So if any server admin types are interested, it should...

So if any server admin types are interested, it should be pretty easy* to run an instance of my RSS to ActivityPub converter as a nice bonus for your users. It lets people with a login on your Mastodon or Hometown server create ActivityPub accounts that are mirrors of RSS feeds (process pictured in attachments). ONLY people with a login to your server can use it, because you don't want to moderate this service for randos

https://github.com/dariusk/rss-to-activitypub

*easy for linux server administration, huge lmao

Screenshot of a very simple page that lets you enter a URL of an RSS feed and a username, with a Submit button.

Screenshot of a notification that says "Okay! There is now an ActivityPub actor for this feed." And a message about how to follow the new feed.

Screenshot of a landing page for an RSS feed mirror with instructions on how to follow it.

Screenshot of an RSS feed as an account you can follow directly from Mastodon or Hometown

Like 7 Nov 2022 at 20:05 | Open on friend.camp

39 comments

Darius Kazemi

Note that feeds created here can be followed by anyone on any server, but the people who can make new feeds are limited to your users who have already agreed to your terms of service, and who you can suspend etc if they use this RSS mirror thing poorly.

I tried running a public version of this and it was overwhelmed by spammers and also I had to keep track of like... taking down harassment-focused RSS feeds etc. Easier to just limit it to people I trust.

7 Nov 2022 at 20:07 | Open on friend.camp

Darius Kazemi

Oh right and the ultimate point of this is you can do stuff like make a list of blogs you follow and use your Mastodon/Hometown as a feed reader. So for example, I have a "Subreddits" list full of updates from the "weekly top posts" feed of subreddits I follow. And another list for blogs that friends write, etc.

7 Nov 2022 at 20:09 | Open on friend.camp

faebser

@darius is there a public version for this instance?

7 Nov 2022 at 20:22 | Open on assemblag.es

Darius Kazemi

@faebser you mean yours? I wouldn't know

7 Nov 2022 at 20:30 | Open on friend.camp

faebser

@darius Totally forgot that you are from a different instance :/

10 Nov 2022 at 15:42 | Open on assemblag.es

Chrysanthemum

@darius This sounds amazing & helpful. I have no idea what you’re talking about but glad there are people out there who do. Carry on.

8 Nov 2022 at 0:12 | Open on mas.to

Kona Goodhart

@darius Genius, thank you!

8 Nov 2022 at 1:28 | Open on dice.camp

geekdolan

@darius

This looks amazingly useful. Thanks for this
!

8 Nov 2022 at 8:24 | Open on social.fuzzyoverlords.org

Daniel Joseph

@darius this is very cool Darius!! I'm currently talking to friends and comrades about maybe starting a server but I think now the question is: what is the value-add to a closed space like a discord. cool stuff like this might be it

8 Nov 2022 at 11:52 | Open on mastodon.social

slimepsychic

@darius Thank you for trying. I was building a site called "Feed Me Weird Things" in the nascent days of RSS and I bet this would have been the outcome. That saves me some time wondering what would have been

7 Nov 2022 at 20:13 | Open on mastodon.art

mathew

@darius Hey @jon we could bring back #bloggingportal and integrate it automatically into the fediverse...

8 Nov 2022 at 9:30 | Open on campaign.openworlds.info

Mohamed Khaaire

@darius please share garee

8 Nov 2022 at 13:18 | Open on sfba.social

irwin

@darius Oh man. This just makes so much sense. And makes me wonder what happened to Jorn Barger.

7 Nov 2022 at 20:21 | Open on saturation.social

Brecht Savelkoul

@darius Do I need to be the admin of a Mastodon/Hometown server to make this work, or can I just run a server and decide that all *@fedi.example.com accounts can add feeds?

7 Nov 2022 at 20:21 | Open on social.coop

Darius Kazemi

@brecht yeah you could just do that too

7 Nov 2022 at 20:30 | Open on friend.camp

Brecht Savelkoul

@darius Does this web server do something with incoming message, like for example a Mastodon account replying to a post? Or does all that stuff go straight to /dev/null?

7 Nov 2022 at 20:49 | Open on social.coop

Brecht Savelkoul

@darius Does this server do something with incoming messages by the way, like for example a Mastodon account replying to a post? Or does all that stuff go straight to /dev/null?

7 Nov 2022 at 20:50 | Open on social.coop

Darius Kazemi

@brecht it needs to process incoming follow requests but everything else is trashed

7 Nov 2022 at 20:52 | Open on friend.camp

Brecht Savelkoul

@darius Right, that makes sense.

7 Nov 2022 at 21:03 | Open on social.coop

Nemo_bis 🌈

@darius How does this compare to the #Pleroma feature?

7 Nov 2022 at 20:30 | Open on mamot.fr

Darius Kazemi

@nemobis I do not know about that feature. If Pleroma just has a built-in RSS reader, mine is different because it creates ActivityPub posts that can be boosted, discussed, etc. If Pleroma fully converts the feeds to ActivityPub actors then there's no difference!

7 Nov 2022 at 20:49 | Open on friend.camp

Nemo_bis 🌈

@darius I'm sorry, I mixed up with #Friendica. All I know is what this one line of documentation says:
https://github.com/friendica/friendica/wiki/How-to:-import-Atom-RSS-Feed

I'm not sure, but I believe @cybersecurity is an example of a "contact" created by importing an RSS feed.

7 Nov 2022 at 20:58 | Open on mamot.fr

Darius Kazemi

@nemobis I am guessing it's the former, then. Basically a private feed reader that merges with your timeline, rather than a true actor on the network that many people can interact with and discuss

7 Nov 2022 at 20:59 | Open on friend.camp

manetta

@darius Very nice, i would love to try it! Do the RSS posts show up in the local timeline of the instance? Just wondering if it could become a bit spammy for the other people on the instance if multiple feeds are added.

7 Nov 2022 at 21:29 | Open on post.lurk.org

Darius Kazemi

@manetta they are posted as "unlisted" so they don't go in the timelines except the home feeds of people who follow them

7 Nov 2022 at 22:07 | Open on friend.camp

Darius Kazemi

@manetta also technically it's not local, it's on a different server! rss.social.example instead of social.example

7 Nov 2022 at 22:07 | Open on friend.camp

Severák

@darius it's possible to see output of this mirror script somehow? I tried to follow longreads from your screenshot but it does not works for reasons unkwnown to me.

I am running small social network called kyselo.eu and this script will be great for mirror our shitposting into fedi.

7 Nov 2022 at 22:20 | Open on tiny.tilde.website

Darius Kazemi

@severak what do you mean by "does not work" to follow longreads? If you don't see any posts in the feed that's normal, it will only start appearing to you once they fill in.

7 Nov 2022 at 22:22 | Open on friend.camp

Severák

@darius they need to publish new article to be visible on my feed? Do I understand correctly?

7 Nov 2022 at 22:37 | Open on tiny.tilde.website

Darius Kazemi

@severak correct

7 Nov 2022 at 22:43 | Open on friend.camp

Darius Kazemi

@severak basically it will only deliver messages to accounts who subscribe to it

7 Nov 2022 at 22:44 | Open on friend.camp

Thomas

@darius bookmarking ! Thanks for sharing!

8 Nov 2022 at 4:40 | Open on toot.bldrweb.org

wirehead

@darius Interesting! I might have to play with that once I fix a few other things.

8 Nov 2022 at 5:38 | Open on mastodon.social

Tony Stubblebine

@darius Bookmarked. Thank you!

21 Dec 2022 at 20:11 | Open on mas.to

Fangh

@darius So if I want to follow WebsiteA rss feed, I need to ask the admin of my instance to run this tool on the server and then I will be able to add RSS feed into it and it will "magically" create mastodon account of this rss feed ?