cross-posted from: https://lemmings.world/post/4527175

> > Note that unless you're a Lemmy instance admin, this doesn't have much use to you. > > Until this package came along, if you wanted a bot that responds to events, you had to manually traverse all comments/posts/whatever at a fixed interval. With this package you can actually react to events directly from the database. It's implemented in a very efficient way by connecting the package directly to the Lemmy database and using native Postgres features to get the events (LISTEN/NOTIFY if you want to get technical). > > The webhooks themselves are inserted into a separate SQLite database (API is coming) and allow for both simple and complex filtering of the incoming data. The system is already in use by two of my bots, @[email protected] and @[email protected] who now both receive the information about being tagged in a comment in seconds (the actual reply takes a little longer, but that's because of the nature of the bot). > > Currently you can be notified about a post or a comment, other types are trivial to include as well. > > Let me know what you think!

> As of today, PieFed includes a ‘theme engine’ which makes it easier for people with low or no Python skills to change how PieFed looks and behaves.

PieFed is a lemmy/kbin clone written in Python with Flask.

Sean Tilley writes:

> A new Threadiverse platform has emerged, joining Lemmy, Kbin, and PieFed in a growing list of options for users seeking an alternative to Reddit. It’s also looking to possiblyh serve as an alternative to Lemmy itself.

Read Sublinks Aims to Be a Drop-In Replacement for Lemmy

Conda (@[email protected]) writes:

> Conda is moving our social media presence from Twitter/X to Mastodon and LinkedIn at the start of 2024. It's past time to move into spaces that are welcoming and more in line with our community values. Going forward, you can find us at 🐘 @[email protected] (https://fosstodon.org/@conda) 🔗 Conda Community on LinkedIn

Read Conda is moving to Mastodon & LinkedIn | conda.org/blog

Conda (Software)

Conda provides package, dependency, and environment management for any language.

Using conda provides a streamlined approach to package management, platform compatibility, environment isolation, and access to an extensive package ecosystem. It is particularly beneficial for data scientists, researchers, and developers working with diverse software requirements across different projects.

Conda Community

The "conda" community is made up of millions of users, packaging maintainers and tool developers. Conda is not a single organization but rather a concerted effort of many different organizations, all devoted to the mission of providing easy access to various types of free software regardless of the operating system or programming language.

We firmly believe that everyone belongs in open-source, and we want to start by thanking you for taking the time to read this page. What follows is a high level summary of all the projects and organizations which make up the conda community with links provided where you can learn more or get involved yourself. The many meanings of "conda"

Traditionally associated with the Anaconda distribution, nowadays the term "conda" refers to more than just a package manager or a software repository. Its many definitions also encompass community packaging efforts like conda-forge and bioconda, as well as new tools developed in the Mamba and conda-incubator organizations. All these efforts show that the conda ecosystem is no longer defined by a single actor and continues to grow and thrive.

Organizations on GitHub include:

• @conda, plus Anaconda, Inc. efforts like @AnacondaRecipes, @anaconda-distribution, @ContinuumIO
• @conda-forge, @regro
• @conda-incubator & @conda-tools
• @mamba-org
• @bioconda

Some tools you might be familiar with are conda or conda-build themselves but also community efforts like mamba, boa, setup-miniconda, conda-lock or conda-tree, among many more.

Read more about the conda community.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/10025807

> This library is responsible for federation in Lemmy, and can also be used by other Rust projects.

> Today we are beginning to open Flipboard to the Fediverse, a rapidly emerging part of the Web which includes social services like Mastodon, Threads, Pixelfed, Firefish and PeerTube all built on a revolutionary open protocol called ActivityPub. > > When and how is this going to happen? The process of opening Flipboard to the Fediverse is called “federation” and it will happen in three distinct phases between now and April: > > Phase 1 (Today): We are federating 27 publishers and creators so that we can test and gather feedback Phase 2 (January): We will enable anyone in the Fediverse to follow and engage with any public curator on Flipboard Phase 3 (April): We will enable anyone on Flipboard to follow and engage with any public account in the Fediverse

> Starting a test where posts from Threads accounts will be available on Mastodon and other services that use the ActivityPub protocol. Making Threads interoperable will give people more choice over how they interact and it will help content reach more people. I'm pretty optimistic about this.

- Mark Zuckerberg (@zuck) on Threads

An explanation of two problems inherent to social media platforms from @[email protected]

> scale has social effects. Most technical people know that scale has technological effects. Same thing's true on the social side, too.

> difference in perspective between the governance parties and the end users

Explanation starts

End of thread

https://www.threads.net/@potus (2 Million followers)

https://www.threads.net/@vp (1.7 Million followers)

https://www.threads.net/@whitehouse (616 Thousand followers)

Notifications are a pain point:

> giving people the ability to curate their notifications. Notifications are what’s driving them nuts. Not posts, not even the technology of Mastodon – it’s replies from assholes. > >They need notifications grouped, they really do. Hell, I want that enough that I mostly look at replies from my phone, where I have an ap that groups them. > >They need to be able to turn on something like Twitter’s old “quality replies” filter, which served as a junk filter, and a block against pointless below-ban-level negging. > >And they need to be able to do it at scale, because if you have 100,000 followers, you can’t reasonably do it one at a time. It’s simply not possible.

cross-posted from: https://sopuli.xyz/post/5730013

> Before sharing a link I would like to determine whether the website excludes people from access, and who is excluded. I can test for myself whether the Tor community is excluded, but what about: > > * VPNs > * i2p > * public libraries > * #cgNAT issued IP addresses > * various regions > * particular browsers (e.g. lynx, w3m) > > for example? I cannot check all those means of access. If a website is implementing some form of digital exclusion, I would like to ensure that I am not helping the exclusive website gain visitors. > > #askFedi #netneutrality

LemmyWorld is a terrible place for communities to exist. Rationale:

• Lemmy World is centralized by disproportionately high user count
• Lemmy World is centralized by #Cloudflare
• Lemmy World is exclusive because Cloudflare is exclusive

It’s antithetical to the #decentralized #fediverse for one node to be positioned so centrally and revolting that it all happens on the network of a privacy-offender (CF). If #Lemmy World were to go down, a huge number of communities would go with it.

So what’s the solution?

Individual action protocol:

1. Never post an original thread to #LemmyWorld. Find a free world non-Cloudflare decentralized instance to start new threads. Create a new community if needed. (there are no search tools advanced enough to have a general Cloudflare filter, but #lemmyverse.net is useful because it supports manually filtering out select nodes like LW)
2. Wait for some engagement, ideally responses.
3. Cross-post to the relevant Lemmy World community (if user poaching is needed).

This gets some exposure to the content while also tipping off readers of the LW community of alternative venues. LW readers are lazy pragmatists so they will naturally reply in the LW thread rather than the original thread. Hence step 2. If an LW user wants to interact with another responder they must do so on the more free venue. Step 3 can be omitted in situations where the free-world community is populated well enough. If /everything/ gets cross-posted to LW then there is no incentive for people to leave LW.

Better ideas? Would this work as a collective movement?

Seems fitting to share this now that Social.Photo is live. It’s our newest addition to the fediverse.

We launched a new Pixelfed instance. This is a newly growing community. Most Mastodon Apps work with it if you already have a favorite app like Ivory by Tapbots. They have a PixelFed official app that is about to launch.

Checkout Social.Photo today!

We now have a Pixelfed instance. Check it out!

Social.Photo. Signup is open!

Is Lemmy a replacement for Reddit or just something different?

Before Reddit was Digg. Before Facebook was MySpace. Before Mastodon there was Twitter. Before Lemmy there was Reddit. It's fair to say that each of these sites was or is going to be replaced. The time it takes for the migration is typically slow as the new system gains traction and features. I don't believe they are direct replacements. If there was a copy of the existing site there would be no need to leave. Lemmy is different. Lemmy replaces a need not a site.

When I was growing up the internet was created by the people. Corporate sites were rare and far between. They didn't dominate. People would visit Geocities, Newgrounds, IRC, etc. The biggest players were AOL for chat and Yahoo for sports, news, & search. No site was perfect and beautiful and people didn't care. It was wonderful. This all changed.

It feels almost instant; however, I believe it was slow. Sites like Facebook promised to be the people's network. Youtube took over as this amazing video hosting service. No more Flash! People thought the rough edges of the internet were over. They traded their personal information for free sites. They didn't know what they were giving up.

Over time these "small" sites became the Internet. 5 sites now are the internet to some people. It's time for the internet to return to the people like it was before. Rough & personal.

Lemmy replaces that need people have to connect on common topics and to gather news. It's the newspaper of the people.

Lemmy isn't a Reddit replacement... it is filling a need that Reddit has failed to fill. Reddit became like Facebook, Google, Twitter, and Youtube. It wanted to be more than what people wanted it to be. It changed, so people are leaving. The fediverse is the future. It's time to take the internet back!

cross-posted from: https://feddit.it/post/253571

> Why isn't anyone talking about this? It looks like Meta wants to compete with Twitter with a new Instagram microblogging app which will probably be compatible with Mastodon > > Key Point of the article: > > *“Soon, our app will be compatible with certain other apps like Mastodon,” Instagram’s slide says. “Users on these other apps will be able to search for, follow and interact with your profile and content if you’re public, or if you’re private and approve them as followers.” * > > > > The Verge - This is Instagram’s new Twitter competitor

cross-posted from: https://discuss.online/post/49400

> cross-posted from: https://kbin.social/m/[email protected]/t/83649 > > > A warning and a perspective from an insider who has been through this before.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/1372067

I've been waiting for this to be made by someone! Finally.

> Extension to make it easy to interact with different Lemmy communities

Would it be fair to say that Lemmy is just a client of the fediverse? Technically, someone could create a new client that interfaces with Lemmy perfectly on ActivityPub.

Seems like we should be pushing fediverse not just Lemmy.