Search

The foundation will focus on improving ActivityPub and the user experience, informing policymakers, and educating people about the fediverse and how they can participate. They currently have some backing from Meta, Flipboard, Ghost, Mastodon, and others, and the Ford Foundation has also offered the organization a large grant to get the project started. In total, SWF is closing in on $1 million in financial support (or was, as of September) (from TechCrunch)

cross-posted from: https://lemm.ee/post/56496251

> I'd like to add to suggest a couple of things regarding Mastodon and user onboarding/retention. > > # The Server Selection Problem^TM > The single biggest problem with Mastodon adoption is the fact people see talk about a server and give up. As such, servers need to be removed from the conversation and onboarding process. A server still needs to be selected for a new user, however, which raises the question: How should we select a server for a new user? > > The obvious solution is to simply direct users to mastodon\.social, which is actually what Mastodon already does to a certain extent. The issue with this is that the Fediverse is meant to be decentralized. As such, it's counterproductive to funnel people towards a single server. This causes maintenance bottlenecks and privacy/data-protection concerns. > > !Mastodon's landing page. > > As such, there needs to be some sort of method that ranks servers based on a few factors in order to select the optimal server for any given user, while keeping the decentralized nature of the Fediverse in mind. > > ## Why any server? > First, it's important to answer the question of why would any given user pick any given server. > > Generally speaking, the server isn't a big deal, as in, any server allows users to interact with the whole of the network in its full capacity. > > All servers are Mastodon, after all. > > However, there are differences. The most significant ones are, I'd say: location, uptime, and language. > > A user benefits from being registered to a server that's geographically close to them, as that leads to a better connection. Additionally, servers with high uptime and stability are preferred, as users may have different times they use the server and nobody likes to try and access a server and see that it's down for any number of reasons. Finally, users need to be able to understand the language the server is in (obviously). > > I believe these three factors should be at the forefront of the decision-making process for deciding what server to be suggested to any given user on sign-up. > > ## Auto-selector > With that, comes the solution: a server auto-selector. A game I play, DCSS, actually does something similar for online play. > > !DCSS server selection > (I have my location turned off and there are very few servers, as you can see, so listing them is trivial.) > > This isn't exactly a novel scientific breakthrough, but I think it's a significant notion for helping the onboarding process for new Mastodon users. > > A server auto-selector should filter servers to suggest by following these steps: > - Detect the user's system language. > - Detect the user's location. > - Calculate the server's uptime score. > - Pseudo-rank user-count. > > I believe the first two points are self-explanatory. Being that Mastodon (and the Fediverse, in general) stands firmly against data-harvesting, location data should probably not be mandatorily collected. It should be easy to either ask the user for some vague information or simply allow them to skip this step entirely, even if it might affect the user experience. Additionally, there's the issue that many servers don't make it known where they're hosted. Ideally, this could change to facilitate server selection for the users, but there's always the point that, if a server doesn't say where it's hosted, it gets pulled down by the algorithm, which in turn encourages divulging that kind of information; this might a problem solved by the solution, if you get my meaning. > > What I mean by uptime score is simply an evaluation of the server's uptime history. For example, it's not good policy to direct users towards servers that are often unavailable, it might be disadvantageous to direct users to servers with too-frequent downtime for maintenance, and so on. As such, the server auto-selector should calculate a sort of "score" for any server that fits the first two points. I can't say how this should be calculated, exactly, but I'm sure some computer-knowers out there can come up with a less-than-terrible methodology for this. > > The last point is something that I think should be taken into account as well, regarding the user-count of the servers. As I mentioned, we can't funnel users towards a single server, but another issue is that we should actually encourage user dispersion over many servers. The outlined method might already do this to a sufficient extent, but I suggest doing some sort of randomization of filtered servers based on user-count. I think it's wrong to simply plug a new user into the least-populated server around, but I do think that over-populated servers, in a relative sense, should be discouraged by the server-selector. > > Worst case scenario, a random server that passes the uptime score point can be selected for any new user. > > ## The onboarding experience > Basically, this should be as simple as possible. The more questions need to be answered, the worse. > > I think a simple "Join Mastodon" button is the best. Just a big blue button in the middle of the homepage. > > Server selection should start as soon as the new user accesses the joinmastodon website, and clicking the button simply redirects the user to the sign-up process for that server. > > I believe this approach would increase adoption of Mastodon by streamlining the server selection process, as well as help the continuous decentralization of the Fediverse. > > # The Feed Problem > Another significant issue with Mastodon is the feed and community/discovery aspects. > > Creating a new Mastodon account yields... Nothing. An empty feed! > > !New account, empty feed. > > This is absolutely terrible and ruins user retention. I've had several people tell me that this first-experience emptiness completely turned them off from Mastodon. It's not intuitive, and it needs to be corrected. > > ## A simple solution > > Mastodon does have feeds, but they're all tucked away in the Explore and Live Feeds tabs. > > I think the single biggest change that Mastodon can make, as far as this goes, is to shift the Explore->Posts feed to the Home tab. Just do it like Twitter or Bluesky, make the discovery feed the first thing a new user encounters. > > That, by itself, should make a difference in terms of user retention. > > *** > > Maybe I'm delusional and severely underestimating how doable this is, but I really believe Mastodon needs to change the way it deals with new users if we want it to actually grow into a strong social media, keyword social (it needs people). > > Thoughts?

Ibis is a federated encyclopedia which uses the ActivityPub protocol, just like Mastodon or Lemmy. If you want to start a wiki for a TV series, a videogame, or an open source project then Ibis is for you! You can register on an existing instance or install it on your own server. Then you can start editing on the topic of your choice, and connect to other Ibis instances for different topics. Federation ensures that articles get mirrored across many servers, and can be read even if the original instance goes down. Ibis is written in Rust and Webassembly, fully open source to make future enshittification impossible.

---

This release features a redesigned explore page to browse instances and recently edited articles. Articles now have federated, nested comments, as well as more subscription options to get notified about new edits and comments. There are also lots of minor changes and improvements.

Changelog

• New explore page with list of instances which shows the topic, update time and list of recently edited articles
• Implement nested comments for articles
• Users can subscribe to articles, in order to get notified about new edits and comments
• Settings for instance name and topic
• Much better error handling
• Add HTML title tag for all pages
• Icons
• Make diff view readable in dark mode (thanks @Earthgames)
• Basic about page
• Show pending edits which have not federated yet
• Various bug fixes

The next major version 0.3.0 will include federation with Lemmy, Mastodon and other compatible Fediverse platforms. The plan is to treat each Ibis instance as a community, with articles as posts. This way users on Lemmy and compatible platforms can directly browse, read and comment on wiki articles.

To follow Ibis development subscribe to !ibis@lemmy.ml or join the Matrix chat. Contributions to the source code are more than welcome.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/25243870

> I recently started messing around with ActivityPub, Mastodon and Lemmy and created LemmyLink, an open-source bot that seamlessly bridges Reddit and Lemmy. Triggered by the phrase “LemmyLink!” in a Reddit post title, body, or comment, the bot automatically creates a corresponding post on your chosen Lemmy instance. This allows Bidirectional post and comments between Reddit and Lemmy by triggering a Reddit bot. > > Feel free to play around with it on r/LemmyLink. Simply include "LemmyLink!" anywhere in your post title, body or comment on the LemmyLink sub. This is setup on my own Lemmy instance lemmylink.com currently not federated and marked as a bot to avoid spamming the Fediverse. > > There are some pros and cons to bridging communities but I think if done with transparency and user opt-in it could serve as an interesting way to bring more users in to the Fediverse. But, I'm curious what others think. > > How LemmyLink Works > > Only works for Subreddits and Lemmy communities specified in the code > Reddit users include "LemmyLink!" in their Reddit post or comment > LemmyLink posts the Reddit comment or post to Lemmy > LemmyLink responds to the Reddit post or comment with link back to the Lemmy post > The code is rough so go easy on me but it is available on GitHub: > https://github.com/ateames/LemmyLink > > Feel free to fork it, suggest improvements, or simply try it out.

Hello everyone,

Has anyone ever considered potentially building or launching a platform similar to the Internet Archive but using ActivityPub?

This could serve as a decentralized network to document, preserve, and protect online content from loss, censorship, and other threats, ensuring its availability for future generations.

For those unfamiliar, the Internet Archive is a non-profit that has been preserving digital media and promoting universal access to knowledge since 1996.

It’s famous for services like the Wayback Machine and Archive-It.

Given the importance of preserving digital heritage, especially in the context of censorship and data loss, a Fediverse-based equivalent could fill a crucial role.

The decentralized nature of ActivityPub could provide a robust alternative to centralized solutions.

I'd love to see this kind of project come to life, but, unfortunately, I lack the motivation, time, and energy to take it on alone.

Has anyone else ever considered something similar?

Are there any existing projects that might be interested in this direction?

___________________________________________

Internet Archive Wikipedia

I've been exploring various Fediverse platforms and noticed we have alternatives for many popular social media sites:

• Friendica (Facebook-like)
• Pixelfed (Instagram-like)
• Lemmy (Reddit-like)
• Mastodon (Twitter-like)
• etc.

But I'm curious: Is there a Fediverse equivalent to the classic MySpace, or its modern revival, Spacehey?

Spacehey Apple App Store

Spacehey Google Play Store

Spacehey Wikipedia

MySpace

MySpace Wikipedia

I'm talking about a platform that offers:

• Highly customizable profiles
• A focus on personal expression through layout and design
• Music integration
• The nostalgic feel of early 2000s social networking
• etc.

Has anyone come across a project like this in the Fediverse? Or do you think there's potential for developing such a platform?

Alternatively, if that's too much work/hassle, has anyone ever considered reaching out to the SpaceHey team about the possibility of them potentially federating their platform? It could be an interesting addition to the Fediverse ecosystem.

There's been some talk about Spacehey Federation.

I'd love to hear your thoughts, experiences, or any leads on this topic.

I'm not sure who is pushing #GlobalSwitchDay probably won't amount to anything, some of these platforms are certainly not ready a massive migration. The #RedditMigration was rough enough on Lemmy, it actually murdered #Kbin; #loops #PeerTube and #Friendica don't have nearly enough well-maintained instances to support any sort of massive migration. And Signal, well its better than WhatsApp, and its mostly Free Software, but it doesn't really align with all of the others that are, or at least intend to be in the case of Loops, federated services based on ActivityPub.

!#GlobalSwitchDay

About 20 days ago, I had made a blog post about an idea I had for a better federated search engine model.

It didn't take much time for it to develop into a thing I am fixated on.

I am putting the code out, its not ready or working, but it is something I am really happy to make and has filled my time with joy designing.

---

My current plan is the following:

1. Get the basic web-ring creation process down
2. Get scraping jobs functional
3. Provide a basic query system
4. Implement basic user accounts
5. Implement basic federation
6. Implement basic moderation

Once I am done with the core features that I have in mind, I will start working on adding more features and quality of life improvements.

---

Some features I want to work on to make this software more enticing to administrators:

1. The ability to customize what is publicly accessible.
2. The ability to edit the pages HTML style on the fly, without having to recompile.
3. Containers for easy deployment.

---

In regards to application design, I am taking pages from my book in developing Android applications, along with cherry-picking from projects @nutomic@lemmy.ml made.

1. MVC design, with static pages to provide the fastest loading experience for users
2. Bootstrap to make the pages responsive for any device
3. Diesel to abstract database interaction and migration.
4. Handlebars for view templating
5. Axum as the HTTP core

Hopefully these design decisions make my application as debt free as possible.

---

If you have any advice or suggestion, please do give, I want to know how I can do better or avoid common pitfalls for newcomers!

If you have criticisms, please be constructive and have empathy towards the fact of me doing this because it makes me happy.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.wtf/post/15816115

> I hope this directory will help you find the PeerTube platform that fits your needs. I must say, I am a little worried how few platforms actually meet the criteria I've set. It's possible I've missed some, so please let me know in the comments. Enjoy. > > # General platforms > The following directory consists of PeerTube platforms (instances/servers) that fits the following criteria: > - A general platform. > - Registration is open. > - Follows (federates) at least 500 PeerTube platforms. > - Provides some amount of storage space for users. > > ::: spoiler Dalek.zone > - Link: dalek.zone > - Follows: 1131 > - Storage: 20 GB (2 GB per day) > - Location: USA > - Live streaming:: Yes, with transcoding > ::: > > ::: spoiler Infosec.Exchange Video > - Link: video.infosec.exchange > - Follows: 969 > - Storage: Unlimited > - Location: Germany > - Live streaming:: Yes, with transcoding > ::: > > ::: spoiler Freediverse.com > - Link: freediverse.com > - Follows: 744 > - Storage: 500 MB > - Location: Canada > - Live streaming:: Yes, no transcoding > ::: > > ::: spoiler video.4d2.org > - Link: video.4d2.org > - Follows: 738 > - Storage: 20 GB > - Location: USA > - Live streaming:: Yes, no transcoding > ::: > > ::: spoiler PeerTube.wtf > - Link: PeerTube.wtf > - Follows: 664 > - Storage: 100 GB (20 GB per day) > - Location: Denmark > - Live streaming:: Yes, with transcoding > ::: > > ::: spoiler PeerTube.Anduin > - Link: peertube.anduin.net > - Follows: 548 > - Storage: Unlimited > - Location: Norway > - Live streaming:: No > ::: > --- > # Topic specific platforms > The following directory consists of PeerTube platforms (instances/servers) that fits the following criteria: > - Registration is open. > - Provides some amount of storage space for users. > - Allows other platforms to follow (federate) it. > > Please be aware that the following platforms are only recommended for content creators, as these platforms only follow a few PeerTube platforms. If you are a viewer, pick a general platform from above! > > ::: spoiler Hardlimit > - Link: video.hardlimit.com > - Topics allowed: Technology, in English or Spanish. > - Follows: 0 > - Followers: 32 > - Storage: Unlimited > - Location: Spain > - Live streaming:: Yes, no transcoding > ::: > > ::: spoiler MakerTube > - Link: makertube.net > - Topics allowed: Makers, musicians, artists and DIY folks. > - Follows: 60 > - Followers: 67 > - Storage: Unlimited > - Location: Germany > - Live streaming:: Yes, no transcoding > ::: > > ::: spoiler LinuxRocks PeerTube > - Link: peertube.linuxrocks.online > - Topics allowed: Technology, Gaming > - Follows: 20 > - Followers: 40 > - Storage: 50 GB > - Location: USA > - Live streaming:: Yes, with transcoding > ::: > > --- > You should always go to a platforms /about page and read up on the rules and the features enabled on the platform. In some cases, registration requires approval by moderators. If you are interested in streaming, also make sure to check if this feature is enabled on the platform you wish to register on. > > --- > If you want a complete list, you can take a look at Framasoft's own list.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.wtf/post/15733096

> cross-posted from: https://lemmy.wtf/post/15732861 > > > First of all, let me apologize to those people who was affected when PeerTube.wtf initially went down. > > > > I've been working this past month on building and setting up a fresh version of PeerTube.wtf and this time, I won't be relying on decentralized storage 🙃 🙃 🙃 > > > > I've been reading a couple of threads on Lemmy, to better understand what people want expect to be able to do on a PeerTube server, so here goes: > > > > - PeerTube.wtf is a platform for general use. Every topic is welcome. > > > > - The Global Search Index is enabled. This means that the search bar will show results from almost 900 PeerTube servers. > > > > - Remote URI/handle search is enabled. This means, if you know the URL/handle of a channel, that's not part of the Global Search Index, you can still find it via the search bar and subscribe to the channel. > > > > - The Public Index is enabled. This means that PeerTube.wtf will federate with almost a 1000 PeerTube servers. > > > > - Audio-only, 360p, 720p, 1080p and 1440p is enabled. This means that videos uploaded, is provided in these resolutions. > > > > - Video transcription is enabled. Will Automatically create subtitles for uploaded/imported VOD videos. > > > > - Live streaming is enabled. Streams are transcoded in 720p and 1080p at 60 FPS. > > - A user has 100GB of storage. This is obviously not sustainable, but is subject to change. > > > > FAQ > > > > >.wtf? > > > > > >Yea, it stands for "What The Fediverse". What else could it possibly stand for, that sound as cool? > > > > >Where is the server hosted? > > > > > >It's hosted in Denmark, at my residence. I have 100% ownership and control over it. > > > > >What's your specs, bro? > > >The server is assembled inside an Inter-Tech 2U-2404S, with a: > > >- AMD Ryzen 3 1200 @ 4 cores > > >- 16GB of RAM > > >- nVidia Quadro P600 (hardware transcoding) > > >- 2x120GB SSDs in raid 1 for OS > > >- 2x4TB HDDs in raid 1 for the video storage > > > > >4TB of storage ain't much > > > > > >That's true, but I will be upgrading the disks eventually. > > > > >Why no 4K?? > > > > > >4K takes a lot of space and the majority of users don't have a 4K monitor. In the future, it might change. > > > > I've probably forgotten something, but yea.. Enjoy.

>It's Cory. This time the guy holding court is Cory.

>BTW, the Kickstarter for Pixelfed and Loops, the actually-open, ActivityPub based clones of Instagram and TikTok, just hit $35,000 in its first 13 hours. The creator of Mastodon just ceded control to a new non-profit. That's how you do it. By spending money to build free things for the public interest out in the open, not by tithing your money, labor and attention directly to VC-funded for-profit corporations.

For those who don’t know jwz, among other things, you have him to thank for Firefox/Mozilla’s existence. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamie_Zawinski

What Are Audius Music and Gala Music?

Audius Music [https://audius.co/] [https://audius.org/]

is a decentralized music streaming platform built on blockchain technology.

It serves as a music-sharing and discovery platform where artists can upload their music directly, bypassing traditional record labels or streaming services.

With a focus on giving artists more control over their content and revenues, Audius employs blockchain to provide transparency and allows fans to directly support artists via tokens or other forms of cryptocurrency.

It's a hub for independent musicians who want to distribute and monetize their work without middlemen.

___

Gala Music [https://music.gala.com/]

operates similarly but is part of the Gala Games ecosystem, which utilizes blockchain technology for play-to-earn gaming and entertainment experiences.

Gala Music's goal is to empower artists by decentralizing music ownership and letting fans own Music Nodes.

These nodes help distribute content and reward both the fans and the artists.

Gala Music also integrates its NFTs into the ecosystem, giving fans a unique way to support creators and artists to tokenize their music.

___

Why Bring This to the Fediverse?

The Fediverse thrives on decentralization and user empowerment—both principles align perfectly with the core concepts behind Audius and Gala Music.

A Fediverse-powered music platform could provide a truly decentralized space for artists and fans to collaborate, share, and monetize music without relying on corporate gatekeepers or proprietary ecosystems.

___

Imagine a service where:

• Artists can self-host their music or distribute it via interconnected, federated services.
• Music discovery is driven by community interaction rather than opaque algorithms.
• Fans can support their favorite artists directly via tips, donations, or open-source cryptocurrencies.
• The entire platform upholds the values of transparency, user ownership, and privacy.

___

If a Fediverse equivalent to Audius Music or Gala Music doesn’t already exist, could this be a signal for innovation within the community?

Platforms like Funkwhale already offer some audio-sharing capabilities but focus more on community-driven music libraries rather than artist monetization or blockchain integration.

Could we build upon existing tools like Funkwhale or create something entirely new?

I would consider doing something like this, but, unfortunately, I lack both the knowledge, energy, and time.

What do you think?

Would you be interested in contributing to, or supporting, such an initiative?

Ibis is a federated encyclopedia which uses the ActivityPub protocol, just like Mastodon or Lemmy. Users can read and edit articles seamlessly across different instances. Federation ensures that articles get mirrored across many servers, and can be read even if the original instance goes down. The software is written in Rust and uses the cutting-edge Leptos framework based on Webassembly. Ibis is fully open source under the AGPL license, to make future enshittification impossible.

Checkout !ibis@lemmy.ml for more updates and discussions.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/24748390

> !screenshot of bluesky post with text: It’s time to reclaim social media. Billionaires & venture capital shouldn’t control our digital lives. #FreeOurFeeds is raising $4M to build a public-interest alternative. Chip in today to make it happen. January 13, 2025 at 2:04 PM > > https://bsky.app/profile/freeourfeeds.com/post/3lfmvqip7zk2v > > tldr, it's a new foundation launching with an open letter signed by: > > > Jimmy Wales, Founder of Wikipedia > > > > Shoshana Zuboff, Professor Emerita, Harvard Business School and author of ‘The Age of Surveillance Capitalism’ > > > > Mark Ruffalo, Actor > > > > Alex Winter, Actor and filmmaker > > > > Audrey Tang, Former Minister of Digital Affairs, Taiwan > > > > Roger McNamee, Businessman and author of ‘Zucked’ > > > > Brian Eno, Musician > > > > Carole Cadwalladr, Investigative journalist > > > > Cory Doctorow, Blogger and journalist > > > > Akilah Hughes, Writer and comedian > > > > Sebastian Soriano, Former Chairman, Arcep > > > > Rosie Boycott, Member, UK House of Lords > > > > Alexandra Geese, Member of the European Parliament, Greens/EFA > > ... > > > Bluesky has expressed a clear interest in public governance of the protocol they have developed. We are establishing a Foundation to help steward this process, to ensure that the AT Protocol remains capture-resistant and is instead governed in line with a thriving public interest and open community.

geteilt von: https://anonsys.net/objects/bf69967c-1467-8270-7e3d-48d984455929

> 🚀 A little guide on how to communicate with #Lemmy from #Mastodon #Friendica #Hubzilla #Sharkey etc > > (this is the English translation of this German post: anonsys.net/display/bf69967c-1… If something is linguistically incorrect or incomprehensible, please let me know) > > Lemmy is a kind of forum software in the #Fediverse: You can subscribe to forums (called ‘communities’ in Lemmy), share links and participate in discussions. @Tealk and I have described it in more detail (in German) here. > > On the one hand, you can follow #Lemmy accounts, in which case the posts will appear in your timeline and you can reply to them, share them, etc. > On the other hand, you can also create posts in Lemmy communities from Mastodon etc. > > Follow a community: > The easiest way is to type the account name in full into the search or copy the URL into the search field. This applies to communities (e.g. [ät]fediversede@feddit.de) and Lemmy accounts (e.g. @caos is my Lemmy account) as well as to individual posts in Lemmy (e.g. feddit.org/post/201081 is a post in Lemmy). > > Creating posts in communities: > You can create posts in Lemmy communities by tagging the community account > (It should be a public post) > If the community account is tagged with @, it will share the post and the post will also appear in the forum. > For example, this is a post I created from Mastodon in feddit's #Tischtennis forum: metalhead.club/@caos/112749905… ... and this is how it is displayed in Lemmy: feddit.org/post/556495 > > The only thing to note from Mastodon and Akkoma etc. is: The beginning of the post/the first paragraph becomes the title of the forum post, as Mastodon does not have a heading field. (see also: Instructions Creating a post from Mastodon) > > So it is best to start the post like this (see image 1): > > This is my headline (as descriptive a title as possible) > @community@lemmy-instance > This is the further text, link etc. > if necessary a picture (only in the initial post a picture is transferred from Mastodon to Lemmy, between Lemmy and Friendica all images in answers are transferred in the meantime) > > Send post to multiple communities / groups at the same time > The post can only be sent to one Lemmy community at a time. If several community accounts are tagged, the post will only appear in the last one mentioned. If several different group accounts are tagged in a post, the Lemmy account should come first. According to my tests, it works in the following order: 1. lemmy community 2. friendica forum 3. a.gup.pe group . Then all groups share the post, otherwise it doesn't work with all of them so far. > > Search for communities > You can search for interesting forums/communities either on an instance page or here in the ‘Lemmy Explorer’ (see image 2). > If you are interested, enter the URL in the search field and follow the account. >

!

> If you have found an interesting community, you can copy its URL into the search field to follow the community account (see image 3) or enter the handle of the account in the form @communityname@lemmy-instance (in Friendica etc. also with !). > !

> The past posts are then often not displayed, but those that come in the future will appear in your timeline. > What is not possible from Mastodon etc. is to create your own community. This requires a Lemmy or kbin account. Otherwise almost everything works (except for pictures in replies, which are not federated, see in detail (in German) here). > > If you follow many or very active communities, it can get a bit confusing, especially in Mastodon. A clearer view is available if you view it on the page of the community itself, i.e. open it externally in the browser. > (the original URL of posts is sometimes hidden behind the #Fediverse logo) > > There are also other public groups in the #Fediverse, e.g. Friendica-Forums and kbin-Magazines, which work in a similar way.

edit: kbin is no longer developed, the successor is its fork mbin > > @fediverse

Hey everyone,

I’ve been wondering about this for a while now— does the Fediverse have a potential equivalent to platforms like Podchaser?

For those unfamiliar, Podchaser serves as a database and discovery platform for podcasts, with features like ratings, reviews, creator building, integrations with various apps and platforms, and more.

I personally believe that something like this could fit really well within the decentralized, open-source nature of the Fediverse, especially given how creative and diverse the communities, and Fediverse Platforms, are.

If something like this already exists, I'd love to hear about it.

And if not, has anyone ever considered potentially making one?

Perhaps have it be a fork of Bookwyrm, called something like:

Podwyrm

or something similar?

Similar to the Platform concept of Moviewyrm, as mentioned in my other post.

(https://lemmy.world/post/24118854)

Unfortunately, I lack the knowledge, time, and energy to spearhead such a project, but I am happy to brainstorm ideas or support in small ways if someone out there is inspired to take this on.

Curious to hear everyone’s thoughts.

I was curious, does anyone know if there is a Fediverse alternative to sites like:

[IMDb] (https://www.imdb.com/)

[TMDB] (https://www.themoviedb.org/)

[TheTVDB] (https://thetvdb.com/)

[IHorrorDB] (https://www.ihorrordb.com/)

__

Something that allows users to discover, review, and discuss movies and TV shows in a decentralized way.

I know about Moviewyrm, which is a concept of a potential fork of Bookwyrm.

While it’s a great start, it is just the concept of a potential platform.

If there isn't one, then has anyone ever considered building a more robust movie/TV platform for the Fediverse?

Or better yet, is something already in the works that I might have missed?

I’d love to see a project like this come to life, but unfortunately, I lack the knowledge, time, and energy to start it myself.

However, I’d be really interested in discussions or ideas for how such a platform could be built.

Hey everyone! I'm excited to introduce [BotKit], a new framework specifically designed for creating standalone ActivityPub bots.

What makes BotKit different from typical Mastodon bot approaches is that it creates fully independent ActivityPub servers. This means your bots aren't constrained by platform-specific limitations like character limits or attachment restrictions. Each bot is a complete ActivityPub server in itself.

The API is designed to be extremely straightforward. You can create a complete bot in a single TypeScript file, with intuitive event handlers for follows, mentions, replies, and more. Here's a quick example:

```typescript const bot = createBot<void>({ username: "mybot", name: "My Bot", summary: textA bot powered by BotKit., kv: new MemoryKvStore(), queue: new InProcessMessageQueue(), });

bot.onMention = async (session, message) => { await message.reply(textHi, ${message.actor}!); }; ```

BotKit currently supports Deno, with plans to add Node.js and Bun support in future releases. It leverages all the federation capabilities of [Fedify] but abstracts away the complexity, letting you focus purely on your bot's behavior.

The framework is still in early development, but we'd love to hear your thoughts and feedback. Feel free to try it out and let us know what kind of bots you build with it!

• Repository: https://github.com/dahlia/botkit
• Documentation: https://botkit.fedify.dev/

[BotKit]: https://botkit.fedify.dev/ [Fedify]: https://fedify.dev/

Unlike traditional social media, the fediverse operates without a central authority. This creates a unique set of challenges and opportunities for how it’s governed.

Luckily, there are thoughtful stewards who want to see decentralized social media succeed in the most human — and humane — fashion. Two of the most prominent are Erin Kissane, a writer and researcher working on new networks, and Darius Kazemi, a senior engineer at the Applied Social Media Lab at Harvard University.

Earlier in 2024, the pair researched and wrote a 40,000-word report on governance in the fediverse. Now they are deep in other projects designed to move the fediverse forward, including Erin’s new studio devoted to network work and Darius’ Fediverse Schema Observatory (software built to enhance the ecosystem’s interoperability while being sensitive to user data). You’ll hear about these projects and more in the latest episode of our Dot Social podcast.

Highlights of the conversation include:

• The impact of the 2024 U.S. Presidential election on this work
• Thoughts on the migration to Bluesky
• A model for how to socialize software in the fediverse
• What needs to be done next: a prioritized list
• The nutritional label analogy
• Funding and sustainability
• Bridging protocols and avoiding fragmentation

We must remember who owns these platforms and whose interests they ultimately represent. These are not neutral and unbiased channels that allow for the free flow of information. The content on these sites is carefully curated. Views and opinions that are unpalatable to the owners of these platforms are often suppressed, and sometimes outright banned. When the content that a user produces does not fit with the interests of the platform it gets removed and communities end up being destroyed.

Another problem is that user data constitutes a significant source of revenue for corporate social media platforms. The information collected about the users can reveal a lot more about the individual than most people realize. It's possible for the owners of the platforms to identify users based on the address of the device they're using, see their location, who they interact with, and so on. This creates a comprehensive profile of the person along with the network of individuals whom they interact with.

This information is shared with the affiliates of the platform as well as government entities. For example, a leak from RCMP shows how this kind of information is used to spy on Canadian citizens.

It's clear that commercial platforms do not respect user privacy, nor are the users in control of their content. While it can be useful to participate on such platforms in order to agitate, educate, and recruit comrades, they should not be seen as open forums.

Open source platforms provide a viable alternative to corporate social media. These platforms are developed on a non-profit basis and are hosted by volunteers across the globe. A growing number of such platforms are available today and millions of people are using them already.

From that perspective I think that open platforms like Lemmy and Mastodon should be the focus. Instead of all users having accounts on the same server, federated platforms have many servers that all talk to each other to create the network. If you have the technical expertise, it's even possible to run your own.

One important aspect of the Fediverse is that it's much harder to censor and manipulate content than it is with centralized networks such as BlueSky. There is no single company deciding what content can go on the network, and servers are hosted by regular people across many different countries and jurisdictions.

Open platforms explicitly avoid tracking users and collecting their data. Not only are these platforms better at respecting user privacy, they also tend to provide a better user experience without annoying ads and popups.

Another interesting aspect of the Fediverse is that it promotes collaboration. Traditional commercial platforms like Facebook or Youtube have no incentive to allow users to move data between them. They directly compete for users in a zero sum game and go out of their way to make it difficult to share content across them. This is the reason we often see screenshots from one site being posted on another.

On the other hand, a federated network that's developed in the open and largely hosted non-profit results in a positive-sum game environment. Users joining any of the platforms on the network help grow the entire network.

Having many different sites hosted by individuals was the way the internet was intended to work in the first place, it's actually quite impressive how corporations took the open network of the internet and managed to turn it into a series of walled gardens.

Marxist theory states that in order to be free, the workers must own the means of production. This idea is directly applicable in the context of social media. Only when we own the platforms that we use will we be free to post our thoughts and ideas without having to worry about them being censored by corporate interests.

No matter how great a commercial platform might be, sooner or later it's going to either disappear or change in a way that doesn't suit you because companies must constantly chase profit in order to survive. This is a bad situation to be in as a user since you have little control over the evolution of a platform.

On the other hand, open source has a very different dynamic. Projects can survive with little or no commercial incentive because they're developed by people who themselves benefit from their work. Projects can also be easily forked and taken in different directions by different groups of users if there is a disagreement regarding the direction of the platform. Even when projects become abandoned, they can be picked up again by new teams as long as there is an interested community of users around them.

It's time for us to get serious about owning our tools and start using communication platforms built by the people and for the people.