#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! 🤯
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.
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.
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 (and kbin instances/websites for that matter too) 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.
Also kbin calls subreddits “magazines” and an example of a subreddit on a kbin instance is https://kbin.social/m/gaming
@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. lxskllr@gmail.com, lxskllr@yahoo.com, and lxskllr@mailo.com can all exist simultaneously, have different users and content, but still communicate with one another.
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.
@girthero
“Server” was a poor choice of words. I should have probably used “instance”. Any one instance doesn’t matter much in the grand scheme. If one goes rogue, you don’t federate with it, and you go elsewhere.
Money will be an issue long term. People will have to donate to their instance. Hardware/bandwidth cost money. Remains to be seen how everything works out. I’m sure there’ll be problems, but it’s nothing unsolvable.
Removed by mod