2y ago

Quick question - is there a way to format a link to a lemmy post so it opens through your home instance if you click it?

I notice often people might cross post something and say (for instance) cross posted from https://lemmy.ca/post/1916492 (random example which is the link that I just followed)

Is there any way to format a link like that so your home instance will just open it up so you're still logged in and can interact with it?

The link I followed goes to the Canadian lemmy server but it's actually looking at a post from beehaw.org, so it's extra useless 😒

Eg, if we could use the !technology@beehaw.org part with an ID? something like 6769052!technology@beehaw.org and our home instance could parse it to a link, with some tools to make it easy to add?

EDIT: This isn't a feature, but there is a github issue feature request at https://github.com/LemmyNet/lemmy/issues/2987 for exactly this

EDIT 2: appears to be a userscript solution, but i haven't tried it. lives here though: https://git.kaki87.net/KaKi87/userscripts/src/branch/master/fediverseRedirector/README.md

39 comments

No, not currently. Post IDs are per-instance.
For instance, this post is:
https://lemmy.world/post/2222681
https://lemmy.ml/post/2487644
https://lemmynsfw.com/post/458487
- Found the feature request issue, it's at https://github.com/LemmyNet/lemmy/issues/2987
- ok sounds like it's not a feature - the link format i suggested includes both the instance ID and the instance url, so it would be possible for your home server to use that to preprocess to a useable link. I wonder if there's a suggestions box 🙂
  
  I just got a PR merged today that might help with this. I'll start experimenting with it more over the next week or so.
  Basic theory is that I can detect at least lemmy posts in the comment bodies and then rewrite those to your local instance. Primarily question is going to be performance, as remote network calls will be necessary.
- What’s this post’s link for beehaw.org? I cannot see it at https://beehaw.org/c/fediverse@lemmy.world although some other posts are visible. I thought that I would see an “Error: defererated” message if that was the case.
  
  "Defederation" means that new posts aren't accepted from instance A to instance B; it doesn't (currently) generate an error if you try to access a community c@A on instance B.
  
  Hi there! Looks like you linked to a Lemmy community using a URL instead of its name, which doesn't work well for people on different instances. Try fixing it like this: !fediverse@lemmy.world

I have just been using this script. Simple and works great. Also, it let's you setup multiple home instances so if you have a back up account elsewhere to deal with downtime or an account for other things 👀 it's fantastic.
- I use this one as well. Works great.
- oh nice. thanks!

There are a few browser extensions that you might like and are least worth checking out. Doesn't quite do what you are looking for but might help some.
https://github.com/FackJox/lemmy-link
https://github.com/cynber/lemmy-instance-assistant

I would prefer an OAuth-like solution where you can “Log in with” your home instance on other instances’ URLs.
Is there a way for your home instance to set a cross-site cookie, accessible by all federated servers, that would store its URL so that they automatically contact it for the login process? Setting up such a cookie should be optional but enabled by default on account creation, which would make federation very seamless. Ideally, it would happen without fetching JS from all federated servers, which would significantly load the tiny personal ones, although I doubt the technology is there.
Also, I assume that browsers block such cookies because they’ve been used to track people across websites.
And yeah, you could do that with browser extensions but you cannot get everyone to install one.
- Is it so desirable to sent even more info, this time potentially non-public, if you decide to interact with the other instance?
  This includes partial information about your online identity, namely identifying you uniquely. Not all instances should be considered trustworthy, so your log-in token may get re-used by a malicious instance to post things in your name here and there. Kind of a silly situation, favorable to spammers for example.
  
  I don’t think the other site needs your login token. Assuming your home instance is lemmy.menf.in, I guess it would just
  See the fediverse-wide cookie (this technology may not exist yet) that your instance is lemmy.menf.in
  Fetch code from lemmy.menf.in that would verify your session with its own session token (if you don’t have automatic fediverse-wide login enabled, it will take you to a confirmation page first).
  The website will retain its URL but become nothing but a frame to embed the same content now fetched via lemmy.menf.in. You can safely interact using your account now.
  Because the address bar URL remains the same, even non-technical users now understand that they’re viewing another instance while logged in via their own. Because this happens automatically for all instances whitelisted by lemmy.menf.in if you have automatic fediverse-wide login enabled, federation is now completely seemless and nobody complains. I understand that setting this up securely and compatibly might be difficult but could greatly simplify the UX because posts, comments, communities and user pages would have just one visible URL and no ambiguous IDs.

I think you can paste the permalink into the searchbar and that would show you the original post that you can interact with

39 comments