We Distribute

We Distribute is a news site reporting on the future of the Internet. We cover the Fediverse, Bluesky, Nostr, and more. We keep a pulse on the development of these spaces, and the people living in them.

🎥 Videos: https://spectra.video/c/decentered_podcast
🎙️ Podcast: https://wedistribute.org/series/decentered
📰 News: https://wedistribute.org/

Public Key

npub10y86227hk8wc9mplk78u5tdekdpkjnfh0fnckfl6fhnzvs37vujq836et3

NIP-05 Address

news_at_wedistribute.org@momostr.pink

Profile Code

nprofile1qqs8jra990tmrhvzaslm0r729kumxsmff5mh5eutylayme3xgglxwfqprpmhxue69uhhyetvv9ujumt0d4hhxarj9ecxjmntqyv8wumn8ghj7ur4vfkxjcewwfjkccted9hxwtnfdul5gec5

Publishing to

relay.momostr.pink

public.relaying.io

relay.nostr.band

Author Public Key

npub10y86227hk8wc9mplk78u5tdekdpkjnfh0fnckfl6fhnzvs37vujq836et3

Show more details

Last Notes

2026-02-25 01:56:29 UTC

Support for end-to-end encrypted messaging in ActivityPub has been stated as [a long-term goal](https://socialwebfoundation.org/program-protocol-e2ee/ ) by the [Social Web Foundation](https://socialwebfoundation.org/ ), but the network might be gaining support for it sooner than anyone expected. [Ben Pate](https://benpate.dev/@ben ), the lead dev of [Emissary](https://emissary.dev/ ), posted to the network earlier this week:
> Since January, > [> Bonfire](https://bonfirenetworks.org )> and > [> Emissary](https://emissary.dev )> have been working on true E2EE in ActivityPub, using the > [> MLS protocol](https://swicg.github.io/activitypub-e2ee/mls )> — which is a successor to Signal protocol with better support for very large groups.
> Anyway, here’s today’s progress video of where I am. Here’s what works: exchanging public keys, creating groups, sending/receiving messages and replies, and realtime notifications.
> There’s a lot more to do. We’re planning on general availability in June, so right now we’re about 1/3 of the way into the project.
Funding for this feature [was secured through](https://www.sovereign.tech/tech/activity-pub ) the [Sovereign Tech Fund](https://www.sovereign.tech/ ), with leadership provided by the Social Web Foundation. Emissary and Bonfire [are both working on this project](https://github.com/swicg/activitypub-e2ee/issues ), and are due to provide deliverables by June 2026. The result of this work will eventually provide a clear standard in a future version of the ActivityPub protocol spec. A December 2025 draft of the existing spec can be read [here](https://swicg.github.io/activitypub-e2ee/mls.html ).##
A Quick DemoBen was nice enough to record a quick demo for people to get a visual representation of where things are currently, and what support for encrypted messaging looks like.
https://clip.place/w/ajgJ5Hi69bbbxHCK3nXNdj##
What’s Next?For now, implementers are working hard to iron out wrinkles and resolve outstanding points of ambiguity. The demo above already showcases a working product, although a number of client-side bells and whistles could be added for things like read receipts, native support for different content types, and autocomplete for looking up contacts.
The spec currently appears to propose an idea that client implementers could leverage end-to-end encryption through a future version of the [ActivityPub API](https://www.w3.org/TR/activitypub/#client-to-server-interactions ). While the proposal spec is relatively fleshed-out, it would benefit greatly from [community feedback](https://github.com/swicg/activitypub-e2ee/issues ).
[Share](https://shareopenly.org/share/?url=https://wedistribute.org&text=Federated%20End-to-End%20Encrypted%20Messaging%20is%20Coming%20Soon )

2025-11-13 17:54:01 UTC

##
Hi 👋We’re still alive, just kind of on a hiatus for the moment. We want to get things going again soon, what cool developments have you seen happening in the #Fediverse recently?

2025-08-05 04:19:10 UTC

The [Ghost.org](https://ghost.org ) project has been on an incredible journey over the past few months, [documenting all of their hard work](https://activitypub.ghost.org/archive/ ) in the open, for the whole network to see. The team has shared the various challenges they’ve overcome, and the project has gone to develop a fantastic interface for using the platform for social purposes in addition to an authoring tool.<svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="12" height="12" fill="none" viewBox="0 0 12 12"><path fill="#fff" d="M2 0a2 2 0 0 0-2 2v2h1.5V2a.5.5 0 0 1 .5-.5h2V0H2Zm2 10.5H2a.5.5 0 0 1-.5-.5V8H0v2a2 2 0 0 0 2 2h2v-1.5ZM8 12v-1.5h2a.5.5 0 0 0 .5-.5V8H12v2a2 2 0 0 1-2 2H8Zm2-12a2 2 0 0 1 2 2v2h-1.5V2a.5.5 0 0 0-.5-.5H8V0h2Z"></path></svg>
I’ve actually been dogfooding Ghost for my personal site [since the March Beta](https://activitypub.ghost.org/social-web-beta/ ), and [wrote about the initial experience](https://wedistribute.org/2025/03/ghost-activitypub-beta/ ) earlier this year. There are a number of subtle improvements and feature additions now, and the dashboard is generally more stable and loads much more quickly. This new version also ships with [integrated comments](https://ghost.org/changelog/native-comments?ref=wedistribute.org ) and [better documentation](https://docs.ghost.org/?ref=wedistribute.org ), along with a vast amount of other changes under the hood.
Posts can now have image attachments with alt text. Profiles can now be customized. Notifications are clean and helpful.With that being said, Ghost members using the Beta likely won’t see major differences between the version they were using previously, and the 6.0 release now. The real story here is that anyone can now set up their own Ghost blog, switch on the Social Web integration, and be able to reach out to the rest of the network. Ghost’s [reported compatibility work](https://activitypub.ghost.org/the-longformers/ ) with WordPress and Flipboard will hopefully continue to bear fruit.
An article in my Ghost timeline vs an article as seen on Mastodon.If you were interested in self-hosting a Ghost installation, now is a great time to do it! Check out [the installation guide](https://docs.ghost.org/install ) if you’re doing it for the first time, or read up on how to [update your existing Ghost install](https://docs.ghost.org/update ) to use the new federation features!
[Share](https://shareopenly.org/share/?url=https://wedistribute.org&text=Ghost%206.0%20Ships%20with%20ActivityPub%20Support )

2025-07-31 12:47:23 UTC

Today, our podcast features an interview with an Internet OG: Evan Henshaw-Plath, aka Rabble. We talk about Twitter, Secure Scuttlebutt, and the evolution of Nostr!
https://wedistribute.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/S2E3.mp3

2025-07-24 01:39:21 UTC

[The ActivityPub plugin team](https://github.com/automattic/wordpress-activitypub ) at [Automattic](https://automattic.com/ ) has been doing some amazing work. Over the past few years, this single-person project has shifted from a single-person effort to a team of full-time developers. With the release of the 7.x branch of the ActvityPub integration plugin, [project devs announced](https://activitypub.blog/2025/07/09/7-0-0-i-will-follow-you/ ) that they would be working on bringing remote following capabilities to the plugin itself.
Today, [version 7.1.0 was released](https://activitypub.blog/2025/07/23/7-1-0-polishing-tables/ ) with a very early sneak peak at this new feature. While it’s currently hidden behind an “Advanced Options” toggle, it’s now possible to use the ActivityPub plugin to directly follow other Actors on the network.
Screenshot courtesy of [ActivityPub for WordPress](https://activitypub.blog )
This is still a relatively new feature, and the plumbing hasn’t been completely fleshed out yet. Team member [Konstantin Obenland](https://mastodon.social/@obenland ) explains further in the announcement:
> There’s really no functionality around it yet, beyond following accounts from other instances, as we have yet to start processing incoming posts and adding the ability to interact with them. But if you just can’t wait to show your appreciation for other accounts by following them, go wild!##
Why is this Important?The connection from WordPress to the rest of the Fediverse has always kind of been in a weird place. While the main ActivityPub integration for WordPress generally works great for sending articles to subscribers, following people directly *from* the WordPress dashboard has been messy. Right now, if you wanted to use your WordPress blog as an actual Fediverse account, you would need the following things:<li><a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/friends/" data-type="link" data-id="https://wordpress.org/plugins/friends/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Friends</a> – a social dashboard for WordPress, still in the early stages. This piece is primarily used for following other people in the Fediverse.</li><li><a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/enable-mastodon-apps/" data-type="link" data-id="https://wordpress.org/plugins/enable-mastodon-apps/">Enable Mastodon Apps</a> – This implements a substantial amount of the Mastodon API, so that you can post microblog updates directly to your WordPress site.</li><li><a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/event-bridge-for-activitypub/" data-type="link" data-id="https://wordpress.org/plugins/event-bridge-for-activitypub/">Event Bridge for ActivityPub</a> – This technically adds support for federated Events, by converting your site’s events calendar into something people on the network can subscribe to and indicate their attendance.</li>
With these three pieces, it’s possible to cobble together something that comes *close* to being a complete Fediverse user experience. Still, this process takes time to set up, can be prone to configuration issues, and sometimes has missing features. Having different plugins that all touch the ActivityPub integration can also be harder to test code and report issues.
We use [Tusky](https://tusky.app/ ) with our site for social purposes. It’s pretty good, but definitely could be better.By introducing remote following functionality directly into the ActivityPub plugin, the project team will effectively provide standard mechanisms for other plugins to directly rely on. In the near future, this might mean that you won’t have to rely on [Friends](https://wordpress.org/plugins/friends/ ) to be the broker of your social connections. Instead, Friends can just use what’s already put in place by the core plugin, and focus on ways to just work as a social dashboard.##
Also, Starter Packs!One other thing worth mentioning involves preliminary support for the Fediverse Starter Kits, a proposed recreation of [Bluesky’s Starter Pack functionality](https://bsky.social/about/blog/06-26-2024-starter-packs ). While there have been a number of attempts to make something similar for the Fediverse in the past, there has yet to be a Fediverse standard for lists filled with recommended users to follow. However, the WordPress team [has put in the effort](https://github.com/Automattic/wordpress-activitypub/pull/1919 ) to support [Pixelfed](https://pixelfed.org/ )‘s [Starter Kit Data Schema](https://github.com/pixelfed/starter-kits/issues/1 ) as a point of reference.
A screenshot of the importer in action. Credit: Matthias Pfefferle
In all, this release iterates on the current ActivityPub stack for WordPress, and could provide a stable foundation for a lot of future functionality that we’ve all come to expect from platforms such as [Mastodon](https://joinmastodon.org/ ), [Misskey](https://misskey-hub.net/en/ ), or even [Bonfire](https://bonfirenetworks.org/ ).
[Share](https://shareopenly.org/share/?url=https://wedistribute.org&text=WordPress-ActivityPub%20v%207.1.0%20Introduces%20Following%20Capabilities )

2025-06-10 21:59:12 UTC

[Bandwagon](https://bandwagon.fm/ ), the music-sharing platform built on [Emissary](https://emissary.dev/ ), has seen a lot of success over the past few months. The site has grown to a catalogue of [over 300 different musicians](https://bandwagon.fm/artists ), spanning a wide range of different sounds and genres. After refining [search and discovery features](https://bandwagon.fm/2025-03-22-search-update ), project lead Ben Pate has decided to focus on [introducing a payment system](https://bandwagon.fm/2025-05-May-Update#whats-next-online-album-sales ) for music sales.##
What’s ComingThis new payment system allows for ways to financially support artists on the Fediverse, and the levels of support resemble a hybrid of what both Bandcamp and Patreon offer. Not only does this feature include line items for digital media, but a new mechanism for access and distribution. Additionally, the flagship instance of **Bandwagon.fm will be taking 0% of any money musicians make.**###
Premier PlansTo support development, Bandwagon’s flagship instance will be offering a **$10 per month Premier plan **that allows musicians to sell their music and offer their tracks at a higher bit-rate, among other features. To support the artist community, a number of Fediverse musicians will likely be gifted a lifetime Premier membership for free.###
Album and Track PurchasesOnce this feature becomes available to musicians, they will be able to configure a Merchant account to dictate what items they want to include for purchase. This could cover individual tracks, EP’s, or entire albums. It’s also possible to configure Support Levels with monthly billing.
Managing products and exclusive media in a merchant account.When someone buys music through Bandwagon, their purchases get added to a profile. If you’re a native Bandwagon user, those live in your account. If you’re visiting from another platform, purchased items instead live in a special Guest Profile that can be connected to a Fediverse identity.###
Special AccessAnother new feature unique to Bandwagon is the concept of Circles. These are special, privileged collections of followers who can pay to access exclusive content: special album drops, rare tracks, secret shows, and private “behind the scenes” posts can all be accessed by premium followers.
What’s remarkable about this system is how things are tied together: this mechanism checks for payment, recognizes a Fediverse handle, and grants access on that basis. Previously, other systems needed to provision this kind of thing manually: you might have been able to pay for something through Stripe or PayPal, but there wasn’t always a way to account for a user’s Fediverse identity afterwards. Instead, that all had to be dealt with by hand.
Posts, Events, and Media can now be scoped to specific audiences with CirclesThis also means that it’s possible to create multiple kinds of support levels, which could give a Bandwagon musician profile almost Patreon-like functionality. Different support tiers could receive access to different things, allowing rewards to stack with the level of donations. One level might receive private blog posts, whereas another might have access to a monthly track plus access to private blog posts.###
Alternate Payment MethodsFor the time being, Bandwagon will support Stripe and PayPal when the feature launches. However, Ben has stated an interest in supporting many more payment processors, in the hopes of providing choice to artists and buyers:
> Bandwagon will build integrations with private companies (lots of them, actually) but we will never depend on any one specific company. Open APIs are best, but when those are unavailable, we’ll connect directly to Stripe, PayPal, or anyone who can deliver benefits for indie artists. But If I have to integrate with one merchant provider to accept payments, then I’ll integrate with two, or seven, or as many as we can to guarantee that the companies we work with cannot abuse their position with monopoly power.
The project has also stated having zero interest in implementing support for cryptocurrencies. However, given that Bandwagon is an open source project, it wouldn’t be that surprising to see third parties build in support for various crypto payments for their respective communities.
A demonstration of a check-out purchase through Stripe, which also supports Apple Pay.##
Looking at the Big PictureOn the surface, these new features are big milestones for supporting the Fediverse music community. If we dig a little deeper, we’ll find that everything powering this new experience is part of the underlying Emissary platform. This is one more tool in Emissary’s arsenal for developers to build distinct services with donations, payments, and commerce in mind. Maybe in the future, we’ll see new kinds of Emissary apps that could act as replacements for DeviantArt, Nebula, or GameDev Market.
There’s a reason this development is so important: the Fediverse today lacks any kind of commerce. While it’s possible to support people out-of-band through things like Patreon or OpenCollective, the reality is that the experience is pretty fragmented. Being able to support artists, musicians, game designers, open source developers, and instance admins are a necessity for growing a healthy Fediverse. If we could build standardized support for this kind of market commerce across different platforms, it could have a huge impact on the network’s ability to sustain itself.
[Share](https://shareopenly.org/share/?url=https://wedistribute.org&text=Bandwagon%20is%20Bringing%20Music%20Sales%20to%20the%20Fediverse )

2025-05-28 23:00:18 UTC

[FediForum](https://fediforum.org ), the network-wide unconference for Fedizens, is back! The event has undergone a radical transformation to be more inclusive, with a diverse advisory board helping to build a safe and respectful space for attendees. Watch the latest presentations from the people building the network, participate in supportive discussions about what the Social Web currently needs, and watch cool demos from the latest apps and platforms!<tbody><tr><th class="has-text-align-center" data-align="center">Thursday, June 5</th><td>8:00 am to 1:00 pm pacific time (UTC-7) Keynote: <a href="https://cubicgarden.com/">Ian Forrester</a> Keynote: <a href="https://craphound.com/bio/">Cory Doctorow</a><a> </a> Software speed demos Orientation session: What’s new in the Open Social Web? Collaborative agenda making and unconference sessions</td></tr><tr><th class="has-text-align-center" data-align="center">Friday, June 6</th><td>8:00 am to 1:00 pm pacific time (UTC-7) Keynote: <a href="https://dustycloud.org/">Christine Lemmer-Webber</a> Collaborative agenda making and unconference sessions</td></tr><tr><th class="has-text-align-center" data-align="center">Saturday, June 7</th><td>8:00 am to 1:00 pm pacific time (UTC-7) Software speed demos Collaborative agenda making and unconference sessions</td></tr></tbody>
Check [this page](https://fediforum.org/2025-06/ ) for a comprehensive schedule breakdown for each day! The unconference format allows attendees to help set the schedule for discussions and presentations.###
PricingFediForum offers the following price packages for admission:<tbody><tr><td class="has-text-align-center" data-align="center">Package</td><td class="has-text-align-center" data-align="center">Price</td></tr><tr><td class="has-text-align-center" data-align="center">General Admission</td><td class="has-text-align-center" data-align="center">$40.00 + $3.29 fee</td></tr><tr><td class="has-text-align-center" data-align="center">(Almost) Free Ticket</td><td class="has-text-align-center" data-align="center">$0.67 + $1.32 fee</td></tr><tr><td class="has-text-align-center" data-align="center">Contributor Ticket (support the community)</td><td class="has-text-align-center" data-align="center">$100.00 + $6.29 fee</td></tr><tr><td class="has-text-align-center" data-align="center">Platform Employee Ticket</td><td class="has-text-align-center" data-align="center">$250.00 + $13.79 fee</td></tr></tbody>

2025-05-12 21:48:37 UTC

[Mastodon](https://joinmastodon.org/ )’s work to highlight their platform to journalists led to the opportunity to host an aperitivo, with special guests [Save Social](https://savesocial.eu/ ), at the [International Journalism Festival](https://www.journalismfestival.com/ ) (April 9th – 13th, 2025) in Perugia, Italy.
IJF brings together people from across the news industry to talk about the issues they face and celebrate the work they are doing. This year, Big Tech was one of the topics that dominated the panel discussions.##
Bonjourno MastodonAndy Piper speaking at the event. Source: Saskia Welch
Mastodon, represented by [Andy Piper](https://macaw.social/@andypiper ), Head of Communications, [Felix Hlatky](https://mastodon.social/@mellifluousbox ), CFO, and [Philip Schröpel](https://mastodon.social/@philipkristians ), Head of Staff, brought together supporters of the open social web, Big Tech-disbelievers, and curious locals to a small bar nestled in the old walls of Perugia.
Understanding that many in the audience were unfamiliar with Mastodon, Piper introduced the social platform to the room, highlighting the benefits for journalists. This included the work to highlight article authors, using the byline feature that [rolled out in July last year](https://blog.joinmastodon.org/2024/07/highlighting-journalism-on-mastodon/ ), and emphasis on the value of links to external publications.
Mastodon promised new tools to track referrals through links would be rolling out across the network soon but were already live on mastodon.social – the server run by the Mastodon team.##
Looking AheadHlatky spoke of Mastodon’s future as an organisation and [their ongoing work](https://blog.joinmastodon.org/2025/01/the-people-should-own-the-town-square/ ) to transition from a German gGmbH to a new European nonprofit. He acknowledged internal work to restructure and remove single ownership from Mastodon claiming, “No one gives you money if one owner can run away with it.”
There was a strong message that Mastodon wanted what is best for their users, rather than their pockets. A stark contrast to the Big Tech platforms that had been discussed across the Festival.
To echo the sentiment, Mastodon then invited [Björn Staschen](https://eimsbuettel.social/@bjoernsta ) from [Save Social](https://savesocial.eu/ ) to speak.##
Save SocialBjörn Staschen presenting Save Social at the event. Source: Saskia Welch
Save Social is a predominantly German-speaking effort to turn away from Big Tech social media platforms and strengthen alternatives. In less than three months, [their petition](https://weact.campact.de/petitions/save-social-soziale-netzwerke-als-demokratische-kraft-retten ) has reached 200,000 signatures.
“We, as a society, have to be part of the solution,” said Staschen. “We want to strengthen alternative platforms. Ensure freedom of expression by creating diversity and transparency.”##
Converting AttendeesWhen it came to joining Mastodon, Schröpel admitted there are “multiple ways”, but that the Mastodon team are able to support individuals and organisations in setting up their own instance or offer advice on the network.
Philip Schröpel presenting ways to join Mastodon. Source: Saskia Welch
However, joining the platform continues to be a barrier for many users. A group of Italian women who attended the event abandoned their short effort to join the platform half-way into the presentation, confused about where to go and which app to use.
Alongside presenting Mastodon as an alternative platform, the aperitivo offered one of the only opportunities to take tangible action against Big Tech at IJF – attracting doers, rather than the commentators that lined the panels of the main event.##
Wrapping Up“There’s a mix of people in this room right now with the same instincts we have to save democracy,” Piper said in his closing remark, encouraging collaboration and action.
Based on the [panels](https://media.journalismfestival.com/ ) at IJF 2025, journalists are more worried than ever about the role they play in democracy. Witnessing the actions of the White House, many journalists are now calling for an “EU alternative” to Big Tech platforms.
Mastodon now has the opportunity to present themselves as the EU alternative and help journalists protect democracy.
[Share](https://shareopenly.org/share/?url=https://wedistribute.org&text=Mastodon%3A%20Giving%20Journalists%20Options%20Away%20From%20Big%20Tech )

2025-04-01 01:14:34 UTC

[FediForum](https://fediforum.org/ ) is a virtual “unconference” that meets twice a year to showcase new developments, hold community discussions across a variety of important subjects, and give members of the wider Fediverse an opportunity to connect. For the most part, it’s been a successful effort to bring the network together and talk about ideas and future directions worth taking. However, the event has recently found itself at the center of controversy, and has been subsequently canceled.##
Transphobia From a Co-OrganizerOne recent development still fresh within community awareness involves Kaliya “IdentityWoman” Young, co-organizer of the unconference alongside Johannes Ernst. Community members recently stumbled into problematic rhetoric made by Kaliya regarding her position on transgender athletes in women’s sports.
> Sex isn’t a “gender orientation” it is really simple biology.
> Gamete size – its really simple.
> Stop confusing young autistic vulnerable people.
> **— Date Unknown**
> You think it IS moral to have male-bodied people who identify as trans women playing in elite comparative sport for female-bodied people?
> Gender can be socially-constructed.
> Sex is not. Female categories for sport where hard won. They need to stay female.
> **— April 8th, 2023**
> There are only two sexes.
> Gender expression can be broad and have a vast range of possibilities – literally 100s if not 1000s.
> Sex denialism is dangerous.
> We can have both things together. 2 sexes, 1000s of genders.
> **— Jul 10th, 2023**
> Telling male children who have feminine tights they must be female is what is happening and it is hurting boys.
> Go listen to detransitioners and what has happened as the culture has gone competely bonkers confusing sex and gender.
> **— March 31st, 2023**
There are more receipts floating around, however Kaliya appears to have deleted most of her Mastodon posts and marked her X account as Protected. These statements stand in stark contrast to her latest Mastodon statuses.
> I fully acknowledge the right of trans people to exist, thrive and live their lives to the fullest with equal rights and dignity. They have always been welcome at events I have helped organize over the last 20 years.
> **— March 29th, 2025**
When asked whether she still held her more problematic views in a follow-up comment, Young responded ambiguously with “I fully stand by the statement you are commenting on.”##
Community ResponseWithin the following 24 hours of the community learning about these statements, a number of prominent community figures have signaled an intent to withdraw from FediForum entirely, citing a sense of discomfort and lack of safety for event attendees. A number of people have stated a desire to form an alternate event, and are currently discussing details.###
Official UpdatesJohannes Ernst stepped forward shortly afterwards with a public update:
> In the past day or so, it was pointed out that my FediForum co-organizer has made some public statements that are incompatible with the kind of community we want to bring together at FediForum, and that I personally disagree with. Accordingly, Kaliya and I have agreed that she will be transitioning out of FediForum.
> **— March 30th, 2025**
This response rang hollow for some community members, and raised more questions about whether or not Young would still be attending the event or getting paid from the proceeds. One day later, FediForum posted an official update to clarify matters.
> Organizational update: FediForum, this time, is organized entirely by @j12t . The previous co-organizer is no longer involved.
> Johannes’ previous announcement said “transitioning out” because there were a lot of accounts to transfer and settings to change and responsibilities to be moved so the transition could not be immediate. However, we have been scrambling and believe it is now complete.
> (It is possible we missed something. If so, please point this out, gently if possible :-))
> **— March 31st, 2025**
While this more or less resolves the immediate issue, the organization continues to receive criticism for its management, communication, and handling of the situation.##
Official CancellationIn [a series of posts](https://social.wedistribute.org/@npub1cza…d6az/posts/Asd6IOG0qgG1cwJ7tA ), the FediForum account officially confirmed the event will be held at a later date. The transcription can be read below.
> We’ve all had a difficult few days. Tempers are high. Some of what’s been happening in the Fediforum comments section has reached insult-only stage and I have heard of physical safety concerns.
> This is needs to stop, right now, none of this helps anybody.
> So hold it, people.
> **FediForum April 1-2 is canceled, to be rescheduled at a future date.**
> In this environment, it is hard for me to see how a typical FediForum event could be successful tomorrow or the day after, we all need a time out. So I’m pulling the plug right now.
> Registration is disabled as of now. Everybody who has a ticket can ask for a full refund. If you don’t, we will credit the purchase price for a future FediForum. Use the e-mail on our contact page > [> https://fediforum.org/contact/](https://fediforum.org/contact/ )
> My apologies to the people who have diligently prepared for demos, presentations and sessions, and all of you who just wanted to come and help build a better social media future at FediForum.
> We will create opportunity for you in the future, even if it’s a little hazy right now how and when this future will come to pass. Thanks for your understanding.
> As next steps forward, we will be organizing a set of roundtables to listen to the FediForum community, to hear how we can do better — with a reconstituted organizing team. I clearly am not able to do this myself.
> We want to do this with the community, and with all parts of the community, including trans folks, black people, and the many other marginalized groups that are under attack from so many directions these days. We want to do what we can to stand with you.
> We will start this discussion tomorrow morning, right at the time when FediForum was supposed to start. We scrap the agenda that we were supposed to have, and make it a townhall or roundtable listening session, depending on how many people show.
> We have the online venue, you probably have reserved time for FediForum and have received invite codes already, we might as well use it.
> This one time, the roundtable / townhall will be for people who have invite codes already from their FediForum registration, to hopefully keep the size manageable. In the future, we will broaden participation.
> I realize now that have made a number of mistakes in the past few days, as well as before, top of which is that I have not communicated better — in both directions. Some misunderstandings as well as real problems could have been avoided.
> Thanks everybody who pointed this out. We/I need to fix this and do better, and I appreciate your help.
> But I own this. So: sorry!
> I want to thank everybody who got in touch, and in particular those of you (you know who you are!) who went out of their way to sit down with me to patiently and constructively explain their views on how we got here, and ideas on how to move forward.
> There’s lots I learned and I so much appreciate it! I owe you.
> We will update websites, venue etc as soon as we can and send cancelation notices by e-mail. Bear with us, that might take a bit.
> I’m looking forward to seeing you — and listening to you — in the morning!
[Share](https://shareopenly.org/share/?url=https://wedistribute.org&text=FediForum%20Has%20Been%20Canceled )

2025-03-20 21:55:02 UTC

Recently, [Ghost announced](https://activitypub.ghost.org/social-web-beta/ ) that their new ActivityPub offering is available in public beta. The company has been famously public with documenting their development, soliciting feedback from the wider community about how their integration should work. We took some time today to explore the beta, and showcase what the system can currently do. Keep in mind, these are still early stages for the platform, and [there’s a lot of development](https://github.com/TryGhost/Ghost/commits/main/ ) happening behind the scenes.##
The New Timeline[](https://i0.wp.com/wedistribute.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot_20250320_133236.png?ssl=1 )
The first big change you’ll likely notice is that Ghost’s dashboard now incorporates a timeline under the **Home** tab. The layout is simple and minimalist, and breaks out into several different sections: **Inbox**, **Feed**, **Notifications**, **Explore**, and **Profile**.###
Inbox vs FeedOne interesting design choice involves how content is split up between views. Long-form articles from your subscriptions show up in the Inbox, but general statuses instead land in the Feed. This seems like a good design decision, since Ghost is trying to straddle the line between being a social reader, and a general microblogging platform. You can easily keep track of your subscriptions and reading list, while also being able to move at a much faster pace on the timeline.
Inbox, left. Feed, right.In our testing, we followed a variety of different actors from across the Fediverse, including our ActivityPub-enabled WordPress site. Happily, our articles showed up in the Inbox without a hitch, and clicking on one opened up a clean reader view. This all happens without navigating away from your position in the Inbox or the Timeline.
Clicking on profiles also renders a social view for any Actor recognized by Ghost’s platform. There are still a few hiccups here: remote profiles can be a bit slow to load, and posts don’t always show up right away. Given that this is still a beta, it’s very likely that Ghost [will continue to focus](https://activitypub.ghost.org/warp-factor-5-mr-sulu/ ) on performance improvements.###
Social InteractionsSo, what does the experience of using Ghost’s social dashboard feel like? Honestly, it’s pretty slick. It’s hard to measure exactly how well the design nails the overall experience, considering I just set my own Ghost site up two days ago. As more interactions come in, this will be easier to measure.####
PublishingA form for status updates sits at the top of the feed, and it’s minimalist and unobtrusive. At the moment, it’s not particularly fleshed-out: hashtags, mentions, polls, visibility scopes, quote posts, and attachments don’t currently exist. This is something that I really hope to see improve in the short term, given that most of the Fediverse supports these basic features.####
NotificationsNotifications are also pretty simple here, but they look nice and can stack together when multiple people perform the same interaction. It might be nice to have the ability to filter notifications and view them by type, but this is a pretty decent start.####
Commenting and DiscussionsOne really nice affordance Ghost makes involves how comments work. Prior to this new development, Ghost historically did not natively support comments, and the main workaround most people relied on was to integrate [Disqus](https://disqus.com/ ) or another third-party commenting system. Now, social commenting is supported in several places: on the feed, in side discussions, and on article entries themselves.
One slight annoyance here is that the commenting system technically supports threaded conversations, but doesn’t do the best job at showing which parts of a thread have replies. You kind of just have to click in to a section and hope to see some responses.####
Search and DiscoveryCurrently, search and discovery are pretty limited. Ghost offers an Explore tab that highlights a number of featured accounts across the Fediverse, but it’s a short list. Search, on the other hand, just lets you look up people through their ActivityPub handles. It works, but it would be nice to be able to pull in remote content the way other Fediverse platforms do.
The biggest opportunity here involves Ghost’s expansive user base. There are a huge amount of Ghost publications out there. As more people and organizations opt into the beta, it would be great to see a similar design to how Ghost’s [publication explore page](https://ghost.org/explore/ ) works.
Top of the landing page for Ghost’s publication directory.##
Things We’d Love to SeeThis is more of a “wish list” than it is a set of defined expectations, but we think there are some things Ghost could do to really shine. <li>Privacy Scopes / Settings: some people will inevitably want to make some or all of their posts private, or choose not to be searchable on the network. Right now, this new timeline and integration lack any sort of configuration.</li><li>Profile Customization: Currently, Ghost doesn’t really let you customize your Social Web profile. Sure, you can see it, and it’s populated with data from your publication. However, some people are going to want to set an avatar and a header that don’t necessarily match their publication settings.</li><li>Rich Interactions: it would be great if the publisher modal could support hashtags, mentions, quote posts, polls, attachments, and visibility scopes. These are general baseline features supported by most Fediverse platforms to some degree.</li><li>Mastodon API: An increasing amount of Fediverse platforms leverage the Mastodon API to make use of the <a href="https://joinmastodon.org/apps" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">many, many Mastodon apps</a> out there. In lieu of an official Ghost mobile app, this would be a great way for people to stay tapped in to the Social Web with very little friction.</li><li>Identity Migration: I would love to move my whole Fediverse identity onto Ghost at some point. The WordPress-ActivityPub plugin <a href="https://github.com/Automattic/wordpress-activitypub/pull/1416" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">has recently started supporting this</a>, but being able to “move with your feet” is a great feature.</li><li>Discovery / Explore: Let us find existing Ghost publications that have ActivityPub enabled! Let us subscribe directly through the protocol!</li><li>Template / Theme Support: From a design perspective, I would love to find a way to incorporate my status updates into my blog’s theme. This is something we’ve been experimenting on with WordPress, and it would be cool to see more publishing platforms support this.</li>##
The Bottom LineOverall, the future is looking really bright! Ghost has done a phenomenal job in talking about their progress and findings in their [ActivityPub Newsletter](https://activitypub.ghost.org/archive/ ), and their product is really starting to take shape. I ended up migrating [my personal blog](https://deadsuperhero.com ) over for testing purposes, but I think I’m going to stick with it. What Ghost is promising in slick, polished, and works incredibly well. If they can focus on smoothing the rough edges, it will be a huge win for Fediverse publishing.
[Share](https://shareopenly.org/share/?url=https://wedistribute.org&text=Hands%20on%20with%20Ghost%26%238217%3Bs%20New%20ActivityPub%20Beta )

2025-02-20 04:19:08 UTC

*Note: SXSW ticket purchases are not required for this event.*
Flipboard and Surf are excited to host the first-ever Fediverse House at SXSW. Join us to learn about the brave new world of decentralized social media and why it promises a better way for consumers, creators, brands, and even democracy itself.
Located just three blocks from the Austin Convention Center, at the Speakeasy (412 Congress Ave.), the Fediverse House creates a space for strategic conversations, networking opportunities, and refreshments throughout the day. You’ll hear from visionaries, builders, and open-source advocates from places like Bluesky, Threads, the Social Web Foundation, and 404 Media.##
Schedule###
Sunday, March 9**Accelerating Innovation Across the Open Social Web (Part 1)** /[ RSVP](https://lu.ma/oc052rvr )<li>9am: Fediverse House at SXSW is open! Stop by for coffee and a morning of inspirational talks on the future of social and the internet.</li><li>9:30am: Welcome from Mike McCue, CEO and Co-Founder, Flipboard</li><li>9:45am: “A Better Web Is Possible” with Molly White, Researcher, Software Engineer and Writer</li><li>10am – 11am: David Imel’s “Fediverse Corner” with Mike Masnick, Board of Directors, Bluesky; Evan Prodromou, Co-author ActivityPub and Research Director, Social Web Foundation; and Peter Cottle, Software Engineer, Threads</li><li>11:30am – 1:30pm: Networking session and light lunch, presented by the Social Web Foundation </li><li>2pm – 3pm: Developer meetup and book signing with ActivityPub Co-author Evan Prodromou /<a href="https://lu.ma/bvump3m6"> RSVP</a></li>
**Accelerating Innovation Across the Open Social Web (Part 2)** /[ RSVP](https://lu.ma/cnr8fi3j )<li>4pm – 4:45pm: TBA</li><li>5pm – 5:45pm: Fireside chat with Bluesky CTO Paul Frazee and Mike McCue </li><li>6pm – 7pm: “Dot Social Live” with David Imel, co-host of <a href="https://podcasts.voxmedia.com/show/waveform-the-mkbhd-podcast">Waveform podcast</a>, and Mike McCue</li>
**The Open Social Social** /[ RSVP](https://lu.ma/vqb0crrl )<li>7pm – 10pm: Evening party — refreshments and tunes with your new fedi friends </li>###
Monday, March 10 **The New Playbook /**[ RSVP](https://lu.ma/dvfp9lri )<li>9am – 9:45am: “From Walled Gardens to the Open Social Web: The Next Evolution of Brand Storytelling” with Gina Michnowicz, CEO and CCO at The Craftsman Agency</li><li>10am – 10:45am: “Creators and the Fediverse,” with Peter Cottle, Software Engineer, Threads, and TBA, moderated by Shira Lazar, Creator and Founder of <a href="https://flipboard.com/@whatstrending">What’s Trending</a></li><li>11am – 11:45am: “Building Communities,” with Rose Wang, COO, Bluesky, and Andy Piper, Developer Relations Lead, Mastodon, moderated by Mia Quagliarello, Head of Creator Community, Flipboard</li><li>12:30pm – 2pm: Networking lunch and demo of<a href="https://surf.social/"> Surf*</a>, a new kind of browser unifying the social web, with Mike McCue</li>
**Publishers in the Fediverse /**[ **RSVP**](https://lu.ma/k5meba69 )<li>3pm: Fireside chat with <a href="https://pluralistic.net/">Cory Doctorow</a>, Journalist and Sci-Fi Author, and Mike McCue </li><li>4pm – 4:45pm: “Publishers: Audience and Autonomy” with <a href="https://www.404media.co/">404 Media</a>’s Jason Koebler, Texas Observer’s <a href="https://kitoconnell.com/">Kit O’Connell</a>, and TBA</li>
**404 Media Takeover and** **Evening Party** /[ RSVP](https://lu.ma/hffhi9sn )<li>5pm – 5:45pm: “Generative AI Is Eating the Internet”: 404 Media’s Sam Cole and Jason Koebler and <a href="https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/brian-merchant/blood-in-the-machine/9780316487740/">Blood in the Machine</a>’s Brian Merchant discuss how AI slop is taking over the internet, and how humans can fight back.</li><li>6pm – 6:45 pm: “Indie Media Happy Hour and Q&A”: A free-flowing discussion about how to set up and run an independent media outlet featuring 404 Media and friends </li><li>7pm – 10pm: Evening party hosted by your friends at 404 Media</li>
*To get access before SXSW, go [here](https://waitlist.surf.social/ ) and use SURFSXSW as the referral code.*

2025-02-19 17:32:16 UTC

The Fediverse’s premiere Trust & Safety organization is struggling to make ends meet, and needs help with meeting its goals.
https://wedistribute.org/2025/02/iftas-funding-crisis/

2025-02-03 15:56:25 UTC

In the face of public backlash, a Fediverse developer is forced to shut down a hobby project after people misunderstood what it did.
https://wedistribute.org/2025/02/fedionfire-shutdown/

2025-01-23 14:40:58 UTC

After years of hardcore development, the Pixelfed project is taking a big next step by seeking crowdfunding dollars on Kickstarter.
https://wedistribute.org/2025/01/pixelfed-kickstarter/

2024-12-05 01:03:20 UTC

Meta’s social microblogging platform has enabled a new, fundamentally important feature: the ability to look up and follow profiles from the network.
https://wedistribute.org/2024/12/threads-fediverse-profiles/

2024-09-26 19:20:15 UTC

This is our second microblogging test for the #Fediverse from #WordPress. Some things might still come up looking funky, we’re currently exploring how to make content look and feel as native as possible.
https://wedistribute.org/note/12189/

2024-08-07 14:55:01 UTC

Bluesky’s Public Benefit Corporation expands its roster by bringing in the author of “Protocols, Not Platforms” to help take them to the next level.
https://wedistribute.org/2024/08/mike-masnick-joins-bluesky/

2024-08-06 21:48:57 UTC

A grassroots fundraising campaign for the 2024 election is trending towards half a million dollars raised by Fediverse members.
https://wedistribute.org/2024/08/mastodon-for-harris/

2024-07-24 23:27:42 UTC

[NeoDB](https://github.com/neodb-social/neodb ) is similar to [Bookwyrm](https://wedistribute.org/platform/bookwyrm/ ), in the sense that it can be used to track reading progress on books, and lets users write reviews. Where it differs is that it allows people to track so much more: Movies, Albums, Games, TV Shows, and Podcasts are all included as possible entries. In theory, NeoDB could be used to review just about anything, which is part of what makes it so interesting.
[](https://i0.wp.com/wedistribute.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/image-10.png?ssl=1 )
The project is particularly interesting due to [its origin story](https://neodb.net/origin/ ). It started off as a Chinese community dedicated to reviewing cultural works – books, music, films, games, you name it. Over the course of 15 years, this group produced a lively archive of personal insights, debates, and stories. Over time, this community has had to deal with account bans, deleted reviews, and removal of culutral works on their platforms of choice. Embracing the Fediverse has provided the community with a viable alternative.##
Project PhilosophyWe’re doing to get into the nuts and bolts of what features and capabilities NeoDB offers, because that’s what we do. Rather than simply *describe* features, however, I want to briefly touch on the *core philosophy* behind the platform’s design, and its significance.
The core of NeoDB’s concept is around data ownership, portability, and censorship resistance. Moreover, the platform offers an incredible piece of insight about data: “You don’t have to start over from scratch. You can totally just add your old data to your graph.” This idea is key to understanding what NeoDB actually is: a tool for piecing your online data together under one open, free, federated account.
You can even import podcast subscriptions?!
How do you build a comprehensive review system in a federated, decentralized social space? A traditional approach would have users perform manual data entry for whatever they’re reviewing, prior to actually writing a review. That kind of process can be arduous, and introduce a ton of friction. To work around this NeoDB does something brilliant: just pull that data from places where it already exists, and make it easy to find. So far, NeoDB supports the following sources:<li>IMDB</li><li>Letterboxd</li><li>GoodReads</li><li>Bandcamp</li><li>Spotify</li><li>Apple Music</li><li>Steam</li><li>BoardGameGeek</li><li>Podcasts via RSS</li>
And that’s just *to start with*. Because the real secret sauce here, the thing that makes NeoDB so compelling as a platform, is that you can just hook into existing systems to create search results. If someone writes a review for that result, hey, that review and the thing being reviewed can both be federated. You get a comprehensive catalogue of things *most people know about*, and an easy way to review or add them to your “To Read / To Watch / To Listen” list.
You could literally [write a NeoDB integration](https://neodb.net/internals/catalog/#add-a-new-site ) for anything – Yelp reviews, Nexus Mods, business reviews from Google, Apps from an App Store, whatever – and then plug it into the Fediverse. This kind of approach could provide building blocks for a whole new generation of alternatives to popular review platforms, while also allowing users to move over all their old data at the same time. Platforms like Mastodon could hypothetically leverage NeoDB as a data source to enrich discovery and search.##
System ArchitectureNeoDB’s architecture is also noteworthy, because the backend is based on a highly modified version of [TakahÄ“](https://jointakahe.org/ ), a federated social platform. Not only does this allow users to interact with other parts of the Fediverse, it also enables instances to share reviews with one another through a relay system, aiding discovery by sharing things people are talking about.
Curiously, this platform allows you to integrate your account with your existing Fediverse and Bluesky accounts. The sign-in process is easy and straightforward, and gives the added benefit of automatically finding your mutuals already present on NeoDB. It also syncronizes your profile and avatar to match your other services.
It also appears that NeoDB supports cross-posting to your connected accounts…though, at the time of this writing, I wasn’t able to get it to work. Laurens Hof has an example of what reviews look like when posted to Bluesky, however.
https://bsky.app/profile/laurenshof.online/post/3kwp3mnrg7v25##
Building My Social GraphI decided to go all-in with NeoDB, to see what my resulting profile would look like. Surprisingly, there are far fewer integrations for data import than there are for search providers: right now, the platform only lets you import from Douban, Goodreads, Letterboxd, and RSS feeds for podcasts.
I decided to pull in my Goodreads data, Leterboxd movies, and podcast feeds to see what would happen. The import kicked off without any problems, and [my profile](https://neodb.social/users/deadsuperhero/ ) was soon populated with hundreds of entries. Hopefully, we’ll see an increase in the amount of available services to import from sometime soon…I would be ecstatic to pull in data from my Steam account someday.
I didn’t have to do anything other than import my podcast subscriptions. This page created itself, and even produced a list of playable episodes.
Podcast import is particularly interesting, as the process basically takes an OPML file from your dedicated podcast player, and automatically creates a dedicated page if one doesn’t already exist. I managed to import *[Decoder](https://neodb.social/podcast/68mw053EdcLd6zoVu3iP9J )*, *[Dot Social](https://neodb.social/podcast/111zO89QpizZOIY1SMGZ8V )*, and *[Decentered](https://neodb.social/podcast/0bNfiOj2qf6q3r0ntEziga )* without any major issues. It’s a really cool trick, and might be a great way for Fediverse-adjacent podcasts to promote themselves.
To the two people following me, I’m sorry.
There’s one minor setback to performing all these data imports: stuff that you pull in will automatically create items in your timeline. If someone’s following you, they might get inundated with lots and lots of updates as your entire library gets pulled in. This wouldn’t be so bad if the created status matched the timestamp of when you watched, read, or listened to something, but it all gets marked as happening on the same day the data got imported. I guess my point is, do all your importing before anyone follows you?##
Adding to the CatalogueNot everything shows up in the search results. I wasn’t able to find *[Delicious in Dungeon](https://neodb.social/tv/75MyuGLyRnRFsZ4nCuJzqF ),* *[Babylon 5](https://neodb.social/tv/3kWFRCpvlQsx3WlW4gxoqa ),* or *[Halt and Catch Fire](https://neodb.social/tv/6QK2VWCMI1zeQxuHocriz3 )* in my search for various television series to add to my profile, although there were some entries for individual seasons of shows. Some of this was because the entries were in Chinese, while others were broken out by seasons. Regardless, I needed to update the metadata, and in some cases, enter shows manually.
The manual creation process isn’t too hard to do, but I found myself confused by some of the fields at times. It’s not always obvious whether I need to fill out Duration for a show, or Episode Length. This is a situation where the platform would greatly benefit from some UX polish and a little bit of helper text.##
Writing ReviewsThe review system for NeoDB is pretty much everything you’ve come to expect from other platforms. In addition to a star rating system, there’s a progress tracker, a place to write a comprehensive review, privacy scopes, and the ability to cross-post to your social timeline.
[](https://i0.wp.com/wedistribute.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/image-14.png?ssl=1 )[](https://i0.wp.com/wedistribute.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/image-15.png?ssl=1 )Reviews automatically federate out from your NeoDB actor, which can be followed on different Fediverse platforms. Overall, they look pretty decent from the Mastodon side of things. I would love to see some compatibility work happen so that Bookwyrm could also parse NeoDB book reviews, but maybe that will happen in the near future.##
In ConclusionNeoDB is an absolutely fascinating project that flew under the radar. It does some extremely interesting things with data sources to bootstrap discovery and make it easy to review things. The project really leans in to the concept of building your social graph using data you already have from other networks. It’s intriguing to consider what things could be built on top of NeoDB, and how it might end up being a key piece of the Social Web.
We wish the NeoDB the best of luck in continuing to develop their platform, and can’t wait to see what happens in the near future.
[Share](https://shareopenly.org/share/?url=https://wedistribute.org/2024/07/neodb-review-culture&text=NeoDB%20is%20a%20Review%20System%20for%20Culture )

2024-03-17 21:44:35 UTC

Even if you’ve been a part of the Fediverse for a long time, you’d be excused if you had never heard of [Nomadic Identity](https://joinfediverse.wiki/The_Zotlabs_projects ). Within the confines of Mastodon, it’s a relatively unknown concept. But, for some of us, it’s something of a pipe dream: decentralized identity management with remote access control. On paper, that doesn’t sound too exciting, but it’s a huge concept. Even more exciting: [the guy who designed it is bringing it to ActivityPub](https://fediversity.site/channel/mikedev?mid=https://fediversity.site/item/6b1992db-c504-44e8-ae0f-ac2f0dadb8b6 ).##
What the Heck is Nomadic Identity?Nomadic Identity is a concept pioneered by [Mike Macgirvin](https://fediversity.site/channel/mikedev ), a longtime builder in the Fediverse. If you’ve ever used Friendica, Hubzilla, or Streams, you’ve used software written by this guy.
Got Zot — Mike Macgirvin on building your own apps and protocols
An interview with the brilliant mind behind the Zot protocol, MagicAuth, and Nomadic Identity.
One of the big problems in federated social systems involves permissions, identity, and data. We can sum this up in three parts:<li>Permission Management – If I visit a friend’s site to interact with something, there typically isn’t a way for me to do anything while I’m over there. I have to go back to my server.</li><li>Identity Management – Okay, I have a way to validate that I’m really me. What do I have as a fallback if that fails?</li><li>Data Portability – What happens to my stuff if my server goes down? Can I move to another servers and get my statuses, messages, and interactions back? Could I even just do it temporarily, to keep my followers, while my server gets sorted out?</li>
From the end user’s side of the house, everything boils down to how their identities are coupled to their instances. ActivityPub-based systems like Mastodon do a pretty decent job with letting people migrate from one server to another, letting users pull in remote statuses from a URL, and letting users decide who is allowed to see or reply to their posts. It’s a far better situation than what came before ActivityPub.
At the end of the day, though, what is currently provided in the ActivityPub side of the network is somewhat limited, compared to what the Zot protocol brings to the table with Nomadic Identity. Let’s dive into the three different components: OpenWebAuth, Channel Relays, and Data Migration.###
OpenWebAuthOpenWebAuth used to be called “Magic Auth”, because of how seamless the experience is. Instead of only being able to manage things from your social dashboard, you can jump from one part of the Fediverse to another, and *your permissions will be granted automatically.* It all happens in the browser.
The way this works is relatively simple: your browser accesses a token inside of a cookie. That token references your Digital Identity in the Fediverse, verifies it, and a handshake is performed. Afterwards, anything you were given permission to access unlocks and becomes visible on the page.
https://spectra.video/w/jRVmwD2Bcs8iHQazJqMGZM
OpenWebAuth solves one of the most frustrating UX problems the Fediverse currently has: dealing with remote content that you discovered somewhere else.###
Channel RelaysChannel Relays are the second major piece of the puzzle here. Using a common ID, you can associate separate accounts across the network with one another. Each relay is verified through an Authorization process, and then each relay is tethered to one another like so:
Using your credentials, you can log into any one of these three relays, and post to your followers. If the server my work account is on suddenly goes down, I can still log in to my family account or blog, and keep interacting like nothing happened. I’m still in contact with my followers, and if I want, my relay accounts can replicate statuses posted from elsewhere.
A few clear benefits emerge from this:<li>Network Resilience</li><li>Censorship Resistance</li><li>Ease of Migration</li>
In fact, this mechanism is so good, it feeds directly into the next use-case: Data Migration.###
Data MigrationSo, we already have two pieces: multiple identities can be connected together across a network, logging into one can allow you to post from another, and a person can decide, at any time, which account will serve as their primary.
Because all of these things are set up, the act of moving your stuff becomes relatively trivial. All of your accounts are aware of each other. If you switch to a new primary, you can trigger an update to all of your existing conversation threads and comments to switch the author, and replicate the data on your end. Thanks to the way that Nomadic Identity is set up, those verified parts of your identity can perform those kinds of actions, whereas no other account can. ##
Why is This Important?As we continue to think about how to further develop the Fediverse and give people more robust tools capable of doing more things, we have to consider the plumbing that holds it all together. Identity Management is one of those pieces of plumbing that’s surprisingly shaky, and requires serious consideration.
> Digital Identities aren’t something unique to the fediverse and it’s not something Mastodon could stop if they wanted to. Nomadic identity is coming to the internet. The only question is who is going to own your identity. VISA/Mastercard, your government, Google, Microsoft, or you.Mike Macgirvin
As Threads, Tumblr, and other big social networks come into the space, developers need to think about the stakes. The user migration flow is decent for moving from one server to another, but it’s relatively brittle, and currently only updates a reference from one account to another. The network lacks meaningful ways for people to pull their posts, messages, and media from the place they left.
The biggest takeaway here is that these are mature, time-tested mechanisms that could add extra layers of user agency and control to the Fediverse. ##
What’s Next?Mike is already doing the work of figuring out how to retrofit these concepts onto ActivityPub. It’s likely that we’ll see additional [Fediverse Enhancement Proposals](https://codeberg.org/fediverse/fep ) to accommodate certain needs. For implementers, there are a few existing FEPs in the DRAFT stage that come recommended:<li><a href="https://codeberg.org/fediverse/fep/src/branch/main/fep/ef61/fep-ef61.md">FEP-ef61: Portable Objects</a></li><li><a href="https://codeberg.org/fediverse/fep/src/branch/main/fep/521a/fep-521a.md">FEP-521a: Representing actor’s public keys</a></li><li><a href="https://codeberg.org/fediverse/fep/src/branch/main/fep/8b32/fep-8b32.md">FEP-8b32: Object Integrity Proofs</a></li><li><a href="https://codeberg.org/fediverse/fep/src/branch/main/fep/61cf/fep-61cf.md">FEP-61cf: The OpenWebAuth Protocol</a></li>
[Share](https://shareopenly.org/share/?url=https://wedistribute.org/2024/03/activitypub-nomadic-identity&text=Oh%2C%20Zot%21%20Nomadic%20Identity%20is%20Coming%20to%20ActivityPub )