Pleroma: A Mastodon-compatible open and federated social networking server
pleroma.social
pleroma.social
Regarding the backend. It does seem that Mastodon was the first one and has more functionality, but (1) Pleroma is catching up and (2) waaaaay lighter on resources. Mastodon is built on Rails, requires PostgreSQL, Redis, a task server (sidekiq) and optionally Elasticsearch. Pleroma goes by with just PostgreSQL and is built on Elixir.
Regardless of technology, what I'd really like to see in a future version of these AP-systems is the ability to manage multiple-domains with a single database / application server. Right now all implementations assume that the domain of the backend is the domain of every user in the instance. So this means that if I want to host Mastodon for a user with a custom domain, I'll have to spin a instance/database just for this user. If I could have a separate mapping between account / domain, one single instance could manage everyone.
I was thinking of using a fediverse instance for my blog but I am unsure whether it's a good idea.
https://wordpress.org/plugins/activitypub/
The ActivityPub ecosystem is pretty interesting. Look at it closely.
I think federated blogs are the answer to google killing rss.
Even your own blog that you just linked publishes working RSS! https://wrt.nth.io/luke/feed/
The replacement for RSS is to stop inexplicably thinking RSS is somehow gone.
1) people stop inexplicably calling it "dead"
Being "dead" has its fringe benefits, at least, like no one proposing changes for the sake of change - it gets to be happily frozen and useful with no one trying to e.g. update it from the XML-everything mania of its time (embarassing in hindsight) to the JSON-everything mania of our time (I'm worried there won't even be a hindsight for it to be embarassing in).
Well, except when people propose to replace it with something else because it's "dead" (sorry, I have no interest in following anyone on activitypub - if I want updates from your blog, I will poll the RSS feed you have kindly provided).
Now I can't remember the last time I saw a site promoting or even clearly mentioning above the fold that they publish an rss feed. I didn't know HN published one until now.
That's why I haven't argued with anyone claiming it's dead. It seems like it disappeared.
As someone who has written a parser library and a RSS reader program, I can tell you that it is an endless battle of users always reporting yet another feed that is "breaking your RSS reader".
When investigating why the feed does not work well, you always end up finding yet another way how a site can implement RSS/Atom badly while still following the letter of the specification.
I love the idea of RSS/Atom and the possibilities they allow, but hate the actual specs.
So given that, any chance you could elucidate on fault you find with Atom?
Still, I vaguely recall that there was at least one vagueness in the Atom 1.0 spec that I found abused in a real world feed, but can't for the life of me remember it - it's been a while.
[0] https://feedly.com/i/subscription/feed%2Fhttps%3A%2F%2Fmicha...
Then you just expand on the options and uses to someone who's already favorable toward RSS because it was so painless to use they didn't even realize they used it to follow some of their favorite people.
Pleroma has rich text support, emoji reacts, polls with more than 4 answers... It never struck me as having less features than Mastodon, except maybe when it hadn't gotten polls yet at all some months back.
How are you dealing with the secrets that need to be generated? I couldn't find anything on the tasks or templates...
I’ve never really used Galaxy. You recommend it? I’ve always felt like I can’t depend on other people’s roles, especially since roles don’t have their own variable scopes.
Centralized services have much better UX, i.e. due to a universal search mechanism and aren't as confusing. Try explaining to a non-techie that there's that cool thing called Mastodon, but there's also Pleroma that works with mastodon, but there is not one instance but many people hosting many servers, oh, and to use this whole thing, you don't get the Mastodon app, but you have multiple apps for multiple platforms, each with a different name etc. Oh, and the whole thing is also sometimes called Fediverse. Also, each instance has a completely different website and rules, most of those are small and can disappear any day, and your whole account will disappear with them. If they grow large enough, the monetization issue will eventually become evident. There are two solutions, forcing users to pay, making most of them unhappy, or selling their data, and now we are back to square one. Also remember a lot of admins push their political views on all users of the instance, much more aggressively than any mainstream platform. Blocking Gab, an instance often associated with racist content, is very common, nevermind the non-racist users on there. Same for basically blocking off Japan as a whole, just because the japanese sometimes post their anime child porn, which is legal over there. Oh, and what are those weird addresses? Well, they're kind of like email... So if they're like email, why don't we use email instead? And so it goes.
Most non-techies don't really care about privacy in the "now I see more personalized ads" sense. They don't want their future employers / partners / parents to see their messages, that's why Snapchat and sending content that automatically disappears has become so popular. The Fediverse actually sacrifices those "important" kinds of privacy. Basically, As long as you let open source clients in, your recipient can do anything with your messages with little friction, and that's not what users usually want.
For most users, Facebook spying on their stuff won't really have a material impact on their lives. However, if they get into an argument with the admin of the instance (assuming a friend is hosting it for them), the consequences can be severe. Imagine if i.e. your techy friend hosted all your social data and then discovered you had an affair with his wife. He could, as revenge, publish all your embarassing photos and direct messages. This sort of thing just can't happen with Facebook.
Matrix is quite different, the UX is much better, it's great for enterprises/education/govt, so it doesn't matter that much anyway, it's filling a previously unfilled niche (easy, realtime chats between organizations) and lets governments control their data. I think it has a moderate chance of success. Mastodon, however, is, quite frankly, a failure.
There's definitely a need for a free-speech-respecting, censorship-resistant social network, but the fediverse is not the right approach.
IMO federation took centralized social media's worst problem and made it worse!
To "migrate" you basically want to have all your "followers" follow your new account. For obvious reasons you cannot just let people arbitrarily make others follow them. So the process must be mediated by the server(s). If your original server doesn't like you they can cut off your ability to "migrate".
And on top of that any server that doesn't like you can just cease interacting with you regardless of whether your "followers" like you or not.
Pleroma means
> (Koinē Greek: πλήρωμα) generally refers to the totality of divine powers
It is also used in the new testament with different meanings, such as
- to fill up an empty thing (e.g. Matthew 13:48), or
- to complete an incomplete thing (e.g. Matthew 5:17);
It sounds good to me as branding.
TBH it also sounds similar to plèura s. f. [Greek πλευρά «side of the body, rib»]. which is the membrane that covers the lungs
There are a lot of words that ends in oma, not all of them are cancer names.
Just a few from an Italian dictionary
- perizoma (thong)
- policroma (multi-coloured)
- genoma (genome)
- diploma (I think it's diploma as well in English)
I guess the confusion comes from the suffix -òma [Greek -ωμα] + ώματος which reads as matos (ò-matos -> oma) and means different things in scientific terminology
- in medical terms indicates a swelling like ematoma (bruise) or a type of cancer (you know that)
- in biology it means a functional unit (condrioma the set of all the mitochondrion)
Pleroma, instead, comes from the verb πληρόω (it reads plero)
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%CF%80%CE%BB%CE%B7%CF%81%CF%8...
I'm sorry if I can't be more precise, my studies of Greek and Latin ended in high school, decades ago.
Making it sound like ponker is an illiterate idiot (and playing on the "uneducated American" trope to boot) for not knowing the meaning of Pleroma is frankly arrogant IMO.
Maybe "pleroma" is in more common use in your language but it definitely isn't in many others, and not just for those silly English monolinguals.
That wasn't my intention
I literally meant "never heard of"
If you never heard of something, you're not used to how it sounds.
The original poster criticized the branding before knowing the meaning, I explained the meaning and why it is not as bad as it may sounds to someone used to associate "oma" with cancer - which appears a lot in US pop culture, it's a cultural thing, I never implied ignorance -
It's the same thing of Gimp, but on the opposite side, I still pronounce it the Italian way with the soft G as in "jim" and it doesn't bother me, while it reminds pulp fiction's gimp to native speakers (also: I've watched the movie in original language years later it came out)
Finally, to be completely honest, being from Rome I am biased and everything that ends in "Roma" sounds nice to me, I see the name of my city, not the suffix "oma".
Soapbox is developed by a massive TERF, boyfriend/husband to the founder, and co-founder of the transphobic, radical "feminist" hate-platform spinster.xyz. This is where all the TERFs migrated after the reddit ban of /r/gendercritical, /r/LGBdroptheT, ...
I think in this case, it's really hard to separate the product from the person, since it's all over the place; he's at the core of organized transphobia, harassment and hate.
Is this the cancle culture apocalypse the right is talking about?
Weren't consumer decisions once held differently? Or is it because there is no money spend, it's not ethics anymore?
> Is this the cancel culture apocalypse the right is talking about?
Asking people to not separate the product from the person, and think that the guy does not deserve any praise for his work because of some association with people that disagree with you? Yes, that's cancel culture that (not just) the right is talking about.
Trying to label everyone that holds an opposing view as "hateful" without absolutely no room for dialog? Yes, that's cancel culture that (not just) the right is talking about.
> it's not ethics anymore?
Does Soapbox come with some kind of clause that says you need to share their views to use their code? Is the product itself exclusionary in any way? Then no, ethics have nothing to do with it.
Sorry, but why should i separate the product from the person? I'm not boycotting lactalys because their product are bad, they are quite good in fact, but he way the brand owner used to treat his employees, and the way they still treat milk producers irks me. I don't want to contribute to a person fortune if i don't like him or his way of treating people.
Should i buy some Nestlé product for convenience when i know that people gaining the most of the deal are not even apologetic about the contaminated water scandals? When they knew about African water and still sold mothers powder milk? I quite like some of their other product, i just don't want to give them my money.
It is the same for this soapbox product, no?
I don't care if it is cancelled tbh, i just don't want the people behind the product to get my money, is this bad? Also there is room for dialog, i've talk quite extensively with a sodastream ambassador. Still won't ever buy their products, but we did talk.
Absolutely not the same. His work was not achieved due to exploitation of anyone. His personal views do not change the usage of the product and do not mandate any kind of compliance or agreement to any of his values. You want to put someone who simply expresses a contrarian view on the same stand as someone who actively exploits their employees?
> I don't care if it is cancelled tbh, i just don't want the people behind the product to get my money, is this bad?
First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out because I was not a socialist...
Yes, pretty bad. This is the seed of totalitarianism that is planted in most progressives minds and speeches. You just don't think is bad because you are not in the out-group yet.
If that creator is someone you don't want to associate with then why not just find a different project to use?
I don't want to associate with Richard Stallman (even before his stupid comments regarding pedophilia), yet I use Emacs every single day of my life. If you tell me that Emacs itself only came to existence due to any of Stallman's ridiculous statements or if you tell me that my usage of Emacs enables Stallman in any way to be the asswipe that he is, then I would seriously consider dropping it.
More importantly, I agree with parent that expressing views is something else than actively exploiting someone or using violence. Words != violence. Tolerance is being able to co-exist, work with and even be friends with people we disagree with. And, yes, that include people we think are intolerant (or that will be the excuse not to do the hard thing and engage in debate).
Open debate is a good thing, and it was hard won. Let's not throw it away so quickly.
Spinster.xyz is build on Soapbox and _run by Alex Gleason. It's hosting a community, which was banned from reddit for actively harassing and willfully hurting trans people. That's actions not words. Maybe people underestimate how organized and funded these hate groups are, how coordinated and planned the gaslighting of the public is. It's also not just "feminism" but more and more intersection with ultra right and "christian" conservative thinktanks.
Just because you are not directly affected doesn't mean it's all just opinions and words, and nobody gets hurt.
Are you saying they're beating people up? Or stalking them? Because, if not, it absolutely is "just" words! And if they do, that's illegal. I'm not in the US, but it seems to me like your laws, for the most part, strike good balance in these types of scenarios. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm guessing you would disagree?
I'm not saying it's nice, or good, or that they're moral. I'm saying that the "fix" many people (maybe not you) are advocating usually leads to much darker things than people having their feelings hurt by words[1]. We know this because many societies have gone down that path before us.
1: OK, that sounds flippant, I know. But I think many people underestimate the horribly things people have done, and still do, to each other..
Thank you for this. I understand your view better like this.
This is my point of view: I use my money and my time however i want. No one should feel entitled enough tell me if i am allowed to boycott a product.
This is why i don't think it is cancelling and that you are doing the term a disservice: Neither i nor 488643689 did say "don't use and/or participate with this product, he is transphobe". 488643689 just informed me, and others, of the product owner views on trans people, and that he cofounded spinster.xyz (which is a TERF platform).
Our society and economy is build on the myth of homo economicus. That people will take the best decision for them with the right informations. Having this information without haviong to dig in makes everyone stronger and able to make better decision.
Preventing someone to do business with perfectly informed economic actor is totalitarism. But informing people about the personnal deed of a product owner, not shaming them if they still engage with him, is something you should absolutely do if you believe in liberal capitalism.
From my point of view (Western Europe) this whole “cancel culture” thing is demented and stupid, and I’m probably as liberal as they come.
Why? Well, let me provide an illustration: what was Carl Benz’s opinion on, oh I don’t know... homosexuality or transexuality? I’m guessing blindly that it was probably very restrictive and ‘unenlightened’ by our own “modern standards”. He’s the inventor of the internal combustion engine... how many people are willing to give up their cars because their inventor’s views were ideologically impure? Louis Pasteur was probably also a bigot by modern standards too: are we going to wipe the slate of hygiene theory clean because of this?
People are imperfect. In the eyes of those who will come later we too will be imperfect. Let’s be charitable towards those who despite different political views and values nonetheless collaborate in this great technological and cultural enterprise that is the sum total of human knowledge and capabilities.
None of us have are the golden standard. Koan-like, those who might think they are the final word in morality aren’t, because they lack humility and also empathy with the circumstances that inform others’ views.
Alright, fire away.
In his case not about cancelling israel, its about not engaging with them economically.
But this is not only that. This is a generation thing. You (and i say "you" as in: older generations) told us that if we don't agree, we have to vote with our wallet.
Not happy about climate change? Vote with your wallet then, are you still using cars and planes hypocrites?
You're not happy about how we treat pigs and cows? How about you stop eating meat and vote with your wallet? (this one was delightful. Never heard this again since 2010).
Younger people probably had it harder than i did, and i did start to boycott things early in my life when the inconvenience was not to high. Just to piss you off. I did never coordinate though or ask people to boycott something with me. I'm not the social kind of guy. But i understand why people my generation would do that. You told us to vote with our wallet, that this is the only power we have. Don't be astonished when we use it.
(If that's what TERFs ~actually~ want I don't have the time or nerve to debate, but wherever you draw the line, it's still a very different category of belief)
It is this constant mis-representation of opposing views that make these kind of discussions so unbearable. I've wasted already, what?, an hour and a half arguing about something that has nothing to do with the original topic. No wonder things are so polarized. Instead of trying to reach for common ground, the default behavior is to distort the argument, dehumanize the other and to try to "beat" the opponent into submission.
> wherever you draw the line, it's still a very different category of belief
You only mentioned the part about being Vegan, but I trust that you are smart enough to look at the part where I mentioned religious differences and figure out where I would draw the line? Hint: atheists can deny my beliefs all they want; what they think of me or my religion makes absolutely zero difference in my life.
Very few people are TERFs. It's a relatively uncommon set of beliefs which are separate from the kinds of views that might get you called transphobic.
Although I personally do not think that the authors personality/opinions/etc should be considered when selecting software so I denounce 488643689's post. I would understand boycotting a paid product if the company producing it was engaged in unethical behaviour (such as abusing their employees, etc) but this is not close to what is happening here.