#Tag
I've been meaning to finish my ActivityPub guide since I started the first draft back in June 2018.
Yeah, I got a bit busy with Pixelfed and my other projects, but I have been working on it periodically since then.
I really do think we have the advantage in many respects, and now we have fully featured AP SDKs like @fedify, now more than ever we need better dev resources and guides.
Can't wait to ship this!
#ActivityPub support in #Madblog
https://blog.fabiomanganiello.com/article/Madblog-federated-blogging-from-markdown
I am glad to announce that Madblog has now officially joined the #Fediverse family.
If you want to test it out, search for this URL on your Fediverse client.
Madblog has already supported #Webmentions for the past couple of weeks, allowing your blog posts to be mentioned by other sites with Webmentions support (WordPress, Lemmy, HackerNews…) and get those mentions directly rendered on your page.
It now adds ActivityPub support too, using #Pubby, another little Python library that I’ve put together myself (just like Webmentions) as a mean to quickly plug ActivityPub support to any Python Web app.
Webmentions and Pubby follow similar principles and implement a similar API, and you can easily use them to add federation support to your existing Web applications - a single bind_webmentions or bind_activitypub call to your existing Flask/FastAPI/Tornado application should suffice for most of the cases.
Madblog may have now become the easiest way to publish a federated blog - and perhaps the only way that doesn’t require a database, everything is based on plain Markdown files.
If you have a registered domain and a certificate, then hosting your federated blog is now just a matter of:
mkdir -p ~/madblog/markdown
cat <<EOF > ~/madblog/markdown/hello-world.md
# My first post
This is my first post on [Madblog](https://git.fabiomanganiello.com/madblog)!
EOF
docker run -it \
-p 8000:8000 \
-v "$HOME/madblog:/data" \
quay.io/blacklight/madblogAnd Markdown files can be hosted wherever you like - a Git folder, an Obsidian Vault, a Nextcloud Notes installation, a folder on your phone synchronized over SyncThing…
Federation support is also at a quite advanced state compared to e.g. #WriteFreely. It currently supports:
Interactions rendered on the articles: if you like, boost, quote or reply to an article, all interactions are rendered directly at the bottom of the article (interactions with WriteFreely through federated accounts were kind of lost in the void instead)
Guestbook support (optional): mentions to the federated Madblog handle that are not in response to articles are now rendered on a separate /guestbook route
Email notifications: all interactions can have email notifications
Support for quotes, also on Mastodon
Support for mentions, just drop a @joe@example.com in your Markdown file and Joe will get a notification
Support for hashtag federation
Support for split-domain configurations, you can host your blog on blog.example.com but have a Fediverse handle like @blog@example.com. Search by direct post URL on Mastodon will work with both cases
Support for custom profile fields, all rendered on Mastodon, with verification support
Support for moderation, either through blocklist or allowlist, with support for rules on handles/usernames, URLs, domains or regular expressions
A partial (but comprehensive for the provided features) implementation of the Mastodon API
If you want you can follow both the profiles of my blogs - they are now both federated:
My personal blog: @fabio (it used to run WriteFreely before, so if you followed it you may need to unfollow it and re-follow it)
The #Platypush blog: @blog
Starter Kit Federation is ready 🚀
This will be compatible with Mastodon Feature Collections.
Shipping soon!
cc @dave
Imagine being able to curate lists of accounts by topics, allowing others to easily follow them after they consented to be included.
Meet Starter Kits.
Consent driven discovery that federates across servers and software.
With a rich browsing experience so you can explore kits without an account.
Shipping Soon 🚀
Are there any activitypub implementations which encrypt the contents of messages and only allow federated instances a key to decrypt it or a similar privacy mechanism?
Starter Kit Federation is ready 🚀
This will be compatible with Mastodon Feature Collections.
Shipping soon!
cc @dave
Imagine being able to curate lists of accounts by topics, allowing others to easily follow them after they consented to be included.
Meet Starter Kits.
Consent driven discovery that federates across servers and software.
With a rich browsing experience so you can explore kits without an account.
Shipping Soon 🚀
#ActivityPub support in #Madblog
https://blog.fabiomanganiello.com/article/Madblog-federated-blogging-from-markdown
I am glad to announce that Madblog has now officially joined the #Fediverse family.
If you want to test it out, search for this URL on your Fediverse client.
Madblog has already supported #Webmentions for the past couple of weeks, allowing your blog posts to be mentioned by other sites with Webmentions support (WordPress, Lemmy, HackerNews…) and get those mentions directly rendered on your page.
It now adds ActivityPub support too, using #Pubby, another little Python library that I’ve put together myself (just like Webmentions) as a mean to quickly plug ActivityPub support to any Python Web app.
Webmentions and Pubby follow similar principles and implement a similar API, and you can easily use them to add federation support to your existing Web applications - a single bind_webmentions or bind_activitypub call to your existing Flask/FastAPI/Tornado application should suffice for most of the cases.
Madblog may have now become the easiest way to publish a federated blog - and perhaps the only way that doesn’t require a database, everything is based on plain Markdown files.
If you have a registered domain and a certificate, then hosting your federated blog is now just a matter of:
mkdir -p ~/madblog/markdown
cat <<EOF > ~/madblog/markdown/hello-world.md
# My first post
This is my first post on [Madblog](https://git.fabiomanganiello.com/madblog)!
EOF
docker run -it \
-p 8000:8000 \
-v "$HOME/madblog:/data" \
quay.io/blacklight/madblogAnd Markdown files can be hosted wherever you like - a Git folder, an Obsidian Vault, a Nextcloud Notes installation, a folder on your phone synchronized over SyncThing…
Federation support is also at a quite advanced state compared to e.g. #WriteFreely. It currently supports:
Interactions rendered on the articles: if you like, boost, quote or reply to an article, all interactions are rendered directly at the bottom of the article (interactions with WriteFreely through federated accounts were kind of lost in the void instead)
Guestbook support (optional): mentions to the federated Madblog handle that are not in response to articles are now rendered on a separate /guestbook route
Email notifications: all interactions can have email notifications
Support for quotes, also on Mastodon
Support for mentions, just drop a @joe@example.com in your Markdown file and Joe will get a notification
Support for hashtag federation
Support for split-domain configurations, you can host your blog on blog.example.com but have a Fediverse handle like @blog@example.com. Search by direct post URL on Mastodon will work with both cases
Support for custom profile fields, all rendered on Mastodon, with verification support
Support for moderation, either through blocklist or allowlist, with support for rules on handles/usernames, URLs, domains or regular expressions
A partial (but comprehensive for the provided features) implementation of the Mastodon API
If you want you can follow both the profiles of my blogs - they are now both federated:
My personal blog: @fabio (it used to run WriteFreely before, so if you followed it you may need to unfollow it and re-follow it)
The #Platypush blog: @blog
Every day I’m more convinced that the Fediverse’s slow mainstream adoption isn’t really about usability.
People say it’s because it’s hard to join, the terms are confusing, or the apps aren’t polished enough. Maybe a little. But honestly… look at the platforms people already use.
Finding anything on LinkedIn is painful.
Trying to locate the original video on TikTok is a scavenger hunt.
Facebook is still full of weird bugs and odd UI choices.
Instagram hides posts behind algorithms.
Twitter/X constantly changes the rules of engagement.
None of these platforms are exactly “easy.”
People stay because their friends are there. Because the big creators are there. Because that’s where the conversation already lives.
And, if we’re honest, because these platforms are engineered around a very effective reward loop: notifications, likes, infinite scroll. A dopamine machine. You learn the confusing terms and awkward interfaces because there’s a constant reward for doing so.
So yes, making the Fediverse easier to join absolutely helps.
But what would help even more is something simpler:
more mainstream, recognizable, official accounts showing up here.
That’s how networks grow.
People follow people not platforms.
Every day I’m more convinced that the Fediverse’s slow mainstream adoption isn’t really about usability.
People say it’s because it’s hard to join, the terms are confusing, or the apps aren’t polished enough. Maybe a little. But honestly… look at the platforms people already use.
Finding anything on LinkedIn is painful.
Trying to locate the original video on TikTok is a scavenger hunt.
Facebook is still full of weird bugs and odd UI choices.
Instagram hides posts behind algorithms.
Twitter/X constantly changes the rules of engagement.
None of these platforms are exactly “easy.”
People stay because their friends are there. Because the big creators are there. Because that’s where the conversation already lives.
And, if we’re honest, because these platforms are engineered around a very effective reward loop: notifications, likes, infinite scroll. A dopamine machine. You learn the confusing terms and awkward interfaces because there’s a constant reward for doing so.
So yes, making the Fediverse easier to join absolutely helps.
But what would help even more is something simpler:
more mainstream, recognizable, official accounts showing up here.
That’s how networks grow.
People follow people not platforms.
Unfortunately, #Vernissage was not selected for NLnet funding. It is disappointing, but I understand how competitive these calls are. As a fully independent project sustained entirely through community support, #Vernissage relies on patron support to cover its ongoing infrastructure and resource costs. That support now matters more than ever for the project’s future. ❤️
#NLnetFoundation #NLnet #Founding #Support #foss #photography #fediverse #ActivityPub
This is a Bonfire Federated social instance for those that enjoy gnarly adventures. Whether it's shredding mountains or slaying guitars, from action sports to art.
