this post was submitted on 04 Jul 2025
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Fediverse

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A community to talk about the Fediverse and all it's related services using ActivityPub (Mastodon, Lemmy, KBin, etc).

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The Problem with the Fediverse

I have no issues with the way it is implemented, I have no issues with it at all. For context, I left Twitter to join the Fedi, and it has been great so far! I use Misskey for microblogging, PeerTube for uploading videos, and Lemmy for Reddit-style discussions. The Fediverse is amazing!

Except, idk, for the fact that it is too fragmented? I hope I am using the right words. Like, the current instance I am on does not have support for communities, so i have to do it the hard way and mention @fediverse@lemmy.world so that I can post here. It's a good workaround, considering it doesn't have built-in support for communities.
But my point still stands. It's not a Lemmy/PieFed problem. It's mostly a fediverse problem. Implementing communities for every platform would help the Fediverse. Not only does it solve discoverability/algorithm issues of the Fediverse (since now when you follow a community, you get all posts from that community), but also it would interconnect every platform (Misskey, PeerTube, Mastodon, etc.)

Imagine you don't have to use your Lemmy account to check everything on Lemmy. Instead of creating channels in PeerTube, just post to an existing channel/community, and people subscribed to that channel/community can find you easily. I see this as an absolute win for everyone.

I understand this would require collaboration between all developers of all software. But hopefully, this is possible?
Or am I asking for too much?

If I am wrong, then is there any way in which we can solve this issue?

#fediverse #problems #fediverseproblems

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[–] Microw@piefed.zip 24 points 21 hours ago (1 children)

The developers of Fedi software have different philosophies. Some developers are just not interested in implementing and supporting all kinds of AP actors, kinds of media, ways of attaching media etc. Because they want their software to focus on a certain thing.

Others want to implement everything and interconnect with every platform.

[–] mkmusic@torishiro.com 3 points 19 hours ago

@Microw@piefed.zip i understand and respect that in every sense. However, i think i made my point. Idk about other softwares, but Misskey has been dabbling around with "Channels" for a while, but the thing is, they're not federated to this day.
Hopefully they work more on this.
@fediverse@lemmy.world

[–] Blaze@lemmy.dbzer0.com 14 points 21 hours ago (3 children)

Mbin has support for both microblogging and communities (so Twitter and Reddit like): https://fedia.io/ Maybe that's something that can interest you.

It doesn't seem too popular, probably because the Twitter and Reddit crowd always had a limited overlap.

[–] Die4Ever@retrolemmy.com 6 points 20 hours ago (1 children)

It doesn’t seem too popular

This is probably why it's not a focus for developers. If Mbin was some huge success, it would show demand for the feature, and more developers would prioritize it higher.

[–] melroy@kbin.melroy.org 3 points 12 hours ago (1 children)

@Die4Ever@retrolemmy.com @fediverse@lemmy.world @mkmusic@torishiro.com @Blaze@lemmy.dbzer0.com I didn't help that the previous developer (ernest wisniewski) abandoned the whole project called kbin. Mbin is a fork of it and continuation of his legacy.

[–] Die4Ever@retrolemmy.com 1 points 12 hours ago (1 children)

The name change definitely confused some people, but keep at it!

[–] melroy@kbin.melroy.org 3 points 12 hours ago

I wasn't creative. The M stands for Melroy.

[–] mkmusic@torishiro.com 1 points 19 hours ago

@Blaze@lemmy.dbzer0.com but maybe you have a point: Twitter users very rarely touched Reddit... maybe im asking for too much @fediverse@lemmy.world

[–] mkmusic@torishiro.com 1 points 19 hours ago (1 children)

@Blaze@lemmy.dbzer0.com i knew about mbin for a while, but the UI seemed too cluttered for me. I know i could just make my own client, but the thing is im lazy... 😶‍🌫️

[–] Blaze@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 19 hours ago (1 children)
[–] mkmusic@torishiro.com 1 points 19 hours ago

@Blaze@lemmy.dbzer0.com thanks, ill definately look into that. Although im pretty comfortable with my own instance, and you all make good points imo. Guess ill just stick to mentioning @fediverse@lemmy.world

[–] Die4Ever@retrolemmy.com 11 points 20 hours ago* (last edited 20 hours ago) (3 children)

I really don't mind having a separate account for Lemmy and Mastodon. It's not pleasant to force different types of content into different website formats, even if the implementation is "ideal".

That said, I am surprised Misskey doesn't allow you to follow @fediverse@lemmy.world as you would follow a user, Mastodon allows this (it's not as good as viewing inside Lemmy but it does work).

[–] DrCake@lemmy.world 6 points 20 hours ago (1 children)

Yeah same. The way I think about federation is in a kind of per “product” approach. That’s a piece of software can be run by anyone and all communicate and work as a whole is the main benefit. Cross compatibility between “products”/software is just an added bonus, but not necessary

[–] Die4Ever@retrolemmy.com 5 points 20 hours ago

Even more than per product, it's generally per category of products. You can run Lemmy, Mbin, or PieFed and get access to the Threadiverse. The devs actually do a good job with the interop when it fits the format of their site.

[–] mkmusic@torishiro.com 3 points 18 hours ago

@Die4Ever@retrolemmy.com i just checked your full conversation on your instance (misskey doesnt support edited posts)
Misskey does support following the community, its just not done elegantly. All replies from the community show up on my home page, which isnt great.

For now, ill stick with misskey till i find a worthy contender, just love msky reactions too much (too goofy lol, with sfx and all)

@fediverse@lemmy.world

[–] mkmusic@torishiro.com 1 points 19 hours ago (1 children)

@Die4Ever@retrolemmy.com i get you. And well after seeing yalls arguments, might as well build my own software with PeerTube+Lemmy+Misskey stocked into one. And it'll help with my coding experience too @fediverse@lemmy.world

[–] Die4Ever@retrolemmy.com 1 points 19 hours ago (1 children)

Do it! You'll probably find like-minded users. Don't forget PixelFed and Loops too.

Although maybe you could just contribute to Mbin or fork it, cause I feel like it already does all of this?

[–] mkmusic@torishiro.com 3 points 19 hours ago (4 children)

@Die4Ever@retrolemmy.com will definately check out mbin too. Ill get a computer soon, and then ill start contributing to mbin and hopefully they see my plea for help lol... i love how different people from different platforms get along in the fediverse, coz on Twitter it was so different... and that was before Musk, so i must imagine it must have gotten worse... @fediverse@lemmy.world

[–] melroy@kbin.melroy.org 1 points 12 hours ago

@mkmusic@torishiro.com Thank you for considering Mbin.

[–] Die4Ever@retrolemmy.com 1 points 19 hours ago (1 children)
[–] melroy@kbin.melroy.org 4 points 12 hours ago
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[–] rglullis@communick.news 7 points 20 hours ago* (last edited 20 hours ago) (7 children)

Implementing communities for every platform would help the Fediverse

From Evan Prodromou, co-author of ActivityPub: The Fediverse should be more like the Facebook Platform (lots of client apps using the same social graph) rather than the Apple App Store (a bunch of one-feature apps that have to bootstrap their own social network each time).

The issue here is that most developers and users are still thinking in terms of the siloed networks. We don't need "multiple, separate platforms". We need to get rid of the platforms! We need to build our tools around protocols.

The WWW was incredibly successful because anyone could whip up some HTML and publish a webpage. The "protocol" of structured text alongside with links was simple to understand, any browser could do it. The Social Web should work the same.

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[–] ThatOneAnnoyingBro@drumstodon.net 4 points 21 hours ago* (last edited 21 hours ago) (1 children)

@mkmusic well well well
Why ask when you can contribute(we, I need to do a project for my portfolio aswell)
What do you say? Next year??

[–] mkmusic@torishiro.com 1 points 19 hours ago

@ThatOneAnnoyingBro@drumstodon.net @fediverse@lemmy.world hehe, alright, lets do it...
Combine Masto, PeerTube and Lemmy into one... kind of like Twitter+Reddit+Yt into one app

[–] OpenStars@piefed.social 3 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

If you will allow me to respectfully disagree, the mere fact that you can make this post at all is evidence against what you are saying, no?

e.g. Reddit has "posts", which may have links to "YouTube" or "Wikipedia", or to "Tiktok" or "Instagram", or "Facebook" or "LinkedIn", etc. - each of those requires a different account (the former three at least allow anonymous viewing, the middle two make it extremely difficult but it can be done if someone has a link to a specific item of content, while iirc the latter two mandate having an account to view the content at all).

Within each component of the Fediverse, it seems connected to a very high degree? e.g. the one we are discussing this on here now is the Threadiverse, which can be read, interacted with (voted, saved, links sent to) and commented on by people with accounts on any instance running Lemmy, Mbin, or Piefed (among Threadiverse software platforms I have also heard of nodeBB and flarum but I do not know what the current status is of their ActivityPub protocol integration). This level of interactivity is high.

And beyond that, you can interact with it via Mastodon, Misskey, Friendica, etc. Granted, this level of interactivity is much lower... but at least it exists? So it is high compared to not being able to interact with it, if that makes sense? A better phrasing might be that something is better than nothing?

And with effort put in by people donating their time & energies & attention & skills, it will improve. e.g. I am writing this to you from PieFed where new features are added practically every week (in fact it is nowhere close to being uncommon to see changes every other day). So what you are asking - it is happening, right in front of our very eyes! It might just seem slow to someone more used to "capitalistic" rather than socialist endeavors because it is not backed by corporate money that would seek a return on their initial investment, e.g. by selling user data, and instead requires the donations (especially of effort and skill, but money works too!) of individual people.

[–] mkmusic@torishiro.com 3 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

@OpenStars@piefed.social @fediverse@lemmy.world if you told me this about 2 minutes ago, i probably wouldve disagreed with you. But, seeing yalls responses, i realise that im asking for a ginormous favour from all developers. Id just make my own software instead of complaining about all of the devs hard word to keep everything interconnected whilst not overwhelming the users with every feature under the sun.

You have proved yourself to be right. The mere fact that every platform is interconnected means that we are actually... connected!

Its not perfect, but thats not a reason for me to just take a back seat and watch and complain.

Id really like to see this grow to become a great community. To make projects like this for the sheer fun and goodness of it, and not expecting money back. Now thats something to applaud for!

[–] OpenStars@piefed.social 5 points 12 hours ago

Diagnosing an issue, on a matter that you feel passionate about, is a first step towards finding a solution for it. So now that you are walking partway down this pathway, I hope that you continue - donate or help directly if that sounds fun to you! :)

And welcome to the Fediverse:).

[–] mkmusic@torishiro.com 2 points 19 hours ago (2 children)

@fediverse@lemmy.world edit (since Misskey doesnt have an edit button): yk what, yall make good points. Ill just make my own software, combining Peertube+Lemmy+Misskey into one instance, maybs even Matrix... and if i cant, just not bother complaining then. Coz i understand not all devs have the same vision... i respect that, but till then, keep growing Fediverse, love yall regardless...

[–] Blaze@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 points 19 hours ago (2 children)

Good luck. I know you said you were not a fan of the Mbin UI, but they are already halfway there with Microblogging and Communities (maybe videos even? @melroy@kbin.melroy.org @BentiGorlich@gehirneimer.de ?)

It might be easier to contribute there than to start from scratch.

[–] BentiGorlich@gehirneimer.de 5 points 19 hours ago

@Blaze@lemmy.dbzer0.com @fediverse@lemmy.world @mkmusic@torishiro.com @melroy@kbin.melroy.org Yes we support basically everything mentioned here. Peertube videos, Lemmy posts and Mastodon / Misskey, etc. (called mircoblogs in the UI) On the microblog side mbin still has a long way to go to be perfect, right know you just know that it is not the primary focus.

Mbin is written in php together with the smyfony framework. We always welcome new devs and I'll do my best to answer any questions that will arise :)

[–] mkmusic@torishiro.com 1 points 19 hours ago

@Blaze@lemmy.dbzer0.com @melroy@kbin.melroy.org @BentiGorlich@gehirneimer.de thanks for the suggestions... however we choose to communicate, in the end, it's the fediverse... :) @fediverse@lemmy.world

[–] melroy@kbin.melroy.org 1 points 12 hours ago

@mkmusic@torishiro.com Have fun reinventing the wheel.

[–] confuser@lemmy.zip 2 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

I think what will eventually happen is much like what happened to email, it too was very fragmented feeling early on but more and more adopted it and more servers kept developing and popping up and then at some point more service providers became more similar than alike and then it became what it is now.

The tricky part is that the concept and usefulness of a federated network mostly only grows in the long run and looks like its not going anywhere in the short term much like email and that is always what makes people question its efficacy.

Participation in any and all forms is what establishes it more and more.

[–] mkmusic@torishiro.com 1 points 6 hours ago

@confuser@lemmy.zip @fediverse@lemmy.world

Hopefully it's heading for that direction too.

I cant really complain now after seeing all of your valid points.

[–] gedaliyah@lemmy.world 1 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

There are different platforms that serve different uses. Using a common protocol enhances development and growth, and the flexibility of the protocol lets developers build on it without reinventing the wheel.

[–] mkmusic@torishiro.com 1 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

@gedaliyah@lemmy.world honestly, yall are amazing, ive learnt so much from you all. Ill just build my own platform instead of being lazy and complaining about it...

[–] gedaliyah@lemmy.world 1 points 12 hours ago

I'm not sure you understood the point I was making. Multiple platforms exist on the fediverse. Interoperability is a nice plus but it's not the core feature of the protocol.

Mastodon is strongest around microblogging because that's what it's built for. Lemmy is strongest for community discussions because that's what it's built for. There are options like mbin that do more to bridge the gap in different ways.

Success of a platform is mostly centered around doing a particular thing very well. There is nothing stopping someone from making multiple accounts across multiple platforms (or even the same platform).

I'd recommend trying to set up different accounts and see if you find one meets your criteria better.

[–] rodneyck@lemmy.world 1 points 15 hours ago* (last edited 15 hours ago) (2 children)

I have an issue with Fediverse, Lemmy to be exact. The platform is allowing an outside tool that was built for a mod or admin of a community to see votes, how people vote, but it is being exploited by users to spy/dox/harass, gang-up, and use as a tool to exploit other users nefariously. The tool is called Lemvotes. You can access the portal here. Here is a quote from a user (go $fsck yourself @ lemmy.world) who exploits this sharing how to use it with other users;

There’s a few ways of seeing votes. IMO they should be visible all the time. Moderators can see the votes of posts and comments in the subs they moderate. Admins can see all votes federated to their instance. Users have to use a separate tool for it. In this case I used Lemvotes.

This tool, imo, should be banned, or the platform to be "patched" to only allow this to work for admins, not users who abuse it.

[–] rglullis@communick.news 5 points 12 hours ago

There is no such thing as a "vote" in ActivityPub/ActivityStreams. This idea of "up/down votes" is just an abstraction of a message saying "Actor A liked B", where B is an Post/Comment (and a post/comment itself just being an abstraction of ActivityStreams objects).

That is to say: there is no way to selectively hide the content a message. If you want federation to work and you want people outside your own server to see your posts, then the server needs to broadcast the messages to anyone listening.

Tools like lemvotes are just exposing this information. There is no point in trying to censor the tool, because this information is available publicly, and any motivated person will be able to track this information.

If you are concerned about what people think of your "likes" and "dislikes", then do not use a public social media service and only communicate with provably secure communication tools.

[–] melmi@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 11 hours ago

I think this is less a problem of "nefarious bad actors" and more a problem of expectations. Honestly, I agree with the quoted comment: I think they should be visible all the time, like they already are on Mbin. I think it would help change the way people think about votes so that they don't expect Reddit-style anonymous votes and instead it's a more public Facebook/Twitter-style like system.

If you really want private votes, Piefed has feature that lets you anonymize your votes, but a determined bad actor could still deanonymize you. I think it's better to change expectations than to try to massage a fundamentally public platform into having private votes, but it's good there's an option for people since it's so highly requested.

[–] it_depends_man@lemmy.world 1 points 20 hours ago (1 children)

so i have to do it the hard way and mention @fediverse@lemmy.world so that I can post here. It’s a good workaround, considering it doesn’t have built-in support for communities.

That IS the built in support.

If I am wrong, then is there any way in which we can solve this issue?

Yes you are wrong, just keep doing it the way you just successfully did in this. That's the solution.

[–] mkmusic@torishiro.com 1 points 19 hours ago (1 children)

@it_depends_man@lemmy.world @fediverse@lemmy.world like someone pointed out to me, different strokes for different folks. I think it's because im the only one interested it semms. So then, i will have to build my own PeerTube+Lemmy+Misskey instance... wish me luck ​:ablobcatangel:​

[–] it_depends_man@lemmy.world 1 points 15 hours ago

So then, i will have to build my own PeerTube+Lemmy+Misskey instance… wish me luck

I do! Building things rocks!

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