【alma】

  • 5 Posts
  • 9 Comments
Joined 3 years ago
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Cake day: November 5th, 2021

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  • It’s fair that maybe the architecture of public inbox/outbox protocols aren’t suited for this kind of use (juxtapose with Matrix).

    However consider this: Some people on the fediverse simply don’t want to be indexed. It should be opt-in instead of opt-out, for people who explicitly want it. People aren’t against search, they’re against non-consensual search.

    I think it’s important for the culture of the fediverse that such civility is encouraged. Because on the fediverse, the community can actually make a difference. By blocking federation with offenders, we can guide the culture of fedi. And it’s better for it.

    Running with the idea that people can “technically” do what they want because of the nature of the protocols is counter-productive, because we actually can do something.

    All a search implementer has to do is adapt to that culture, and they’ll be fine. So I don’t see why there’s such push-back against this viewpoint.




  • This should be how it is naturally, but for some reason there’s very little interest in expanding ActivityPub’s client-to-server protocol. It’s sad that Mastodon chose to make their own API independent of everything else.

    Nonetheless, there is Fedilab, which supports most microblogging platforms. Kaiteki is the only app I’m aware of that actually aims to support all of them. It’s still in early development, but it’s really promising.

    From what I could tell from the code when I browsed it (which isn’t much), Kaiteki actually holds dictionaries for popular kinds of ActivityPub objects. So, in theory, it could one day support everything natively.

    I haven’t really gotten a chance to try it, but ThatOneCalculator posts about it frequently, and I trust him more with the Fediverse’s future than Eugen tbh. Most of Eugen’s decisions track with his belief that fedi must grow faster, at any cost. Meanwhile, Calc seems to actually care about sustainable growth, and maintaining a community that cares about the tech. Which is essential imo.

    There’s room for both viewpoints, but it really is damning that most Mastodon apps don’t support software that doesn’t implement the Mastodon API.


  • I had a thought about a week ago about search engines. I think it may be better to move towards a curated-list style of search, instead of an automated indexing one. Think Pinterest, but with a greater emphasis on websites, people, and communities instead of just images.

    That way search can be made more human. You can get to know and trust the individuals who curate content, and maybe donate to them if their efforts are valuable to you.