Skip to content

Piero Bosio Social Web Site Personale Logo Fediverso

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

I’m building a new tool and looking for volunteers to test it!

General Discussion
57 55 9

Gli ultimi otto messaggi ricevuti dalla Federazione
Post suggeriti
  • 0 Votes
    1 Posts
    15 Views
    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.
  • 0 Votes
    10 Posts
    51 Views
    @nonno kein problem, danke dir!also eigentlich schickt das plugin einfach den kompletten HTML code und sharkey scheint da ein paar elemente raus zu nehmen.browser.pub visualisiert ganz schön, was das plugin so alles verschickt und wie es aussehen könnte: https://browser.pub/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.mikapi.de%2Fgenuss%2Fviel-mehr-aroma-in-einem-brot-geht-nicht%2F
  • 0 Votes
    1 Posts
    7 Views
    Wäre es nicht super, wenn man sich mit sei­nem Mast­o­don-Account ein­fach für eine Ver­an­stal­tung anmel­den könn­te – so wie das frü­her bei Face­book mög­lich war? Der­zeit geht das noch nicht. Aber es gibt ein paar hoff­nungs­vol­le Anzei­chen, dass sich das ändern könnte.Ich habe es im letz­ten Arti­kel ange­teasert: In der Sprech­stun­de hat André Men­rath (@linos) ein paar inter­es­san­te Din­ge erzählt und wir haben uns über die gene­rel­le Situa­ti­on von Ver­an­stal­tun­gen bei Word­Press und im Fedi­ver­se unterhalten. Bei Plug­ins für Ver­an­stal­tungs-Kalen­der bin ich wirk­lich kri­tisch. Ich habe damals das Ein­ga­be­for­mu­lar für den Ver­an­stal­tungs­ka­len­der bei kiel4kiel.de ent­wi­ckelt. Wenn man jeden Monat 1000 Ter­mi­ne ein­ge­ben will, sieht man zu, dass man da kei­nen ein­zi­gen Klick zu viel macht, weil das immer x1000 geht.Ich habe noch kein For­mu­lar für Ver­an­stal­tun­gen gese­hen, das so prak­tisch war, wie unser User-Inter­face damals. Das fängt damit an, dass Ver­an­stal­tun­gen NIE um 00:00 Uhr anfan­gen. Die Zeit­aus­wahl steht aber bei jeder Soft­ware auf 00:00 und die­ser Stan­dard­wert lässt sich nicht konfigurieren.Events bei WordPressIch bin der Mei­nung, dass es kein ein­zi­ges gutes Event-Plug­in für Word­Press gibt. Auch kein kom­mer­zi­el­les. Ich ken­ne kei­nes. Die meis­ten sind mit Fea­tures total über­la­den, die dafür auch noch schlecht zu bedie­nen sind. Dazu kommt, dass alle Kalen­der schei­ße aus­se­hen und man sie nicht anpas­sen kann – selbst wenn sie sich ein eige­nes Tem­p­la­te-Sys­tem über­legt haben.Beim Web­Mon­tag brau­che ich ein ein­fa­ches Plug­in bei dem man Datum und Uhr­zeit und eine Adres­se ein­gibt. Außer­dem soll man sich an- und abmel­den kön­nen. Ich habe das vor lan­ger Zeit über einen Cus­tom-Post-Type erle­digt, den ich um Datum und Loca­ti­on erwei­tert habe. Außer­dem habe ich die Kom­men­tar­funk­ti­on dort so „gehackt“, dass das Text­feld aus­ge­blen­det wird. So mel­det man sich an, indem man einen Kom­men­tar ohne Text abgibt. Des­we­gen bekommt man auch kei­ne Benach­rich­ti­gung und man kann sich auch dar­über nicht abmelden. Das funk­tio­niert. Aber ich hät­te trotz­dem eine etwas kom­for­ta­ble­re Lösung. Bei Gather­Press arbei­ten wohl gera­de eini­ge moti­vier­te Ent­wick­ler an einem neu­en Plug­in für Events. Das sieht auf den ers­ten Blick sehr auf­ge­räumt aus und scheint sich an den moder­nen Para­dig­men der Word­Press-Ent­wick­lung zu orientieren.Events im FediverseAuch im Fedi­ver­se gibt es Ver­an­stal­tun­gen. Mobi­li­zon ist eine Lösung dafür. Auf so einer Instanz gibt es dann nur Ver­an­stal­tun­gen. Ich ken­ne mich damit nicht so gut aus. Aber super wäre es natür­lich, wenn ich einem Account bei Mobi­li­zon bspw. von Mast­o­don aus fol­gen könn­te und wenn mir dann eine Ver­an­stal­tung durch die Time­line läuft, kli­cke ich auf „teil­neh­men“ und bin ange­mel­det. Das geht aber noch nicht. Es gibt aber wohl Über­le­gun­gen bei Mast­o­don, Ver­an­stal­tun­gen bes­ser zu unter­stüt­zen. Fri­en­di­ca, Hub­zil­la und Ple­ro­ma kön­nen das schon – zumin­dest teilweise.Auf der Sei­te von Word­Press arbei­ten And­re Men­rath und Mat­thi­as Pfef­fer­le (@pfefferle) an einer Bridge für die bestehen­den Event-Plug­ins ins Fediverse.Die­se The­ma ist lei­der noch nicht ganz so kon­kret wie die grund­sätz­li­che Unter­stüt­zung für Arti­kel von Word­Press in Mast­o­don. Es sind eini­ge Puz­zle­tei­le, die ein inter­es­san­tes Bild ver­spre­chen, wenn sie jemand klug zusammensetzt. Ich fänd es cool, wenn ich eine Lösung hät­te bei der Men­schen den Ver­an­stal­tun­gen des Web­Mon­tags bspw. auf Mast­o­don fol­gen und sich anmel­den könn­ten. Zusätz­lich wäre es aber natür­lich nötig, dass man sich auch wei­ter­hin unkom­pli­ziert ohne Account anmel­den könn­te. Ein Ter­min-Plug­in, bei dem ich eine Stan­dard-Start­zeit ein­stel­len kann, weil der Web­Mon­tag immer ab 19 Uhr sei­ne Tür öff­net; einen Stan­dard-Ver­an­stal­tungs­ort, weil wir meis­tens in der Star­ter­kit­chen sind. Eine öffent­lich ein­seh­ba­re Teil­nah­me­lis­te, aus der sich Leu­te auch auf Wunsch aus­blen­den kön­nen und die sich nach ein paar Mona­ten von allei­ne löscht und nur die zusam­men gerech­ne­te Zahl der Anmel­dun­gen behält.Dar­auf muss ich wohl noch ein wenig war­ten. Aber Vor­freu­de ist ja auch etwas Schönes.
  • 0 Votes
    1 Posts
    6 Views
    #ehLabs for you feed algorithm seems pretty decent now. Definitely better than Mastodon, not as good as Threads. But Threads isn’t a fair comparison because #ActivityPub events aren’t in their main algo and are relegated to a sub menu of following feed.