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Some people are confused about what this is. On this page you see examples of websites you can host yourself. I'll use Mastodon as an example since I've used i
by kovek 9y ago
Some people are confused about what this is.
On this page you see examples of websites you can host yourself. I'll use Mastodon as an example since I've used it. I know about hubzilla slightly but have not used it.
Mastodon is a platform you can run on your own server. That server you're running is called an instance. You can also register on an instance someone else is running.
Think of a single Mastodon instance as a clone of Twitter. One nice thing is: Your server, your rules.
Then, you can also allow your Mastodon instance and its users and their posts to be discoverable by other instances.
I think it's said to be federated because no one entity controls the content that is being shared. the information is passed around from instance to instance by rules that are defined on a per-instance basis.
- amelius 9y agoCan I assume that these services (e.g. Mastodon and hubzilla) can talk to each other?
- giancarlostoro 9y agoYes there isnwork by w3c to spec out this protocol. I'm not sure if its under draft or already an official spec though.
- synchronise 9y agoIt's called ActivityPub and it's been made an official w3c protocol recently.
- evolve2k 9y agoAnnouncement Jan 2018: https://www.w3.org/blog/news/archives/6785 https://www.w3.org/blog/news/archives/6785 W3C Recommendation: https://www.w3.org/TR/2018/REC-activitypub-20180123/ https://www.w3.org/TR/2018/REC-activitypub-20180123/
- avhon1 9y agoThat's the "federated" part of the article's name.
- marknadal 9y agoI don't think Diaspora* and Mastodon will, just to clarify what other people are saying. But Mastodon <-> Mastodon should (and maybe even ones based off the same protocol). Also note that email is federated, yet the majority of users have congregated around Gmail. I predict that the same thing will happen with Mastodon, and that is not the type of future we should have. Instead, I urge everybody to use P2P/decentralized networking, where even though there might be strong/reliable federated hosts, YOU fundamentally control your identity and it does NOT belong to a federated host. With latest WebCrypto, this is perfectly possible now: http://hackernoon.com/so-you-want-to-build-a-p2p-twitter-with-e2e-encryption-f90505b2ff8 http://hackernoon.com/so-you-want-to-build-a-p2p-twitter-wit... !
- SiempreViernes 9y agoI think the majority of users have several emails, and Gmail rules purely on interface convenience. Its more advanced features (like google maps knowing what hotel you've booked) are mostly creepy, and its storage allowance is not a standout.
- a_t48 9y agoI remember Gmail's storage being amazing when it came out...
- toofy 9y ago> ...where even though there might be strong/reliable federated hosts, YOU fundamentally control your identity and it does NOT belong to a federated host. Yeah, owning ones identity and also your followers/friends/etc connection to your account should automatically be updated if you choose to move instances. This is what I believe will allow federation to flourish. When the shortlived Great Migration to Mastodon took place last year, it was terribly cumbersome if you wanted to move instances — you would lose all of your friends again, at which point you’re required to somehow alert every account which follows you and expect them to go through the steps to add your new account. This is just too messy and for people who have spent years building their perfect social net, this is a pretty severe roadblock when one is forced to choose between a new instance with better culture but losing years of work connecting with interesting people.
- em3rgent0rdr 9y agoAs long as the two services implement a shared protocol like ActivityPub [1], then yes they can communicate! For instance, both Mastodon and PeerTube (p2p youtube clone) implement ActivityPub, and so can communicate. And although according to [2], hubzilla doesn't appear to currently implement ActivityPub, however there is an intermediary "Bridgy Fed" [3] which can bridge between Mastodon and hubzilla. [1] https://www.w3.org/TR/activitypub/ https://www.w3.org/TR/activitypub/ [2] https://activitypub.rocks/implementation-report/ https://activitypub.rocks/implementation-report/ [3] https://fed.brid.gy/ https://fed.brid.gy/
- synchronise 9y agoFor what it's worth, Hubzilla is working on getting an ActivityPub API up soon. They're also looking to implement OpenID2 so it can be used to log into websites just like Facebook currently can.
- zotlabs 9y agoActivityPub has been supported in Hubzilla since around June/July 2017. It provides social communications in ActivityPub, Diaspora, OStatus, and Zot. It's designed primarily as a distributed content management and decentralised identity/privacy platform, whereas most of the other fediverse projects focus primarily on social networking.
- jug 9y agoI heard that things like hashtags aren’t federated though. I think it’s important to make especially posts findable across instances via hashtags.
- sp332 9y agoWouldn't you have to connect to every instance on the planet and ask each one individually if they have public messages with those hashtags?
- Miredly 9y agoYes, I disagree with the above user's statement about why they're said to be federated- they're federated because content from any instance can appear on any other instance. The federation is the cross-talk.
- tytytytytytytyt 9y agoMaybe that site shouldn't be so shitty that it needs you to explain it.
- atomicfiredoll 9y agoI was looking at this page the other day, since I've been interested in hosting something like a Mastodon instance for friends. But, I'm not sure what my responsibilities as a host and admin would be under some of the new U.S. legislation (like the CLOUD Act.) Those laws seem to directly contend with my desire to protect user's privacy and data.