this post was submitted on 04 Jul 2023
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Fediverse
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This magazine is dedicated to discussions on the federated social networking ecosystem, which includes decentralized and open-source social media platforms. Whether you are a user, developer, or simply interested in the concept of decentralized social media, this is the place for you. Here you can share your knowledge, ask questions, and engage in discussions on topics such as the benefits and challenges of decentralized social media, new and existing federated platforms, and more. From the latest developments and trends to ethical considerations and the future of federated social media, this category covers a wide range of topics related to the Fediverse.
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sure, but I thought ActivityPub is a common protocol they all use to allow interoperability.
Like an API, where there are users, posts, images that can be created, liked and boosted.
I.e logging in to a mastodon app would allow me to create /browse madtodon-specific posts (microblogs), and logging in to pixelfed app, would allow me to only upload/browse images, etc...
ActivityPub has 2 parts: The Server to Server API (S2S), which is how instances communicate and is the backbone of federation. and the Client to Server (C2S) API, which is a way for instances to communicate with an app/website. Unfortunately, mastodon made the decision early on to go the proprietary API route instead of using the C2S for app development. The rest of the microblogging fediverse had to implement the mastoapi so that they could share app support. Lemmy and kbin don't use the mastoapi, which is why they aren't compatible with mastodon apps and they don't even implement the same API so their apps won't be compatible either.
Ideally, lemmy and kbin will migrate to a common API so their apps can be compatible. Even more ideally (and the original goal of the protocol), lemmy and kbin would use the C2S so that they could work with standard AP apps that also work with any compliant AP service.
aah, thx for the detailed explanation... So everyone doing their own thing, kinda defeats the purpose, or at least makes it harder for app developers to take care of all the different apis
Identity federation isn’t the main point of the Fediverse, though. Federation is just meant to distribute content and facilitate communication. So you can have a book blogger manage their reviews and bookshelf on BookWyrm, a vloger can upload a video on PeerTube, and a city government can share water outage updates on Mastodon, and someone can interact with that content from a single interface and account of their choice.