Nice, the first Mastodon 4.4.0 beta is now available:

https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon/releases/tag/v4.4.0-beta.1

- "Followers you know" widget
- a "featured tab" on profile pages, with "endorsed accounts"
- reminders about missing alt text
- warning if the language of your post doesn't match the selected language
- "experimental support for verifying and displaying remote quote posts"

And plenty more.

"We expect 4.4.0 to be released by the first week of July, possibly sooner."

Official announcement: https://mastodon.social/@MastodonEngineering/114625074809479231

#mastodon #MastodonBeta #fediverse

Release v4.4.0-beta.1 · mastodon/mastodon

WarningThis is a pre-release! This has not been as widely tested as regular releases, although it is still tested on mastodon.social and some other servers. If you update to this release, you will ...

GitHub

@stefan

"- "experimental support for verifying and displaying remote quote posts""

I've watched as this very specific Issue worked its way through the #Mastodon #Github

"remote quote posts"

I've seen no mention (perhaps I missed it) of who exactly gets to --> create <-- these "remote quote posts"

"remote" implies no one on my local instance

#QuotePost #QuotePosts

@FinchHaven @stefan this sounds pretty great. I like the thought of being able to deny the ability of someone to quote particular posts.

“Quoting other people is not implemented yet, and it is currently not possible to mark your own posts as allowing quotes. However, a new “Who can quote” setting has been added to the “Posting defaults” section of the user settings. This setting allows you to set a default that will be used for new posts made on Mastodon 4.5 and newer, when quote posts will be fully implemented.”

@chris

Yeah, agree, particularly after having witnessed all the grief (and griefing / brigading) caused by #QuotePosts back on Twitter

cc @stefan

@FinchHaven @chris Yeah, I know some people are pretty impatient to see this rolled out, but I'm glad they're taking a slow and thoughtful approach.
@Chris Alemany🇺🇦🇨🇦🇪🇸 The Mastodon devs are talking as if either the Fediverse is only Mastodon, or the Fediverse as a whole doesn't have quote-posts.

Neither of this is true. The Fediverse has had quote-posts since July 2nd, 2010 when Mistpark (now known as Friendica) was launched. Mastodon toots have been quote-post-able since Mastodon itself was launched, for when Mastodon was launched, it immediately federated with at least two Fediverse server applications that have quote-posts, namely Friendica and Hubzilla, a fork of a fork of Friendica by Friendica's own creator.

Nowadays, at least Pleroma, Akkoma, all other Pleroma forks, Misskey, Calckey, Firefish, Iceshrimp-JS, Iceshrimp.NET, CherryPick, Sharkey, all other Misskey forks, Mitra, Friendica, Hubzilla, (streams) and Forte can quote-post Mastodon toots with no problem.

And Mastodon won't be able to stop them. No, seriously, it won't. Not with a non-standard, proprietary, home-brew opt-in or opt-out switch that doesn't tie into anything that the other Fediverse server apps have. And whatever switch Mastodon is working on will not tie into anything that already exists.

Let me put it this way: Hubzilla has the second-most advanced and fine-grained permissions system in the Fediverse. It goes well beyond most people's imagination. It works on three levels: for the whole channel (that's similar to a Mastodon account), for individual contacts (that's "followers" in Mastodon lingo, but Hubzilla doesn't distinguish between followers and followed), for individual content. (streams) and Forte are the only ones with an even more advanced and fine-grained permissions system.

But even they don't have a quote-post permission setting. And they have permission settings for just about everything. You want reply control in the Fediverse? Hubzilla has reply control, and (streams) and Forte have reply control on steroids. But what they don't have is a quote-posting permission because that's next to impossible to control across the Fediverse even with the most advanced permissions system.

As @Mike Macgirvin ?️ (professional software developer for almost half a century, designer of two Fediverse protocols, creator of Friendica and Hubzilla, inventor of nomadic identity, creator and maintainer of (streams) and Forte) says: The only way to make your posts un-quote-post-able is by not posting in public and not allowing everyone in the Fediverse full access to your posts. Set your "Who can quote" however you want, I'll always be able to quote-post all your public posts with no problem and with no resistance.

So what chance does Mastodon have then? Mastodon which doesn't even know what permissions are? Developed by Eugen Rochko who actually has a history of head-butting with Mike Macgirvin, and who would never take any step towards anything that Mike has ever developed?

I'm commenting from Hubzilla right now, and I'm also on (streams). And I can tell you: If you make any of your posts "un-quote-post-able", this still won't make my Share buttons on Hubzilla and (streams) disappear.

CC: @Stefan Bohacek @FinchHaven sfba

#Long #LongPost #CWLong #CWLongPost #FediMeta #FediverseMeta #CWFediMeta #CWFediverseMeta #Fediverse #Mastodon #Pleroma #Akkoma #Misskey #Forkey #Forkeys #Calckey #Firefish #Iceshrimp #Iceshrimp.NET #CherryPick #Sharkey #Mitra #Friendica #Hubzilla #Streams #(streams) #Forte #QuotePost #QuotePosts #QuoteTweet #QuoteTweets #QuoteToot #QuoteToots #QuoteBoost #QuoteBoosts #QuotePostDebate #QuoteTootDebate
friendica – A Decentralized Social Network

@jupiter_rowland thank you very much for the insight Jupiter. I didn't know any of that detail.
@Chris Alemany🇺🇦🇨🇦🇪🇸 At least you probably already knew that the Fediverse is more than just Mastodon. I mean, I see you follow not only Bluesky users via Bridgy Fed, but also a few Pixelfed accounts.

#FediMeta #FediverseMeta #CWFediMeta #CWFediverseMeta #Fediverse #Mastodon #NotOnlyMastodon #FediverseIsNotMastodon #MastodonIsNotTheFediverse
Netzgemeinde/Hubzilla

@stefan

And the answer seems to be at #Mastodon #Github #Releases

"Quoting other people is not implemented yet, and it is currently not possible to mark your own posts as allowing quotes. However, a new “Who can quote” setting has been added to the “Posting defaults” section of the user settings. This setting allows you to set a default that will be used for new posts made on Mastodon 4.5 and newer, when quote posts will be fully implemented."

Here: https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon/releases

Releases · mastodon/mastodon

Your self-hosted, globally interconnected microblogging community - mastodon/mastodon

GitHub
@FinchHaven sfba I've seen no mention (perhaps I missed it) of who exactly gets to --> create <-- these "remote quote posts"

"remote" implies no one on my local instance
A common misconception on Mastodon is that the Fediverse doesn't have quote-posts. Anywhere.

As a matter of fact, however:
  • Pleroma users can quote-post Mastodon toots.
  • Akkoma users can quote-post Mastodon toots.
  • Misskey users can quote-post Mastodon toots.
  • Calckey users can quote-post Mastodon toots.
  • Firefish users can quote-post Mastodon toots.
  • Iceshrimp-JS users can quote-post Mastodon toots.
  • Iceshrimp.NET users can quote-post Mastodon toots.
  • CherryPick users can quote-post Mastodon toots.
  • Sharkey users can quote-post Mastodon toots.
  • Users on any other Forkey can quote-post Mastodon toots.
  • Mitra users can quote-post Mastodon toots.
  • Friendica users can quote-post Mastodon toots.
  • Hubzilla users can quote-post Mastodon toots.
  • (streams) users can quote-post Mastodon toots.
  • Forte users can quote-post Mastodon toots.
  • Many other non-Mastodon Fediverse users can quote-post Mastodon toots.
None of them have included quote-posts with the explicit intent to harass Mastodon users.

To give you an example: Friendica was launched 15 years ago, more than five years before Mastodon. It already had quote-posts back then. When Mastodon was launched, it was Mastodon that connected itself to Friendica and not the other way around. And ever since that very moment, Friendica was able to quote-post Mastodon toots.

If Mastodon adds its own, proprietary, home-brew, non-standard quote-post opt-in or opt-out, [b]all of the above will still be able to quote-post any public Mastodon toots with zero resistance[b]. In fact, they won't even know whether a Mastodon user has opted out of or not opted into being quote-post-able.

To make matters worse, the Fediverse has at least two different quote-post technologies.

Misskey and the various Forkeys put RE: <URL of the quote-posted message> into a message, and it's automatically rendered as a quote-post. It references the original, and when the original is edited, so is the quote-post. I don't know whether or not the quote-posted user is notified.

Friendica, Hubzilla, (streams) and Forte generate a dumb copy of the original message from an eight-digit reference number. It comes with a "headline" containing the name of the original poster, profile picture included, and a link to the original message. Since it's a dumb copy, the quote-post will not change when the original is edited. The quote-posted user is notified similarly to being mentioned when being quote-posted.

Immediate, effective counter-measures are completely impossible against both.

CC: @Stefan Bohacek

#Long #LongPost #CWLong #CWLongPost #FediMeta #FediverseMeta #CWFediMeta #CWFediverseMeta #Fediverse #Mastodon #Pleroma #Akkoma #Misskey #Forkey #Forkeys #Calckey #Firefish #Iceshrimp #Iceshrimp.NET #CherryPick #Sharkey #Mitra #Friendica #Hubzilla #Streams #(streams) #Forte #QuotePost #QuotePosts #QuoteTweet #QuoteTweets #QuoteToot #QuoteToots #QuoteBoost #QuoteBoosts #QuotePostDebate #QuoteTootDebate
Netzgemeinde/Hubzilla

@stefan this is the most exciting “complete” new feature I see so far! Finally admins can communicate with their users!

“Add ability for admins to send announcements to all users via email (#33928 and #34411 by @ClearlyClaire)
This is meant for critical announcements only, as this will potentially send a lot of emails and cannot be opted out of by users.”

@stefan Looks like some really cool forthcoming stuff in 4.4.0!

@housepanther Definitely!

Very tempting to install the beta on my server.

@stefan There are docker images for it available. I could back up the database and live large. 😹
@stefan D'oh! It didn't work for me.
@housepanther Ah, bummer!
@stefan Yeah, I couldn’t get the web container to stay running. It kept crashing. I’ll wait for the next beta and try again.
@housepanther Well I hope it goes better next time, good luck!