Crom, Awoo.space AdminMay 2, 2017
beatrix bitrot

hellllooo friends! time for another announcement!

https://admins.town/

is a real thing now. it's an instance (not mine) where admins are gonna talk about admin shit.

if you're an admin join up!

if you're interested in what admins are up to i guess you can also join up or follow us or use a tool to read off the public feed or gosh i dunno, probably lots of options

this is a direct response to calls for greater insight/transparency into admin discussions. work is ongoing!

feel free to boost

May 2, 2017 at 2:47pmWeb
Show threadEugen RochkoMay 2, 2017
@bea but i am an admin doing admin things here, not sure why i'd need an alt in a federated network :P
Show threadbeatrix bitrotMay 2, 2017
@Gargron EUGEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i can't
Show threadEugen RochkoMay 2, 2017
@bea would've been a prime use case for !groups though
Show threadbeatrix bitrotMay 2, 2017
@Gargron this is happening exactly because we don't have groups. if we get them it will probably disappear
Show threadEugen RochkoMay 2, 2017
@bea +1 for groups, -1 for the stupid bangtag syntax though. need some alternative idea of how to address toots to the groups that doesn't involve butchering human-used punctuation
Show threadmalokiMay 2, 2017
@Gargron @bea so we just use ¡ at the beginning of the tag then. Since that's human-used punctuation. :)
Show threadmalokiMay 2, 2017
@bea @Gargron Much easier for people to use! Clearly!
Show threadbeatrix bitrotMay 2, 2017
@Gargron agree, something less commonly used, | maybe or []?
Show threadLord Guysbert de Fieri May 2, 2017
@bea @Gargron What about ^groups? That seems on par with # for frequency of use in normal writing.
Show threadbeatrix bitrotMay 2, 2017
@InspectorCaracal @Gargron yeah and you can get to it on mobile keyboards not so badly but then you can't make cute faces ^_^ which is why i proposed | or []
Show threadEugen RochkoMay 2, 2017
@bea @InspectorCaracal I'm thinking more in terms out-of-band selection.
Show threadbeatrix bitrotMay 2, 2017
@Gargron @InspectorCaracal ah leave it out of the message body? i mean yeah that is a thing, but of course requires some UI and API changes i guess?
Show threadLord Guysbert de Fieri May 2, 2017
@bea @Gargron You could modify the publicity settings and following features to add people to a group and only have your posts go to them, but that would be a major project.
Show threadbeatrix bitrotMay 2, 2017
@InspectorCaracal @Gargron yeah, maybe a good groups phase 2 kinda thing?
Show thread⦺ irick 🐁🐈⚩May 2, 2017
@Gargron @bea @InspectorCaracal ... please? Oh my sweet $deity please.
Show threadLord Guysbert de Fieri May 2, 2017
@Gargron @bea Oh the pipe is not bad and easily usable. (I somehow completely blanked on the smilies??)
Show threadbeatrix bitrotMay 2, 2017
@InspectorCaracal @Gargron yeah, pipe or a pair of common-but-not-commonly-paired characters
Show threadSerge K. Keller 🦣May 2, 2017
@Gargron @maloki What about the interrobang‽ (one example right there...)
Sorry, I can't resist obscure characters... ‽
Show threadbrookeMay 2, 2017
@Gargron @bea groups groups groups groups groups groups
Show threadINACTIVEMay 4, 2017

@Gargron @bea It's actually not that bad of a convention; it kind of aligns with how hashtags themselves are used in microblogging apps.

Besides which, maintaining cross-platform compatibility for OStatus groups is kind of fundamentally important. I'd love to be able to talk to existing OStatus groups on GS and elsewhere without some fundamental software incompatibility preventing that.

Show threadwilkie (quilt appreciator)May 4, 2017

@deadsuperhero @Gargron @bea Groups aren't part of OStatus ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

That said, the tagging functionality of the newer federated specs should smooth over any convention issues between implementations and allow them to be rendered as each site would expect them. I look forward to groups without the bang syntax, too.

Show threadINACTIVEMay 4, 2017

@wilkie @Gargron @bea

That's fair, but that's also the convention almost every OStatus web app has followed when it comes to implementing group fixtures. I hate to make any kind of appeal to tradition, but personally I see nothing wrong with using ! to declare an array of groups one is subscribed to, in the same way that one uses @ to show the array of your contacts.

Show threadFrankie SaxxMay 4, 2017
@wilkie @Gargron @bea @deadsuperhero does not using the ! mean groups from Mastodon & groups from GS servers would be inaccessible to each other? Or would Mastodon do some back end parsing to change the syntax depending on which servers group messages are going to/coming from? (There are established GS groups I'd like to follow but can't, like a !coffee group. :)
Show threadKevin MarksMay 4, 2017
@deadsuperhero @Gargron @bea hashtags were originally thought of as groups, from the irc and Jaiku precedents. Old discussion here: http://microformats.org/wiki/microblogging-nanoformats and https://indieweb.org/microsyntax
If you want to avoid reusing punctuation, but make it readily typeable there aren't many options ~ maybe? Or go with the 👥 emoji. Or 💞 perhaps. Emoji are now easier to type than punctuation for most users.
Show threadFrankie SaxxMay 4, 2017

@kevinmarks @deadsuperhero @Gargron @bea

Hashtags do function as de facto groups on Twitter also, like they do here, if you filter to display just posts with the tag.

Group implementation for the use case here, with admin groups and meta discussion, would also need a way to restrict distribution, maybe a subscribers-only visibility level, if the purpose is to stop flooding everyone on the fediverse with these discussions.

Show threadINACTIVEMay 4, 2017

@frankiesaxx @kevinmarks @Gargron @bea The way I see it, hashtags could be thought of as a type of unmoderated ad-hoc group. The piftall is that if you follow / subscribe to a hashtag locally, you're only going to see tagged content from the people your instance is connected to.

An actual groups fixture, in most federated solutions, is a post relay between all subscribers.

Show threadHallå KittehMay 5, 2017
@deadsuperhero @gargron @kevinmarks @frankiesaxx @bea Yes. There is basically nothing separating it from the concept of a mailing list.
Show threadMMN-o ✅⃠May 4, 2017
@Gargron We've also got a dropdown list in !GNUsocial for mentioning groups. But in that case it turns into a UI/UX issue because sometimes you want to ping multiple groups at the same time (which is impossible in the Facebook-style "Group" or "Page" mindset).
Show threadMarcin CieślakMay 2, 2017
@bea there are no options to join, registration is closed
Show threadbeatrix bitrotMay 2, 2017
@saper mmm people have been joining and this is the first i've heard of it being closed. i also checked in an incognito window and the input form for signing up was there...
Show threadMarcin CieślakMay 2, 2017
@bea ok, it is not on the about page,only on the signin one... :/ go figure
Show threadMarcin CieślakMay 2, 2017
@bea got in, thanks...