Fediverse Bookmarks

"This paper examines the potential of the Fediverse, a federated network of social media and content platforms, to counter the centralization and dominance of commercial platforms on the social Web. We gather evidence from the technology powering the Fediverse (especially the ActivityPub protocol), current statistical data regarding Fediverse user distribution over instances, and the status of two older, similar, decentralized technologies: e-mail and the Web. Our findings suggest that Fediverse will face significant challenges in fulfilling its decentralization promises, potentially hindering its ability to positively impact the social Web on a large scale."

"Mastodon link previews can lead to excessive requests at the same time, which is not Mastodon’s fault."

"The short version of this is that I believe that Mastodon — more specifically federation and decentralization won't work out."

Critical view of some of the moderation-related activities in the Fediverse.

Discussion of issues with AP-AT bridges.

Experience report of attempting to write an ActivityPub server in OCaml.

Note for implementing ActivityPub federation.

There are four ways in which ActivityPub is a non-standard standard. This work is informed by reading the Social Web Working Group (SocialWG) meeting minutes, interviews with SocialWG members, and a study of historical documents.

"Unwanted messages are a challenge for all public communication systems. On a federated network without a central form of control, the challenge is extended to allowing for free communication between parties without a central means of control while at the same time preventing undesired or harmful messages." RWOT9 in Prague, The Czech Republic (September 2019)

[Video] "Four years later, while the fediverse plays host to a thriving community and unique culture, it remains a nonentity by the standards of social media giants. Why is this? How has ActivityPub created a constructive and enjoyable social media experience while also failing to bring that experience to a large audience? And what can this tell us about the possibilities and limitations of anarchistic spaces as a whole?"