I've been thinking a bit about this post regarding #Mastodon's responsibility to be compatible with the #threadiverse (#ActivityPub thread aggregators like #Lemmy & #Kbin). Right now, a thread from Lemmy or Kbin usually federates to Mastodon with truncated text and a link to the actual thread. However, many want Mastodon to be more compatible with threads so that the people over on Mastodon interact with the threadiverse more.
I was initially in agreement as a Kbin user. But having given it some thought, I think this is an unwise approach that'll only serve to overcomplicate platforms on the #fediverse. Yes, people on Mastodon should promote other parts of the fediverse (and vice versa), but complete interoperability shouldn't be expected of every platform.
As much as many would like it, you can't have long-form video from PeerTube, images from Pixelfed, threads from Kbin, blogs from Writefreely, etc. all neatly fit in a microblog feed. These are different formats made for different platforms, and the people making them are expecting them to be interacted with in completely different ways. When someone makes a thread in a Lemmy community, they're probably expecting that the people who are going to see and interact with the thread are people that want to see threads and are thus on a Lemmy instance (or another thread aggregator). If someone from Mastodon were to interact with it as if it were a microblog post, there'd be a big mismatch. People interact with microblogs differently than they do with threads — that's why they're separate to begin with. You don't see everyone on Twitter also wanting to use to Reddit because people who want microblogs don't necessarily want Reddit-style threads, and vice versa.
The other option, then, is to separate these different formats into different feeds or otherwise make them clearly distinct from one another. Kbin does this by separating threads and microblog posts into two tabs. While you can view both in the "All Content" tab if you'd like, they're styled differently enough that it's very clear when you're looking at a thread and when you're looking at a microblog post. This distinction lets users treat threads like threads and microblog posts like microblog posts, which is really helpful since the two formats serve different purposes and have different audiences. This option — clear distinction — is a great way to solve the conundrum I've been talking about… if your platform is meant for viewing all these different kinds of content to begin with.
And that's what it really comes down to imo. Mastodon is a platform for microblogging. Most people go to Mastodon because they want a Twitter alternative, not a Twitter alternative that's also an Instagram alternative and a Reddit alternative and a YouTube alternative. Even if you put these different content types in separate tabs, it would inevitably make things seem more confusing and thus raise the barrier of entry. Add a Videos tab to Mastodon to view stuff on PeerTube, and people are inevitably going to go, "Wait, what's this? Is this like YouTube? I thought this was just a Twitter alternative! This all seems too complicated," even if you tell them to ignore it.
It's probably best to leave Mastodon as it is: a microblogging platform that has some limited federation with other formats. The way Kbin threads currently display on Mastodon is fine. In fact, when I post a Kbin thread, I'm expecting it to be viewed via a thread aggregator. If people on Mastodon were part of the target audience, I would've made a microblog post.
Now, if you want to make something that lets you view everything on the fediverse via different tabs, feel free. As aforementioned, Kbin supports both threads and microblogs, though it comes with some challenges (e.g., trying to fit magazine-less microblog posts into Kbin's magazine system). However, this doesn't mean every platform on the fediverse needs to seamlessly incorporate everything else. I'd love people on Mastodon to promote and even try out Lemmy & Kbin more, but that doesn't mean Mastodon needs to also become a thread aggregator.
This isn't a hurdle because people typically aren't going to the fediverse with the idea of "I want a single app for all my social media." That's not how social media works outside the fediverse, so it's not really going to be a surprise that the Twitter replacement is a Twitter replacement and not one for 5 other platforms. If someone really wants to view Reddit-style threads, they're straight up better of making an account on a different platform (just like they would make a different account for Reddit) because Mastodon is a microblogging site.
Even the best attempt to incorporate all these different types of content into Mastodon is going to further complicate the platform and make more people dismiss Mastodon as too complicated of a Twitter alternative. This isn't a situation where there's no harm at best. And the potential benefit? Lemmy comments having the occasional Mastodon user?
Mastodon itself is a good enough introduction to ActivityPub without needing to make it support other things. It shows how people on different servers can share & interact with a pool of media through the same protocol. When people learn about other platforms on the fediverse, they can go check those out. Just promoting the platforms will do the job fine without complicating people's entry into the fediverse.
Btw, this is me testing the limits of kbin's microblog feature, so the following post will be long. I will post a TLDR at the end.
It has been nearly a month since I've first joined #fediverse. Even before the #reddit exodus, I was already growing tired of the site for the fact that despite how large the communities were, they were very cold and impersonal. There was also the fact that for the #queer community at least, we had been siloed off from the rest of reddit, because nearly every topic involving #LGBTQ issues were very often met with hostility by a good amount of users, often followed by a locked topic. It was even getting to the point where I didn't even feel safe in the some of the more socially liberal spaces.
The fact that mods were being stripped of some of the few tools they had to keep their communities hospitable, I knew the writing was on the wall. I tried many reddit alternatives during the blackout, including #raddle and #tildes. But once I figured out how #kbin, #mastodon, and #lemmy worked, I found myself feeling right at home on the fediverse.
I think the main reason why is because many of the people here are misfits from other platforms. Many of the users on mastodon are former twitter users who were driven off by the corporate culture of twitter, and later by Elon Musk and the poisoning of the platform. Others are former redditors like me who found platforms like lemmy, and are in the midst of trying to rebuild the community they once had on thier former platform.
Fediverse definitely doesn't feel "mainstream" like the sites that many of us come from , but perhaps that is part of the appeal, and why I have taken to it far quicker than any other social platform I have tried in the past. I'm just hoping as the fediverse continues to grow and attract new users, that it doesn't lose it's quirky and experimental spirit.
TLDR: I like fediverse. It's weird, quirky, and I feel more open here than I was ever able to be on reddit. Don't ever change.
When I visit the #mastodon page of a #kbin or #lemmy user/community through a direct link or entering the url (as opposed to navigating to it manually on mastodon), I get taken to the kbin/lemmy instance instead. How can I prevent that?
You can’t. When you go to a different website you’re going to a different website.
That said, there was a recent post about a Firefox add-on that would redirect you to that post on your home instance if you happened to click or enter a URL. I don’t have that post saved so you may have to search for it.
This happens with any kbin/lemmy community/user. Mastodon seems to automatically redirect, I'm asking if I can turn that off somehow. If I go to a mastodon.social url, I expect to arrive at mastodon.social not kbin.social or lemmy.world.
As I understand it, that addon you're referring to would just redirect a lemmy.world link to kbin.social (aka my home instance) instead. Which isn't really what I'm looking for at all.
@apps is it possible to subscribe to the timelin of a #Lemmy account (like @startrek with a lot of postings per day) using #Fedilab without having those postings flooding my personal timeline?
I'm worried to flood my personal timeline and on the other hand it is possible to put an instances timeline on a list without directly following it.
Given Trek fandom are often the first colonizers of online spaces in internet history (eg newsgroups) losing major Star Trek communities is big L for Reddit.
EDIT: Not permamently locked subreddits, got that wrong I think!
Gotta ask. I have this same account name on lemmy.world and on startrek.website. Will that be a problem? I've just been logging into both, the startrek.website posts seem to take a long time to get to lemmy.world, so I just log in here if I want to read this stuff.
Ooh, just followed my first lemmy community from Mastodon. Seems I just have to replace the "!" with "@" when I search for them. They seem to show up as a "Group" here. Nice!
@veronica@startrek yep, and I follow some of those #startrek communities as well and it’s great. Just as a warning you will see every comment as a post, so make sure to click on them so you see the whole “thread” and get the context.
why should I care about the people in this community!! if they don't appreciate & respect me!!!
the supervision, guidance and assistance that I provide is useless.
even though my work has been done a lot in raising awareness and saving the fate of millions of human lives. but what treatment do I get from you guys.
this is the no.1 trending information & news, which I am sharing with you guys right now.
If you are hosting a lemmy server and encounter federation issues (e.g, you can't find your instance from your Mastodon account), there is a bug fix for that here: https://github.com/LemmyNet/lemmy-ansible/pull/114
I've deployed it to lemmy.kde.org, and it should now be possible to follow @kde :) #kde#lemmy