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Unfortunately, what happens is that (for some reason), instances cache remote media. So if I'm on rando.zyx, it will download and cache the image from octodon.s

Unfortunately, what happens is that (for some reason), instances cache remote media. So if I'm on rando.zyx, it will download and cache the image from octodon.social for local rando.zyx users.

KomoD 4y ago
It's not just images either, it's the same with link previews, so any link that gets posted will get visited by the instances your instance is federated with, it's even worse when you post a link to a video. Small example log: https://pastebin.com/raw/jYZ1z8dG https://pastebin.com/raw/jYZ1z8dG I've seen some cases where there's been 1000+ requests to a site just because a link to it was posted.
- zimpenfish 4y ago
  Now that is a problem. But people have suggested workable solutions and hopefully at some point, the Mastodon authors will pull their heads out of their hole and get on with implementing something. I wouldn't hold my breath, mind.
  - KomoD 4y ago
    Earlier today I posted a link to a video on my webserver, all the instances hammered me so hard it maxed out my 1gbps connection
    - zimpenfish 4y ago
      It's been an issue since 2017[1] (since moved to [2]) but the discussion always devolves into "but what if someone LIES in the federated preview??!!?!" bikeshedding. [1] https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon/issues/4486 https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon/issues/4486 [2] https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon/issues/23662 https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon/issues/23662
zimpenfish 4y ago
Which is a very different situation to "blast out the photo to 1000 instances". But even then, not all of them fetch and cache media on receipt of a status (e.g. mine don't) and they're not fetching them at the same time according to my logs. You may well still end up serving 1000 copies of the photo (or even more if people aren't caching) but it's 100% not "blast out the photo to 1000 instances when you post" - it's much gentler.

Unfortunately, what happens is that (for some reason), instances cache remote media. So if I'm on rando.zyx, it will download and cache the image from octodon.social for local rando.zyx users.

KomoD 4y ago

It's not just images either, it's the same with link previews, so any link that gets posted will get visited by the instances your instance is federated with, it's even worse when you post a link to a video. Small example log: https://pastebin.com/raw/jYZ1z8dG https://pastebin.com/raw/jYZ1z8dG I've seen some cases where there's been 1000+ requests to a site just because a link to it was posted.

zimpenfish 4y ago
Now that is a problem. But people have suggested workable solutions and hopefully at some point, the Mastodon authors will pull their heads out of their hole and get on with implementing something. I wouldn't hold my breath, mind.
- KomoD 4y ago
  Earlier today I posted a link to a video on my webserver, all the instances hammered me so hard it maxed out my 1gbps connection
  - zimpenfish 4y ago
    It's been an issue since 2017[1] (since moved to [2]) but the discussion always devolves into "but what if someone LIES in the federated preview??!!?!" bikeshedding. [1] https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon/issues/4486 https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon/issues/4486 [2] https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon/issues/23662 https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon/issues/23662

zimpenfish 4y ago

Which is a very different situation to "blast out the photo to 1000 instances". But even then, not all of them fetch and cache media on receipt of a status (e.g. mine don't) and they're not fetching them at the same time according to my logs. You may well still end up serving 1000 copies of the photo (or even more if people aren't caching) but it's 100% not "blast out the photo to 1000 instances when you post" - it's much gentler.