Federating servers

2026-05-07 18:58 UTC

Another possibility is that when someone asks to have their content shared, that will result in a few Follow requests, which does result in their future content being distributed to other servers (and public content goes to Fediverse and hashtag feeds). So, it seems like the sharing is what got the distribution going, even though it is indirect (sharing causes following causes appearing in the Fediverse feed).

Replies (3)

@julian@activitypub.space 2026-05-08 12:01

@evan personally I think "server federation" is best achieved through relays. The distribution model fits best, and the technology already exists, even if not broadly implemented. One could be able to plug a server instance actor in to subscribe to its relay.

Open ##2255587
@johannab@cosocial.ca 2026-05-07 19:10

@evan I think - reviewed it given that you corrected my misapprehension the other day - that other than for those who live'n'breathe protocol, the nitty-gritty details are really not spelled out in the platform documentation for users or admins. Or even those of us who understand enough to read along (I did remember that I "knew" this, just not that expert in expressing), it's more detail than we can articulate when there's a new user or instance showing up.

Open ##2737097
@trwnh@mastodon.social 2026-05-08 04:53

@evan in the Mastodon sphere, boosting a post has these side effects: - servers that receive the boost will now be aware that the boosted post exists. if it contains hashtags, then that post might show up in hashtag timelines/searches and the home timelines of anyone following that hashtag. - servers will also be aware that the author of the boosted post exists. their profile can appear in search results based on their account's name/summary. -- (in the future, their outbox might be backfilled)

Open ##2737099