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Piero Bosio Social Web Site Personale Logo Fediverso

Social Forum federato con il resto del mondo. Non contano le istanze, contano le persone

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    I had the opportunity to attend FOSDEM 2026 virtually, and I spent almost all of my time in the [Social Web](https://fosdem.org/2026/schedule/track/social-web/) track. A few themes kept coming up across talks. Some were explicit, some were between the lines. Either way, they prompted a bunch of thoughts I wanted to capture. DISCLAIMER: AI was used to help me organize and improve the flow of this post. Ideas and thoughts expressed are my own. ## Hosting is hard In [*Building a sustainable Italian Fediverse: overcoming technical, adoption and moderation challenges*](https://fosdem.org/2026/schedule/event/VKHGXT-building_a_sustainable_italian_fediverse_overcoming_technical_adoption_and_moder/), there was a moment (not the main focus of the talk) where hosting came up in a way that really stuck with me. I’m paraphrasing, so apologies if I misrepresent anything, but the gist was: - Hosting Mastodon is hard, so we simplify with hosting services like Masto.Host - Hosting PixelFed and PeerTube is easier thanks to appliances like YunoHost Based on my own experience, that rings true, with some nuance. Getting Mastodon running isn’t actually the hardest part. The self-hosting docs are good enough in my opinion, and that’s how I originally stood up my instance at [toot.lqdev.tech](https://toot.lqdev.tech/@lqdev). I even maintain guides for [cleanup](https://lqdev.me/resources/wiki/mastodon-server-cleanup/) and [upgrades](/resources/wiki/mastodon-server-upgrades/) that largely mirror the official Mastodon documentation and release notes. The harder part is everything after provisioning. Mastodon (especially with federation enabled) can be resource-intensive, and that cost shows up fast even on a single-user instance. If I’m not staying on top of maintenance, disk fills up. Every few weeks, my instance will go down because I’ve run out of storage. Add database migrations, which can be error-prone, and you end up with a setup that’s straightforward to launch but expensive to operate. You pay in money for a big enough server, and you pay in time for ongoing maintenace. I still want to participate in the Fediverse, but I don’t want to keep paying the maintenance tax for Mastodon. That’s one of the reasons [I implemented ActivityPub on my static site](/notes/website-now-natively-posts-to-the-fediverse-2026-01-22/) instead. On the PixelFed side, I did try to self-host it once, and I couldn’t get it working cleanly from scratch. Some of that is on me (I’m not familiar with PHP), but either way, YunoHost was a lifesaver. With YunoHost, I had PixelFed up and running quickly, and what that ecosystem provides is genuinely impressive. That said, I also learned the “operations” lesson there too. During an upgrade, something went wrong with the database, it got corrupted, and I couldn’t restore from backup. I ultimately took the instance down. I’m willing to attribute that to user error, but it still reinforces the bigger point. The promise of federation and decentralization is that you can stand up your own node for yourself, your family, a school, a company, a city, even a government. In practice, that’s still too hard for most people unless they use appliances like YunoHost or managed hosting like Masto.Host. And yes, those options mean giving up some control. But even with that tradeoff, I’d argue it’s still better than centralized platforms. As someone fairly technical and a little extreme about owning the whole stack (I implemented my own static site generator, Webmentions service, and now ActivityPub), I still find this hard. I can’t imagine how unapproachable it feels if you’re not technical. I just wish it were simpler and more cost-effective to run these services without needing either deep system administration knowledge or active ongoing maintenance. ## One identity, many post types In the talk, [*How to level up the Fediverse*](https://fosdem.org/2026/schedule/event/HVJRNV-how_to_level_up_the_fediverse/), Christine and Jessica talked about ActivityPub implementations and touched on something that really resonated with me. The idea (again, paraphrasing) was that splitting content types by app (video goes to PeerTube, images go to PixelFed, microblogging goes to Mastodon) might not be the right long-term model. Instead, they suggested something closer to one place to publish and follow people, with rich post types handled in one identity and one experience. That immediately made me think about Tumblr. When I first heard [Tumblr was planning to implement ActivityPub](https://techcrunch.com/2022/11/21/tumblr-to-add-support-for-activitypub-the-social-protocol-powering-mastodon-and-other-apps/), I was excited because Tumblr is already “that kind of app.” You can publish videos, photos, polls, longer posts, and everything in between, all in one place. There was also talk about [moving Tumblr to WordPress](https://techcrunch.com/2024/08/28/tumblr-to-move-its-half-a-billion-blogs-to-wordpress/), which (in theory) could make ActivityPub integration even more powerful. But as of now, [Tumblr’s ActivityPub work seems to be paused](https://techcrunch.com/2025/07/01/automattic-puts-tumblr-migration-to-wordpress-on-hold/). The more I think about it, the more this model makes sense, especially because the most important part isn’t the “single app.” It’s the single identity. You should have one account where your content originates. Then people can consume it from different experiences. Maybe that is a video-focused client, maybe it is an image-first view, maybe it is a Mastodon-like timeline. The key is that you do not need separate accounts everywhere. That’s essentially how I think about my website. My site is my digital home and my identity. I post different content types which align with [IndieWeb post types](https://indieweb.org/posts#Types_of_Posts): - Articles - Notes - Responses (reposts, replies, likes) - Bookmarks - Media (photos and videos) - RSVPs People can follow via RSS. And more recently, I implemented my own ActivityPub support so my posts generate native ActivityPub activities. That means Mastodon and other clients can follow and interact with my site directly. What I like about this is that it decouples publishing from consumption. I choose where I publish (my site). Others choose how they consume (their client). The protocols handle the translation. ## The web is already social and decentralized In Social Web conversations, sometimes the tone implies the "social web" is separate from "the web". I don't really buy that. The web is social because people are on it. People use it to learn, create, find community, do commerce, argue, collaborate, share memes, and everything else. The web is also decentralized by default. That's the baseline architecture. Dave Winer recently wrote about software being ["of the web"](http://scripting.com/2025/11/24/141418.html). Software that's built to share data, accept input, produce output, and let users move their data. Not locked into silos. This is why I'm so bullish on a different architectural approach: **start as a website, add social capabilities as components.** People are already using WordPress, Ghost, and Micro.blog to build sites. With an ActivityPub plugin, your existing web presence becomes followable and interactive in the Fediverse. The site remains a site. It just gets socially interoperable. Bridgy Fed reinforces this. It takes what already exists on the web and helps it participate in social protocols, without forcing you to rebuild as a native social app first. That's also my own setup. My website worked as a publishing platform and people could follow via RSS. When I implemented ActivityPub, it became progressively enhanced. Same posts, new social vocabulary. I didn't have to abandon my site. I just made it speak the social language. ## Modular and extensible feels like the right direction This is the architectural vision I took away from Bonfire: [Building Modular, Consentful, and Federated Social Networks](https://fosdem.org/2026/schedule/event/3QHALR-bonfire_building_modular_consentful_and_federated_social_networks/). The "opt-in pieces" approach is about choosing which parts you want, evolving your experience based on what you enable. It echoes [small pieces loosely joined](http://scripting.com/2026/01/30/140150.html). It's a practical model for a federated future: - Start with the basic web - Add social capabilities as components - Get progressively more powerful as you opt in Your site still works normally. When you speak the lingua franca of protocols like ActivityPub, you can express social intent in a way other systems understand. So it's not "the web vs the social web." It's the web, with richer native social vocabulary. ## Conclusion This probably reads like I’m nitpicking, but I’m genuinely bullish on federated and decentralized networks. That’s why I’m still participating. What stood out to me at FOSDEM this year is momentum. Last year, the Social Web track was a half day. This year, it expanded to a full day. That signals to me that there are a lot of smart, passionate people working across protocol design, UX, moderation, policy, community, activism, and implementation, trying to build real alternatives to entrenched silos. And the plurality of implementations is a strength. It encourages exploration, competition, and innovation. My hope is that the “end state” isn’t a separate social web you have to join. It’s a web that continues to work as expected, but gets progressively enhanced when you opt into interoperable social protocols. Ultimately, there isn’t “the web” and “the social web.” There's just the web, and social vocabularies that participants can adopt without thinking about it.
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    You're only terminally online if you use a TUI to browse the #fediverse. Otherwise... That's just sparkling procrastination.
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    Introduction As far as I know, the software used by Fediverse, a decentralized social networking site, makes information public due to its decentralized nature, and as a result, it's often possible to obtain feeds of the latest information via RSS. However, the extent to which this is possible varies depending on the software's capabilities and features, and I was interested in the functionality of each piece of software, so I decided to write this article to research and summarize the state of RSS on Fediverse, including its URL structure. This article is based on a pioneering article titled "Finding Fediverse Feeds" that appeared on the website Hyperborea: Kelson Vibber. Stream Fediverse feeds to your RSS reader URL Structure Table Software Section URL type Title visible links RSS Subscriptions from External Servers Lemmy Community /feeds/c/{community}.xml?sort={sort} RSS 2.0 Yes Yes No Lemmy User /feeds/u/{username}.xml?sort={sort} RSS 2.0 Yes Yes No Lemmy Local Timeline /feeds/local.xml?sort={sort} RSS 2.0 Yes Yes No Lemmy All Timeline /feeds/all.xml?sort={sort} RSS 2.0 Yes Yes No Lemmy Your front page /feeds/front.xml/{jwt_token} RSS 2.0 Yes No - Lemmy Your inbox /feeds/inbox.xml/{jwt_token} RSS 2.0 Yes No - Lemmy Your modlog /feeds/modlog.xml/{jwt_token} RSS 2.0 Yes No - PieFed Community /community/{community}/feed RSS 2.0 Yes Yes Yes PieFed User /u/{username}/feed RSS 2.0 Yes No Yes PieFed Topic /topic/{topic}.rss RSS 2.0 Yes No Uninvestigated PieFed Feeds /f/{feeds}.rss RSS 2.0? Yes? No Uninvestigated Mbin Community /rss?magazine={community} RSS 2.0 Yes Yes Yes Mbin User /rss?user={username} RSS 2.0 Yes Yes Yes Mbin Tag /rss?tag={tag} RSS 2.0 Yes Yes Yes Plume Blog /~/{blog}/atom.xml Atom Yes Yes Details unknown Plume User /~/{username}/atom.xml Atom Yes Yes Details unknown WriteFreely User /{username}/feed/ RSS 2.0 Yes No Details unknown WriteFreely Reader /read/feed/ RSS 2.0 Yes No Details unknown Funkwhale User /api/v1/channels/{user}/rss RSS2.0 Yes Yes Details unknown PeerTube User feeds/videos.xml?videoChannelId={channel} RSS 2.0 Yes Yes Yes PeerTube User-Podcast /feeds/podcast/videos.xml?videoChannelId={channel} RSS 2.0 Yes Yes Yes Bookwyrm User /user/{username}/rss RSS 2.0 Yes Yes Yes Mastodon User /@{username}.rss RSS 2.0 No No No Mastodon Hashtag /tags/{hashtag}.rss RSS 2.0 No No No Mastodon User-Hashtag /@{username}/tagged/{hashtag}.rss RSS 2.0 No No No Pleroma User /users/{username}/feed.atom Atom Yes No External accounts cannot be viewed BlueSky User /profile/{did-placeholder}/rss RSS 2.0 No No External instance does not exist Misskey User /@{username}.rss RSS 2.0 partially (example: "New note by UserName") No Yes Misskey User /@{username}.atom Atom 1.0 partially (example: "New note by UserName") No Yes Pixelfed User /users/{username}.atom Atom Yes Yes External accounts cannot be viewed HackersPub User /@{username}/feed.xml Atom Yes No External accounts cannot be viewed HackersPub User Articles /@{username}/feed.xml?articles Atom Yes No External accounts cannot be viewed Hubzilla Posts and Comments /feed/{channel} Atom No No External accounts cannot be viewed Hubzilla Only Posts /feed/{channel}?f=&top=1 Atom No No accounts are displayed in summary only friendica User /feed/{username}/ Atom Yes Yes External accounts cannot be viewed friendica User Comments /feed/{username}/comments Atom Yes No External accounts cannot be viewed friendica User Timeline /feed/{username}/activity Atom Yes No External accounts cannot be viewed 説明 Below are descriptions of the columns in the table above. Software The software you are using. Section Which feed for that software? URL The URL structure. Type The file type. This indicates whether it is RSS or Atom. Title Whether the post title is displayed in the RSS feed. Visible Links Whether the RSS link is visible on the instance. RSS Subscriptions from External Servers Whether you can subscribe to RSS feeds from users of external instances. Feed Functionality Comparison Software that only contains the user's RSS feed PeerTube Funkwhale Pleroma BlueSky Misskey Pixelfed Bookwyrm Software that exists beyond user RSS feeds Lemmy Community User Local Timeline All Timeline Your front page Your inbox Your modlog PieFed Community User Topic Feeds Mbin Community User Tag Plume Blog User WriteFreely Blog User Mastodon User Hashtag User-Hashtag Hubzilla Posts and Comments Only Posts PeerTube User User Podcast HackersPub User User Article friendica User User Comments User Timeline Software without RSS notestock Reference Fediverse in general RSS on Mastodon and the Fediverse | Fedi.Tips – An Unofficial Guide to Mastodon and the Fediverse Finding Fediverse Feeds Lemmy API Votes and Ranking Mastodon Create an RSS feed from a hashtag? : r/Mastodon how now: "Turns out Mastodon has built-i…" - Mastodon Mastodon日本語Wiki Archive Misskey MisskeyでRSSを取得する|なおしむ Sort on Lemmy /feeds/c/{community}.xml?sort={sort} The {sort} part of Lemmy in the RSS list above corresponds to the "URL" column in the table below. example: /feeds/c/{community}.xml?sort=New Type Description url Active (default) Calculates a rank based on the score and time of the latest comment, with decay over time Active Hot Like active, but uses time when the post was published Hot Scaled Like hot, but gives a boost to less active communities Scaled New Shows most recent posts first New Old Shows oldest posts first Old Most Comments Shows posts with highest number of comments first MostComments New Comments Bumps posts to the top when they are created or receive a new reply, analogous to the sorting of traditional forums NewComments Top Hour Highest scoring posts during the last 1 hour TopHour Top Six Hours Highest scoring posts during the last 6 hours TopSixHour Top Twelve Hours Highest scoring posts during the last 12 hours TopTwelveHour Top Day Highest scoring posts during the last 24 hours TopDay Top Week Highest scoring posts during the last 7 days TopWeek Top Month Highest scoring posts during the last 30 days TopMonth Top Three Months Highest scoring posts during the last 3 months TopThreeMonths Top Six Months Highest scoring posts during the last 6 months TopSixMonths Top Nine Months Highest scoring posts during the last 9 months TopNineMonths Top Year Highest scoring posts during the last 12 months TopYear Top All Time Highest scoring posts of all time TopAll Source: Votes and Ranking Stream RSS feeds to Your Fediverse Feeds A well-known method of distributing RSS feeds from the web to ActivityPub is software (server) called RSSParrot, which was created for that purpose. In addition, in the Japanese-speaking world, there is a public Mastodon instance called the RSSフィードbot鯖, which is dedicated to RSS Bots and is also widely used. Original article FediverseのRSS事情 - URL構造の一覧など - hoageckoのブログ (Article in Japanese) Fediverse Advent Calendar This post is the 15th article of Fediverse (2) Advent Calendar 2025 - Adventar (Article in Japanese).
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    I blocked the `threads.net` server as an admin of this server because I recently quit Meta. This is also to free myself from Meta's influence. Additionally, there are many media reports about Meta's misuse of minors' pictures as part of their targeted advertising campaigns. My AI chatbot reported a summary to me, indicating that Meta even defended this behavior, claiming that they had appropriate agreements in place. #Fediverse #Privacy #Safety #DigitalFreedom #OnlineSafety #Meta #Threads #Decentralization #DataPrivacy #DigitalRights #Blocklist #FreedomOnline #Transparency #UserControl