Here's an idea I'm playing with: a semi-customizable fediverse invitation page.
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@stefan what APIs does a server need to implement to be compatible with this? I love the idea, but looks like it's focused on Mastodon and Mastodon likes. :D
@mariusor The node-info endpoint should be sufficient!
And the page really is meant to be platform agnostic.
Eg. https://invite.jointhefediverse.net/?server=stereophonic.space&apps=6,8
(Not too sure if those apps are actually compatible with Pleroma, consider this a possible example.)
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@rob So one confusion that still does come up regularly is people thinking that they need to sign up for each individual server.
I agree that getting into the details of how the fediverse works is not needed at the start, but this one thing definitely needs to be addressed.
Still, maybe the intro text can be further simplified, let me give that some more thought!
@stefan
Why do I use software? I use it to interact with people like you. If a user has to think about the underlying tech, the friction becomes to great.Let me explain the dimensions a user has to think about when joining the Fediverse: platform, server/community, people to follow. Mastodon makes it *way worse* because much content is delivered by hashtag, but the implementation is half-assed.
Anyway, keep it simple: 1 server, 1 platform. Make discovery easier as you become a better user.
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@stefan
This is beyond your control, but the pure number of apps that can be used to access Mastodon makes the situation confusing. I cannot speak to Android, but the app situation on iOS is dire.The Mastodon app on iOS is just a heap of stinking garbage. Now a person is going to download Mastodon and sign into Hachyderm? And then what? Follow the confusing, multistep process of accessing other servers to follow other people? On the other services you mentioned?
@rob Well the idea is that whoever uses this page can curate which apps are shown, eg: https://invite.jointhefediverse.net/?apps=1,2 will only show the two official Mastodon ones.
But you are right about how sending someone to https://most-followed-mastodon-accounts.stefanhayden.com won't be very useful without explaining they will need to copy the handles and search for them on their server.
But this gave me an idea!
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@rob Well the idea is that whoever uses this page can curate which apps are shown, eg: https://invite.jointhefediverse.net/?apps=1,2 will only show the two official Mastodon ones.
But you are right about how sending someone to https://most-followed-mastodon-accounts.stefanhayden.com won't be very useful without explaining they will need to copy the handles and search for them on their server.
But this gave me an idea!
Hey @stefan@gardenstate.social, what do you think about passing a server parameter to your Mastodon Most Followed page, eg.: https://most-followed-mastodon-accounts.stefanhayden.com/?server=mastodon.social, and then updating the links so that they open on that server, making it easier to follow people?
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@stefan
Why do I use software? I use it to interact with people like you. If a user has to think about the underlying tech, the friction becomes to great.Let me explain the dimensions a user has to think about when joining the Fediverse: platform, server/community, people to follow. Mastodon makes it *way worse* because much content is delivered by hashtag, but the implementation is half-assed.
Anyway, keep it simple: 1 server, 1 platform. Make discovery easier as you become a better user.
@stefan
One of the biggest own goals of the Fediverse is to make people aware of servers. To me, your handle is just a user name. Why do I care if my server talks to your server? How is that different than DMing someone on another platform?Answer: It is different but users don’t care or want to know.
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Hey @stefan@gardenstate.social, what do you think about passing a server parameter to your Mastodon Most Followed page, eg.: https://most-followed-mastodon-accounts.stefanhayden.com/?server=mastodon.social, and then updating the links so that they open on that server, making it easier to follow people?
@stefan@stefanbohacek.online @rob I think it might work if you just pass the server hostname to the search query param. I can check when I'm at my desk
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@stefan@stefanbohacek.online @rob I think it might work if you just pass the server hostname to the search query param. I can check when I'm at my desk
@stefan@gardenstate.social Sorry, let me rephrase. Rather than trying to find popular accounts from my server, I would like to be able to open each profile as viewed from my server, so that I don't have to copy/paste the handle and search for it.
So, instead of linking to https://mastodon.social/@arstechnica
I could visit https://most-followed-mastodon-accounts.stefanhayden.com/?server=gardenstate.social
And the link on the page would be: https://gardenstate.social/@arstechnica@mastodon.social
Does that make sense?
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@stefan@gardenstate.social Sorry, let me rephrase. Rather than trying to find popular accounts from my server, I would like to be able to open each profile as viewed from my server, so that I don't have to copy/paste the handle and search for it.
So, instead of linking to https://mastodon.social/@arstechnica
I could visit https://most-followed-mastodon-accounts.stefanhayden.com/?server=gardenstate.social
And the link on the page would be: https://gardenstate.social/@arstechnica@mastodon.social
Does that make sense?
@stefan@gardenstate.social Not sure if this is too Mastodon-centric though. But it might be a good start!
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@stefan@gardenstate.social Sorry, let me rephrase. Rather than trying to find popular accounts from my server, I would like to be able to open each profile as viewed from my server, so that I don't have to copy/paste the handle and search for it.
So, instead of linking to https://mastodon.social/@arstechnica
I could visit https://most-followed-mastodon-accounts.stefanhayden.com/?server=gardenstate.social
And the link on the page would be: https://gardenstate.social/@arstechnica@mastodon.social
Does that make sense?
@stefan@stefanbohacek.online oh yeah I can.do that
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@stefan@stefanbohacek.online oh yeah I can.do that
@stefan@gardenstate.social Awesome, this will be super useful! Thank you!
It might be also worth exploring how this can be exposed to people visiting the page, eg, I've been thinking about adding a "put your server here" field on https://bots.stefanbohacek.com, for the same purpose.
I could reuse the sharing form that's already there, but that might be a bit confusing. Still trying to figure out what would make sense.