Mastodawn

#ActivityPub is super cool once you see it in action.

For instance, you can visit the new StarTrek lemmy server here: https://startrek.website/c/startrek. Looks like a reddit sub with posts, threaded comments, upvotes, &c.

OR you can follow the same server on Mastodon ‪@startrek‬.
Every thread and comment shows up as a boosted post.

Cool, right? Now, say you find a comment that you want to reply to. Post through your favorite Mastodon app, and that feeds right back to the thread on the #Lemmy server! 🤯

Star Trek Social Club - Star Trek Website

r/startrek: The Next Generation Star Trek news and discussion. No slash fic… Maybe a little slash fic. — Rules ::: spoiler 1 Be constructive All posts/comments must be thoughtful and balanced. ::: — ::: spoiler 2 Be welcoming It is important that everyone from newbies to OG Trekkers feel welcome, no matter their gender, sexual orientation, religion or race. ::: — ::: spoiler 3 Be truthful All posts/comments must be factually accurate and verifiable. We are not a place for gossip, rumors, or manipulative or misleading content. ::: — ::: spoiler 4 Be nice If a polite way cannot be found to phrase what it is you want to say, don’t say anything at all. Insulting or disparaging remarks about any human being are expressly not allowed. ::: — ::: spoiler 5 Spoilers Utilize the spoiler system for any and all spoilers relating to the most recently-aired episode. There is no formal spoiler protection for episodes/films after they have been available for approximately one week. ::: — ::: spoiler 6 Keep on-topic All submissions must be directly about the Star Trek franchise (the shows, movies, books, etc.). Off-topic discussions are welcome at c/Quarks. ::: — ::: spoiler 7 Meta Questions and concerns about moderator actions should be brought forward via DM. ::: — Upcoming Episodes | Date | Episode | Title | |:—:|:—:|:—:| |02-12|SFA 1x06|“Come, Let’s Away” [https://startrek.website/post/35481216]| |02-19|SFA 1x07|“Ko’Zeine”| |02-26|SFA 1x08|TBA| |03-05|SFA 1x09|TBA| |03-12|SFA 1x10|TBA| — In Production Strange New Worlds [https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Star_Trek:_Strange_New_Worlds] (TBA) Starfleet Academy [https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Star_Trek:_Starfleet_Academy] — In Development Untitled theatrical film [https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Star_Trek_XV] Untitled comedy series — Wondering where to stream a series? Check here. [https://www.startrek.com/where-to-watch] Allied Discord Server [https://discord.gg/startrek] —

Adam Wilbert Jun 14, 2023

@startrek oh, neat. I'm posting this from Mastodon, and didn't realize it would also START a thread on your lemmy server. Sorry Star Trek folks, just using you as a fun example! 😅

And also a little 😳

end0fline Jun 14, 2023

Hello there from startrek.website! The fediverse is INDEED awesome.

Adam Wilbert Jun 14, 2023

@End0fLine me right now:

Edit, that seems to have not worked. Was supposed to be https://giphy.com/gifs/star-trek-data-tng-JSnKGLvrFvYU8

Star Trek Multitasking GIF - Find & Share on GIPHY

Discover & share this Star Trek GIF with everyone you know. GIPHY is how you search, share, discover, and create GIFs.

GIPHY

end0fline Jun 14, 2023

Lmao! I wanted to tell you that I didn’t see anything but was too afraid it was a joke that went over my head.

Don’t sell yourself short! Your explanation was perfect. It just demonstrated what you meant TOO well.

cthos 🐱Jun 15, 2023

@awilbert And I _think_ stars on Mastodon translate to likes on Lemmy/Kbin, right?

@awilbert how did you start a new lemmy thread from mastodon? Did you do it simply by @ mentioning the lemmy startrek community?

Adam Wilbert Jun 15, 2023

@FreezePeach Yes. I saw a post somewhere that clarified the format that works best for lemmy: first line of your mastodon post will become the thread title on lemmy. On the second line, tag the community. Lines 3+ become the body of your thread.

Basil Jun 15, 2023

@awilbert I do wish it only boosted opening posts into the follower's mastodon timeline and not also every comment. Would be a much better signal/noise ratio.

Luke Jun 14, 2023

@awilbert @startrek hello from Mastodon! Thanks for this post, I'm still figuring out how the federated stuff works, and you helped it click a little bit more! Plus, now I get to see more Star Trek stuff in both Lemmy and Mastodon.

Guy Fleegman Jun 14, 2023

I was initially skeptical but I really like this Federated business. One question I find myself asking when browsing is "where is this person from?", following them back to their Lemmy or Mastodon and finding a whole bunch of cool posts there!

astromd Jun 14, 2023

What mastodon apps are you using? I use Mac and Apple ecosystem normally and looking for something native.

lxskllr Jun 14, 2023

@astromd @awilbert

Browser tab in fennecfdroid(android). It does what I want it to do. I'm pretty anti app, and don't like duplicating browser functionality with a separate limited browser. Not the case here, but a lot of proprietary (cr)apps duplicate a webbrowser with an added layer of spyware.

Adam Wilbert Jun 14, 2023

@astromd I use @ivory all day, every day. There's native ios and macos apps. I've also used Ice Cubes and it was pretty good too.

astromd Jun 14, 2023

I just got Ivory and will check it out!

themusicgod1 Jun 14, 2023

What mastodon apps are you using? I use Mac and Apple ecosystem normally and looking for something native.

keep in mind: Apple actively censors fediverse apps. You are getting an intentionally crippled experience. Like everything else in the apple ecosystem, the fediverse clients are #defectivebydesign

Matt Jun 14, 2023

Could you please explain? Thanks.

themusicgod1 Jun 16, 2023

There's been many instances of fediverse applications that have tried to get into the apple ecosystem, but have been denied because they won't censor apple's political opposition. Generally: the apple ecosystem is a system of oppression, built on intentionally defective by design hardware. Many features are not just missing, but missing because the people who control your device don't want you to have them, not because of some kind of technical constraint.

Apple is Defective by Design | Defective by Design

astromd Jun 16, 2023

Uh...how? I have not seen any evidence of that. Can you offer a link or a source to this claim? And what is "actively censors" supposed to mean? All apps go through the approval process.

themusicgod1 Jun 18, 2023

Then you haven't been around the fedi long enough. I do not have the threads where this has happened, but the precedent was set around the time mastodon started in 2016. I might have talked about it in my podcast I can't remember

DHa Jun 14, 2023

@astromd I would recommend checking out Mona as well. Native Mac and iOS/iPadOS apps but does not require a subscription

💫「mongrel mind」🛰️Jun 15, 2023

@astromd @awilbert Personally I love/use Mona, but Ivory is also really good. It's made by the devs of Tweetbot. If something free is more your taste, there's also Ice Cubes

astromd Jun 16, 2023

Mona looks interesting. Ivory seems complicated, but then again so it Mastodon in general.

💫「mongrel mind」🛰️Jun 16, 2023

@astromd Ivory, like most things Mastodon, seems complicated on the surface.

In Truth, Mona is a little more complex because it's just so customizable, Ivory is more ready for almost anyone to use it

DFunk Jun 15, 2023

@astromd I use @mona. Mac App store, also iPad and iPhone iOS versions. Pay up-front. No subscription.
I like it. Simple, clean interface. Persistent timeline that really does iCloud sync well.

girthero Jun 14, 2023

So with the Federated business.. Can a community be 'hosted' on multiple servers? I've seen some communities with the same name on different hosts, but completely different posts and moderation rules.

Value Subtracted Jun 14, 2023

They're probably unrelated communities that happened to choose the same name, especially if it's something generic like "politics" or whatever. Best to assume there's no affiliation unless they specifically say otherwise.

porthos Jun 16, 2023

Yeah they DEFINITELY aren't the same communities. For lemmy and kbin instances (the two reddit-like softwares on the fediverse) communities are like subreddits but they are subreddits specific to that particular website/instance (startrek.website, lemmy.wordl). Many different lemmy instances/websites can have their own /c/politics, they are entirely separate entities that just happen to share a name.

A bit confusing, not gonna lie lol, but I think it ultimately makes sense as a way to structure things.

lxskllr Jun 14, 2023

@girthero @awilbert

It probably /could/ be duplicated across servers, but I don't see the benefit.

Email is the federated service everybody's familiar with. [email protected], [email protected], and [email protected] can all exist simultaneously, have different users and content, but still communicate with one another.

girthero Jun 14, 2023

It probably /could/ be duplicated across servers, but I don’t see the benefit.

I would think what this reddit api fiasco proves is that its ultimately necessary. What's to stop an individual host from going the same way as reddit? What is to stop the host from running out of money to host the community? Lastly, would be nice to provide load balancing for high volume communities.

14th_cylon Jun 16, 2023

What’s to stop an individual host from going the same way as reddit?

nothing. when that happens, you just move to another instance. or you run your own instance from the start. i guess in the future there will be tools to migrate complete community to another server. you have to give people time to develop them ;)

What is to stop the host from running out of money to host the community?

nothing. but running two different servers does not prevent running out of money, it only means you will run out of them twice as fast ;)

Lastly, would be nice to provide load balancing for high volume communities.

"instance" in one deployment of the lemmy software, one island in the sea, if you will. big instance can consist of multiple physical servers, but it is still the same instance, same version of the software run under the same domain, with same admins and so on. you as a user don't know whether it is run on one physical server or whole rack and you don't care - as long as the server doesn't run out of resources.

Tehhund Jun 14, 2023

I have high hopes for ActivityPub/the Fediverse, but it has some usability challenges. For instance finding this post on my server so I could comment took more than 20 minutes.

Shimmer Jun 14, 2023

Took me a while, too. The federation concept is awesome, but I think there needs to be an easier way to discover what's available.

Arthur Wyatt Jun 14, 2023

@awilbert @startrek interested in if replying from Ivory will work…

Adam Wilbert Jun 14, 2023

@arthurwyatt @startrek It does!

Matt Jun 14, 2023

It's pretty neat being able to do that.

Personally, I decided to stick with a native Lemmy UI experience instead of following communities from my Mastodon account.

Adam Wilbert Jun 14, 2023

@leopardboy Same. While the content transfers across, the presentation does not. The benefit of #lemmy is the upvoting, sorting, and threading, which gets lost in translation.

Matt Jun 14, 2023

Indeed. Consuming Lemmy content via a timeline interface isn't necessarily my cup of tea, at least not at this stage.

DHa Jun 14, 2023

@awilbert @startrek How does this compare to kbin? Is this different? It looks the same but my credentials there do not appear to work

porthos Jun 16, 2023

startrek.website runs on lemmy, a reddit-like software on the fediverse (it uses the ActivityPub protocol).

lemmy.world and beehaw.org are examples of lemmy instances.

kbin is another (newer) reddit-like software that runs on the fediverse too.

kbin.social or fedia.io are examples of kbin instances.

lemmy and kbin differ in the details, they are totally different softwares written from the ground up to be like reddit but they are generally pretty similar in practice. Users on lemmy and kbin can follow, post and interact with each other as well as with users on mastodon etc... that's what makes it federated!. Your login will only work with the website you made it at (here, at startrek.website) in the same way that your email login will only work at the website you have it setup at (i.e. gmail login won't work for yahoo email).

Also, just to clarify, a particular website/community on the fediverse is referred to as an instance. startrek.website is a lemmy instance. Bit of a weird phrasing, but there are many different websites running lemmy software so a word had to be invented to refer to the various different websites running one version of a fediverse software (lemmy, mastodon, kbin etc...).

Sorry if that was too much of an explanation, I just figured there are probably a lot of new people here who might not quite understand how everything fits together!

Iro Jun 15, 2023

@awilbert @startrek @nfd I’m hoping to set this up similarly for The Expanse. Could you direct me to the right place to learn how?

Adam Wilbert Jun 15, 2023

@IRO I don't know whats involved with setting up a server instance, sorry. But if you get it going, I would 100% sign up for an Expanse community! 🚀

Alan McConchie Jun 15, 2023

@awilbert @IRO +1 for #TheExpanse. And also I don’t know much about it but possibly Kbin is preferred over Lemmy due to problematic politics of the Lemmy devs.

Iro Jun 15, 2023

@alan @awilbert Good to know, thank you! I haven’t seen the info about the Lemmy politics.

Alan McConchie Jun 15, 2023

@IRO @awilbert It's a bit cryptic, but there's some information here: https://mstdn.social/@feditips/106835057054633379

FediTips has moved! (@[email protected])

Content warning: Please don't use Lemmy :( Human rights, oppression

Mastodon 🐘

Iro Jun 15, 2023

@alan @awilbert Thank you very much. I haven’t spoken to anyone who’s used Kbin, do you recommend it?

Alan McConchie Jun 15, 2023

@IRO @awilbert I haven't tried it yet, but I've heard good recommendations.
And, just a second ago, I created a "magazine" for The Expanse on kbin.social: https://kbin.social/m/TheExpanse @TheExpanse

Iro Jun 15, 2023

@alan @awilbert Cool. I’m the moderator in charge of the subreddit, and I’m hoping to find us an alternate space.

Alan McConchie Jun 15, 2023

@IRO @awilbert Cool, well if you want to use that kbin group, I'm happy to add you as an admin there. Let me know where you end up migrating!

Iro Jun 15, 2023

@alan @awilbert Thanks so much, I’d appreciate it! Please do. :)

Alan McConchie Jun 15, 2023

@IRO @awilbert This also looks useful for understanding how kbin works https://kilioa.org/m/kbinfaqs/t/725

A small FAQ to hopefully help new users to kbin (updated June 13 17:00 GMT) - Kbin FAQs and related - Kilioa Kbin

I wanted to post this here since I want to help as much as I can in my own way to people coming here for the first time. I hope it is useful and helpful! I tried to assume low knowledge with the Fediverse in my responses which I collected here from a different post and assembled into a single article....

Iro Jun 15, 2023

@alan @awilbert Woot thanks a million!

Iro Jun 15, 2023

@alan @awilbert Welp, I’ve got domains. Guess this is happening! 😂

Adam Wilbert Jun 15, 2023

@alan @IRO I just went with the service where Star Trek went! LOL.

Seriously though, things are moving so fast but I do want to get some straight answers on the lemmy dev situation. I've seen posts in both directions, and everything is *hand wavy* and nonspecific. So I'm not sure what's going on on that front. The lemmy server I signed up with, Beehaw, seems to be proactive on the inclusivity front, and actively block instances.

Jeff Jun 15, 2023

There's similar crossover functionality with Peertube (video sharing, similar to youtube), Pixelfed (photo sharing, similar to instagram), Bookwyrm (book reviews, similar to goodreads), and a growing list of others.

It's super neat that people can pick a experiential paradigm that they like—microblogging, photo sharing, link aggregator—but still have the ability to access and interact with people who use a totally different one!

joel b Jun 15, 2023

@awilbert I don’t think replies are working thru pleroma. I can find the account but the comment I want to reply to isn’t returning in search

https://startrek.website/post/10715

Star Trek Clip Curiously Related to the Reddit Situation and Root Beer - Star Trek: Website

Have fun!

@awilbert @davidpierce @startrek it is cool, but this is still terrible UX. Having to go search for the community from my logged-in lemmy instance is not the sort of thing that wins fans among normal people.

Kerry Ann 🏳️‍⚧️ (she/her)Jun 15, 2023

@awilbert @startrek I'm a little worried about the Lemmy dev's ties to neo-nazi stuff.

Jeff Jun 16, 2023

I saw that one of the devs was wrote a bunch of anti-capitalist and communist essays, do you have any links to the neo-nazi stuff?

mirabilos Jun 15, 2023

@awilbert s/Mastodon/mstdn-compatible Fediverse/g