20 lines
1.9 KiB
Markdown
20 lines
1.9 KiB
Markdown
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# ActivityPub
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ActivityPub is a federated protocol that defines a set of interoperable social network interactions through specific APIs. Any server that implements this protocol can communicate with the rest of the network.
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Mastodon, built on ActivityPub, is a popular federated alternative to Twitter with around 2.2 million users. Prior to Mastodon, projects like GNU social and Diaspora tried and failed to get federated social networks to scale. Mastodon succeeded in large part because it created a familiar user interface that looked and behaved like Twitter, allowing users who were dissatisfied to find a new place to land with minimum effort.
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Identity
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Users create an account on a server (an “instance”), but can communicate with users on other instances. The entire constellation of instances that can interoperate is called the “Fediverse”. A full username is a user’s handle plus the name of the instance the user belongs to, for example:
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`@arcalinea@mastodon.social`
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Account credentials are managed by the user’s instance, so if users forget their password, they can ask for a password reset.
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Moderation
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Each instance sets its own moderation policies, either through the unilateral decisions of an admin, or through some sort of collective vote. Admins can ban entire instances, cutting off their visibility. If an instance gets banned by many others, its users can still talk with each other, but they will be isolated from the rest of the Fediverse. This happened to Gab.com, which set up an instance.
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Monetization
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Federated social networks require both hosting and development costs to maintain. Each instance is funded by its own administrator and community. Mastodon’s development is funded through a Patreon run by the main developer. It currently brings in about 70k a year, which supports him working on it full time, and covers hosting costs and a moderation team for the mastodon.social instance.
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