Look, I think Ghost is a really great publishing platform. But after dogfooding their Fediverse integration for six months, I'm realizing there's still a lot missing. With their blog dormant, I'm left to wonder: is development still happening?

A step-by-step visual guide for newbies about how to install and setup YunoHost - it's easy, fast and accessible to all

So about a year ago, I remember seeing a guy testing out his blog comments section. What he had done was made a lemmy community, and every blog post he made, was a thread on the lemmy community. But here's the interesting part.....all comments on Lemmy in a thread were the same comments on his blog.

So if you have user@lemmy.world, and you go to his community, you see a thread, you comment.....your comment is now in the comments section of his blog.

Now today, I see these websites, from corporate websites that have reviews sections. Or news sites with comments sections.

And unless you're on a mega corporation like amazon, or youtube, these comments and reviews are mostly dead.

So I was thinking. What if there were a way to do this with multiple fediverse services?

What if you have an article, and the comments are 1 lemmy user, 1 mastodon user, 1 misskey user, 1 friendica user, ect ect ect? Basically start making ANY fediverse service a viable way to leave a comment, which can be replied to by any other fediverse user, regardless of service?

Now imagine all these websites that sell things that have 1-2 reviews. They almost always seem to be propriatary comments section that you need to register for that one website. And it doesn't work anywhere else. Which is usually why there's only 1-2 reviews.

But if they were using their lemmy account, that they already have, they could leave a review TODAY, and in a month leave a comment on another website using the same account.

And this would start to standardize the fediverse accounts as being universal across the internet, besides mega corps.

This in turn will grow the fediverse, because eventually people will say "hey, you know your fediverse account that you use to leave comments? Well thats a mastodon account. You already have it, and you CAN go on mastodon, and use it like you used to twitter back before it was a nazi platform. Mastodon isn't fascist."

From a technical limitations standpoint, is that even possible?

cross-posted from: https://kbin.melroy.org/m/updates/t/1378652

Mbin 1.9.0 stable is finally out! Upgrade your server now, if you didn't do it already.

We have 3 different summaries below. One for end-users, one for server admins, and finally a summary for Mbin developers.

Thank you everybody who made this release possible!

Summary for Users

This release contains numerous improvements and changes that we can't list everything here, so we'll stick to the highlights (in random order).

We enhanced security so that after a user changes their password or 2FA, all the current sessions of that user will be invalid and the user will need to log in again.

A new combined front page. You could make the combined front page the default in your profile settings. Which means you see both threads and microblogs combined on the homepage.

We also introduced a new feature under general settings, where you can select "Who can send you a direct message" (defaults to everybody).

We added support for magazine banners in Mbin (which is also compatible with Lemmy Communities).

Mbin combines the thread form into just one form (instead of having article, link, and photo having a separate form). Mbin now also federates bans correctly (both incoming and outgoing bans).

Global mods can now manage (view, approve and/or deny) account signups. Global mods can now also receive signup notifications, which will also come with a new menu item in the drop-down menu.

Plus various other bug fixes and CSS layout improvements, ban notification fixes, and too many other fixes to mention here.

Summary for Server Admins

Multiple Docker setup enhancements, we upgraded to Debian Trixie images. We also upgraded to use Node v24 (current LTS release) within our Mbin Docker images. Plus we added a new amqproxy service to the docker compose file. See upgrade instructions for Docker below for more info.

We now added two different server settings:

• Restrict "Random Threads/Posts" sidebar sections to local only
• Restrict "Active people" sidebar section to local only

The first option has been known to cause SQL performance issues (we recommended NOT enabling this first option), hence we gave you the two options. The second option shows local only active users, which does NOT impact performance (so feel free to enable that option if you wish).

Mbin now comes with new moderation log filter capabilities.

We also documented Anubis setup for Mbin, setup is optional. However, Anubis could protect your server from DDoS attacks or other unwanted traffic towards your server.

Mbin now also has a command to rotate the private keys for one user or all the local users.

We renamed an existing environment variable: MAX_IMAGE_BYTES to: MBIN_MAX_IMAGE_BYTES, please rename the variable if you have set it. On top of that we also added a new environment variable: MBIN_USE_FEDERATION_ALLOW_LIST (default value: false) for in the .env file. We also added MBIN_NEW_USERS_NEED_APPROVAL (also default value: false) several months ago, in case you didn't added that variable yet. Although both variables are optional to add. See the latest .env.example file.

Finally, we upgraded several Composer dependency packages plus Symfony recipe updates as well as NPM package updates. So like always be sure to run: ./bin/post-upgrade to install all the updated Composer packages (on bare metal). Which should fix security vulnerabilities in our composer & npm depedency packages. And clear all caches.

Summary for developers

We extended and improved the getting started guide, documenting how to leverage dev containers to get started. Please follow the full "Docker as a dev server" guide if you wish to help with development.

We also created a new Fediverse developer page that lists all our ActivityPub messages.

See the full release notes / how-to upgrade here: https://github.com/MbinOrg/mbin/releases/tag/v1.9.0

After 5 months of chipping away at it, PieFed is now an installable 'app' in the Yunohost store! It's been there for a couple of weeks actually but until this weekend it had a scary red exclamation mark because some automated tests hadn't ran yet. But that's gone now so I feel confident about recommending it to others.

Yunohost is a linux distro for servers that has a web gui for installing and managing services, that takes all the hassle out of self-hosting. How to get started with Yunohost.

@squirrel@piefed.kobel.fyi and @michael@piefed.chrisco.me have had good success setting up their instances already: https://piefed.social/c/piefed_meta/p/1561141/thanks-to-rimu-ericgaspar-and-tituspijean-yunohost-has-a-working-piefed-setup

This version features a redesigned video player, an improved experience for importing videos and the ability to share channel management with other accounts!

Check out the link for full details

If you are hosting an instance, see the migration notes: https://github.com/Chocobozzz/PeerTube/releases/tag/v8.0.0

I recently asked for some PeerTube recommendation and it made me realize how disjointed the URL system can seem to the median, not technically-inclined, not-motivated, user.

The first user UX issue was the link to the lemmy.wtf post. You get transported to the lemmy.wtf webUI client, so you're not logged in and the interface is different (arguably a median user would expect to view the post via their own instance/platform, piefed.social in my case).

But then we have the issue of PeerTube channel links in the lemmy.wtf post. I wanted to check out the Open Source_gaming channel which is referenced via the following URL:

https://peertube.wtf/c/opensource_gaming@video.hardlimit.com

My peertube instance/WebUI client is Spectra Video, so again you encounter another UX issue.

To add to that, if you paste the URL verbatim (major UX issue in of itself for the median user) into the Specra Video webUI, you won't actually find the opensource_gaming channel:

You would need to use the following search prompt in the Spectra Video webUI:

opensource_gaming@video.hardlimit.com

The upcoming version of Piefed actually addresses this issue on the Threadi side.

For logged in users, Piefed 1.4 will turn the following URL:

https://lemmy.world/post/39832275

into

https://piefed.social/c/news/p/1544770/national-parks-ordered-to-check-gift-shops-for-dei-type-items

This issue is unresolved in Lemmy, but the Lemmy brand is permanently tainted among users who are looking for alternatives to American oligarchic technology services. The low moral standards of the Lemmy devs' (support for the brutal North Korean regime, promotion of russian propaganda narratives that they know are false) is a massive turn off for the exact target market of the Fediverse. It's a fact that many Europeans looking for alternatives instinctively recognize the demagoguery of the Lemmy devs and their fans.

But even with Piefed 1.4, the PeerTube linking UX (same for Mastodon and I am assuming Pixelfed, Loops and other Fedi services) is a nightmare for the median user.

What would be helpful is to have a system where the first time a user encounters a Fedi link, they would be prompted to select their instance for a given Fedi service.

So clicking on a peertube.wtf (terrible name if their goal is to go beyond a "niche within a niche" userbase) for the first time when logged in would give you a notice similar to:

Enjoy a user focused video platform! Sign up | Login into Peertube

There are clearly some UX issues with this, but I still think it would be better than the current system.

Would would be even better is if some of the major Fedi instances in a given service could somehow automate the discovery of existing user accounts for other Fedi services.

This would either need to be done in a whitelist only manner (i.e. discovery only works between say piefed.social (or piefed.world) and mastodon.social and/or some sort of client side system, if that's even possible. You don't want sketchy instances or spammers to be able to poll all of a user's accounts across Fedi services.

I am assuming this is a client-side issue and it cannot be solved at the protocol level (ActivityPub), but in a way this makes it easier to experiment as Fedi clients can try out things without modifying the ActivityPub protocol.

Just wanted to share my thoughts. If one wants Fedi to become a viable alternative to corrupt American monopolists, then you must look at the UX from perspective and expectations of a median user.

In the monthly server updates for lemmy.zip/piefed.zip there's a mantra that's repeated every month. I think it's wonderful and can be applied to the Fediverse as a whole.

If you’re new here - WELCOME! I hope you’re enjoying your time here :)

Just one small teeny-tiny request. The greatest gift you can give the Fediverse (Original: Lemmy.zip and Piefed.zip) isn’t money, praise, or interpretive dance (although we would absolutely accept the last one). Its participation.

Upvote the things you like. Start a discussion, debate, or ponder about whether water is wet or merely makes things wet. Make new communities if you don’t see one that fits your oddly specific niche obsession.
(We don’t judge. Well, we try not to judge anyway.)

The fediverse naturally ebbs and flows, tides of people come and go. But if you’ve found yourself oddly attached to this strange little corner of the internet? Wonderful. Help it breathe. Help it grow. Help it be just a tiny bit weirder in the best possible way.

So if you’ve gone to the effort of clicking Sign Up and proving you’re not a robot (unless you are, in which case hello and welcome to our new AI overlords), then please, I beg of you:

Stick around. Add your voice. It really does make this place better.

Original post by @Demigodrick@lemmy.zip

Given the US recently made a bid to fast-track multiple censorship bills, KOSA included, and is also trying to kill Section 230 now, which will pose an existential threat to Fediverse instances hosted over the clearnet, how feasible would it be to host said instances over Tor/I2P?

his week's #fediverse news

• Peertube releases PeerTube v8, focusing on making the software more accessible to organisations and institutions
• Bonfire reaches their crowdfunding goal, and a short explainer of what the software actually is, and why it confuses people
• PieFed continues to improve, with an upcoming question-answer mode and better handling of links

I have seen some critical views on Nostr as a part of decentralized network discussions, but most seem to be focused on culture not function.

What are the functional / protocol differences that make you prefer ActivityPub over Nostr?

The European Commission put a 120M EUR fine on X for DSA violations. But as the European politicians cannot get themselves to leave the platform, it shows the issues with how they understand how power works on social platforms.

Hello, I am a person who has only used thread based "social media" their whole life. I never liked platforms such as twitter and instagram and preferred aggregators like reddit, and nowadays, lemmy.

I tried joining twitter once, failed, closed my account and went back to reddit. Same with instagram. Kind of glad that I did not use them.

I recently created an instagram account because my friends use it's messaging feature. And because my generation uses instagram handles like phone numbers of old (i am 20).

I really want an active mastodon account. There are really cool people there and there are some thoughts I can't express with the "forum format".

I mostly repost cool stuff I see, but even after joining a reasonable amount of discourse, and trying not to look like a bot, I am yet to get a workable amount of social circle. Whereas I easily fit into places like lemmy.

what am i doing wrong

edit: Just realized the title looks like a "I wanna be famous" post. It really is not

My profile: https://toot.community/@yogurtwrong

A Fediverse Enhancement Proposal (FEP) is a document that provides information to the Fediverse community. The goal of a FEP is to improve interoperability and well-being of diverse services, applications and communities that form the Fediverse.

The FEP Process is an initiative of the SocialHub developer community, a liaison of the W3C Social Web Incubator Community Group.

Discovered this today. If you're on the developer side of things or are interested in how the Fediverse / ActivityPub is being built and enhanced, take a look at this codeberg repo.

Wafrn, a tumblr inspired federated social media that connects with fedi, lemmy and bluesky (optional)

Join an open wafrn instance in https://join.wafrn.net/

@fediverse

I noticed Bonfire is getting a lot of positive attention lately, and I wanted to try it out. They don't have a directory of instances yet. Do you have any instances that you recommend.

I tried updating, checking spam, resending, nothing ever sends me the email (using keemail.me (tutanota)).

1. What is an Antenna?
2. Can I myself create a Warning to post at my profile?
3. Can only the channels creators post on them? Because for what I een, others can comment on them.
4. What is a play?
5. What is a page?
6. What is a Clip?
7. Is there something alike tags to posts? I liked that on tumblr.

Holos is a new project to run an ActivityPub server on your mobile phone, more on Thread's user statistics, and an interview with Mastodon's creator Eugen Rochko.