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Been daydreaming about a modular ActivityPub implementation. Each instance could decide which service types to offer, and each account could decide which to use. Accounts are held at the TLD level, services on subdomains. So maybe foo.bar offers micro.foo.bar, photo.foo.bar and checkin.foo.bar. You have a foo.bar account, but only connect to micro.foo.bar and photo.foo.bar. And I only follow you on photo.foo.bar. Don't know how feasible that is with AP. 4 comments
What's the appeal? For one thing, you'd be able to connect to all of these services from the same account, rather than setting up accounts on multiple instances running different services, or compromising on an instance that kiiinda does most of what you want. But it would also let followers pick and choose which streams they want in their timelines. Maybe they want to read your thoughts, but don't need to see your checkins. Maybe they just want to see the links you post. Or the photos. The most interesting way to go about it, I think, would be to prioritize breaking forms of interaction down to very basic forms. Most social media services are highly hybridized — post text, photos, videos, polls, checkins, etc., all in one place! Since this would be a modular server structure, the services don't have to be hybridized. Each could focus on being really singularly good at letting people do the one thing the service is most about. Anyway, the idea is out there now, and I'm utterly incapable of actually making it, so if anyone wants to run with the idea, you have my blessing, no Nazis, no TERFs. Banyan would be an apt name for it. Or maybe Kludge. |
Gregory's Server
That maybe seems a little complicated from a UX perspective, but I think it could be made relatively seamless. There could be a standard post form, and the service/subdomain you're using changes depending on what options you invoke. Clicking "add image," for example, switches you over to photo.foo.bar. But the option to add image only shows up on your form if you connected to the photo service. Which would be a relatively straightfoward toggle in your account settings — if foo.bar offers photo.