this post was submitted on 23 Mar 2023
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@ajsadauskas@lemmy.ml Across the internet, there's a host of niche communities on message boards and web forums, using platforms such as phpBB and its various competitors.
Is there scope to get these communities on the Fediverse?
Over the past couple of weeks, I've been trying out Lemmy (lemmy.ml ), which is basically a Reddit-like platform on the Fediverse. (For those reading this on Mastodon, this post is actually a reply to a post on Lemmy, meaning you can read it on Lemmy, on Mastodon, or elsewhere!)
It's shown me that the concept of a Fediverse -connected discussion forum certainly can work.
So is there scope to either add ActivityPub to any existing message board software platforms?
Alternatively, is there scope to develop a fediverse-connected general purpose message board platform?
Is anyone working on it?
#mastodon #lemmy #fediverse #activitypub #ActivityPubDev #WebDev @tchambers @atomicpoet @LemmyDev #developer #developers #OpenSource
> Is anyone working on it?
@ajsadauskas@aus.social
@ajsadauskas@lemmy.ml
Yes. Momentarily on development hiatus, but I develop a federated link aggregator similar to HN, and old reddit: https://brutalinks.tech.
@tchambers @atomicpoet @LemmyDev
There are around 20 projects doing groups/forums and they're coming to Mastodon (eventually - not sure what's holding them back). The only thing that makes a traditional forum different from a group is that the first post usually has a title and Mastodon doesn't support titles in posts and many social network users have outgrown them. So, like lemmy, you would need to make the starting (topic) post on an instance that not only supports but mandates titles.
Otherwise if you don't care about titles, use groups. You can post to them from any platform from within your personal timeline. We put all of our project support and development discussions on fediverse groups long ago. But you can use them for anything you want.
@ajsadauskas@aus.social @ajsadauskas@lemmy.ml I saw somewhere that Discourse is maybe planning or starting work on adding ActivityPub support somehow.
https://meta.discourse.org/t/federation-support-for-discourse/90921/87
@blake @ajsadauskas@aus.social @ajsadauskas@lemmy.ml For one joyous minute I thought you were talking about the Pub!
@ajsadauskas My impression is that people stay on those platforms because they want to. Moving the entire network from those to fediverse one is something they have to decide.
It's something that surprised me when I looked into #linux development, different groups hardly even use the same kind of medium. E.g. mailing lists, forums, custom bug tracker... Those were chosen for individual reasons that haven't changed.
The fragmentation goes through the fabric of groups, not just their output.
@bmaxv A number of the most popular platforms (Discourse, bbPress, phpBB, etc) are FOSS.
My thinking is if ActivityPub support were added, at least in theory communities that already use that software could open up discussions on their forums to the Fediverse.
I'm wondering if any of them are/are open to working on it?
@ajsadauskas @bmaxv as someone who frequented these niche forums extensively, i don't see any reason to connect or federate them. This is done loosely by someone sharing from one to another, which could be to Mastodon. The spécialisation of sites like saxontheweb or electric heaters is the main attraction. Federating them would result in an unwanted dilution IMO.
@randulo @bmaxv True, although I guess if it's a niche specialist discussion, it would most likely remain a niche specialist discussion on the Fediverse.
The advantages would be that specialists who might not participate directly in the forum could join in some of the conversations, and it would be interoperable with other Fediverse tools (potentially things like PeerTube videos and such).
@randulo @ajsadauskas @bmaxv A nice use case would be to follow certain users or topics across different forums on mastodon.
Allowing users from other servers to post to forums, on the other hand, would certainly be hated.
@mkoubik @ajsadauskas @bmaxv That's a great point if it were possible. An expert reply to a forum, if done properly, would be appreciated. IOW, value added from someone whith knowledge or experience