Scott M. Stolz

Lemmy uses ActivityPub, so people can use all sorts of software to interact with Lemmy. I happen to be using Hubzilla, for example. In statistics, I would be counted as a Hubzilla user, not a Lemmy user.

It depends on how your platform handles unsolicited posts and whether it supports threads and the concept of conversation containers.

For example, let’s compare Mastodon and Hubzilla.

Mastodon does not notify you of replies to your posts, but does notify you if someone mentions you. It does not support threaded conversations, which means that anyone can comment on your post without your permission. You can block people, but that does not remove their posts or mentions.

Hubzilla takes a different approach. Conversations are organized in threads, and the thread has a conversation owner. It is similar to how Facebook works in that regard. If you create a top level post on your own wall, you own that conversation. Similarly, if you post in a forum/group, the forum/group owns that conversation.

As such, they can control who comments on it and even delete comments. You can even make private or group conversations that only certain people can participate in. Unsolicited comments are either discarded or accepted for moderation. They only appear if approved by the owner of the thread.

And there are additional filtering and notification settings available.

Because of this difference, undesired posts are more like to appear on Mastodon than on Hubzilla. And even if they do appear, they are easier to remove.

The more tools you have to control notifications and what appears as replies to your posts, the better. But it also makes the system slightly more complicated. Think Facebook vs. Twitter. Both are social media, but how they handle things are very different.

I am guessing that some platforms will fare better than others, and many platforms will have to adjust how they handle incoming posts as more people arrive in the fediverse.

@compostgoblin Some of the earliest platforms included StatusNet, Diaspora, Friendica, Red Matrix/Hubzilla, etc. All are much older than Mastodon.

@compostgoblin There were several other protocols such as OStatus, Diaspora, and Zot prior to ActivityPub. Mastodon originally used OStatus, and switched to ActivityPub later. A lot of platforms are older than Mastodon too.

@underscores

In some cases it could also be people that genuinely want to follow you. People often talk about one topic but still care about other stuff.

Many people fall into that category. I follow a lot of interesting accounts that have nothing to do with what I talk about on my channel. Sometimes you follow people because they know more about a subject than you do, or are just interesting.

@AnonomousWolf I would redefine it like this:

• Very Easy: Works with common hosting platforms and non-developers can install it using simple instructions.
• Easy: One-command Docker or install script, low resources, great documentation
• Moderate: Docker or manual setup, some config, active community support
• Hard: Complex setup, needs regular updates or custom config (e.g. DNS, spam)
• Very Hard or Proprietary: Little to no self-hosting support, undocumented

@AnonomousWolf What if you can install it with only a couple of commands and Docker is not required? Docker should not be the gold standard.

Option 1: Execute a couple commands to execute an install script.

Option 2: Figure out what Docker is. Figure out that Docker is not installed. Research how to install Docker. Install Docker. Execute the the Docker command. Screw it up. Ask for help from a developer since you never heard of Docker before.

Option 2 is way harder unless you are a developer and know what Docker is.

It is not user friendly to install if you have to be a developer to install it! In fact, I would call that user-hostile because the average power user or administrator can’t install it.

For “easy” I think it should have an install script (of any kind) and that it does not have to be Docker.

For “very easy” it should be like the WordPress 5 minute install. Upload the files, set up the database, and go to a URL to configure it.

True. But when talking to someone who lives on traditional social media, it is an explanation they would understand. Sometimes you have to meet people where they are, not where you want them to be.

For those on traditional social media, I just say “What if Facebook and Twitter and YouTube could all talk to each other? People on Facebook could follow people on Twitter and people on Twitter can follow people on Facebook.” Then they usually reply “that would be neat” and then I tell them “yeah, that’s what we are building over here in the fediverse.”

It usually is easier to give them an analogy related to something they are familiar with.

We never know what the future holds. But one of our goals is to decentralize social media. If we wind up with only a few major players, we have failed in that goal.

A marketplace of apps is actually a good thing. Not everyone wants something based on Twitter (i.e. Mastodon, and similar). Not everyone wants Reddit (Lemmy, Mbin, etc.). Not everyone wants a traditional forum (NodeBB). Not everyone wants a blog (WordPress, Hubzilla, etc.). Not everyone wants Facebook (Friendica, Hubzilla, etc.).

One of the goals is to build increased compatibility between apps so that you can choose which experience you want, yet can still talk to anyone else on the fediverse. Some big players will certainly emerge, but I think that there will always be hundreds of compatible apps.

For some reason, links from a Lemmy top-level post do not show up in Hubzilla. Here is the link for anyone who does not see the link.

#^[1](https://forum.wedistribute.org/topic/9/we-distribute-is-always-looking-for-help)

For those who are not on Lemmy and can’t see the link on the original post:

#^[1](https://theconversation.com/decentralised-social-media-offers-an-alternative-to-big-tech-platforms-like-x-and-meta-how-does-it-work-podcast-249758)

People are unlikely to switch based solely on “it’s decentralized.” Most people don’t care.

But if a platform has features people want, they may consider signing up. But the real draw is having an awesome community and awesome content.

Good to see some recognition of long-form post platforms.

I am curious if you are just wanting to make social media post searchable, or making a search engine (that indexes URLs, including public fediverse posts).

For content discovery and importation, you might consider using RSS / Atom as a way if ingesting new content. It is tried and true, and a number of fediverse platforms and websites already support it.

This sounds interesting. I would love to hear about how it could integrate with other platforms.

The third logo is Gravatar, which allows you to set an avatar associated with your email. It is mostly used by blog platforms such as WordPress to associate an avatar with your comments. Many other platforms, such as Hubzilla and many forums, support Gravatar.

Right now the user’s identity and the content they consume & interact with are too intertwined in many cases.

There are two aspects here:

1. The user’s home base, which is basically which server or app they log into.
2. The communities they belong to, which can be on any server anywhere on the fediverse.

We have to get out of the mindset that the server you sign up on is your community, because with federation, you are not limited to the server you sign up on.

I didn’t realize that Neil changed his name. ;)