In reaction to Can you follow a PixelFed with a Lemmy account? I thought it might be interesting to brainstorm how Lemmy could integrate and federate with the broader Fediverse in cool ways 😎

With some random thoughts I’ll kick off the brainstorm…

With Microblogging apps

What are the interactions with apps such as Pleroma and Mastodon?

Search and view Lemmy community profiles
  • Profile shows logo and full description of the community
  • Profile can be followed like any other account
Follow a Lemmy community
  • The Follower count of the community increases by 1
    • Maybe the Follower count can be clicked on to show where followers are coming from
  • Lemmy posts appear in your personal timeline
  • Lemmy comments are part of the toot thread
  • A toot you add also appears in the Lemmy UI
  • A Lemmy comment you Like/Favourite counts as an upvote
  • Boosts attract others to the Lemmy post to interact with
Post a toot URL in a Lemmy post
  • If there is no link or image in the toot, the instance logo is shown
  • If there is no instance logo, then the app logo is shown (e.g. Pleroma)
  • If there is a link preview, then the link’s OpenGraph image is shown
  • If there is an image, then this image is shown as the Lemmy preview image

How does the Lemmy post interact with the toot? Two options:

  1. A new toot thread is created under the Lemmy microblogging profile
    • The original toot URL is inlined as a reference
    • Note: Quoting the toot text is discouraged in Mastodon to avoid abuse as @Liwott points out. Should probably not quote, and just show the additional Lemmy post’s title + markdown body.
  2. A new branch is added to the existing thread and Lemmy post is a sub-toot of that
    • Upvotes are Likes/Favourites on the toot

How do cross-posts work for these options?

  • For option 1 a new toot is created under the Profile that matches the cross-posted community
  • For option 2 there may be a notification sub-toot “cross-posted to [community]” under which a new branch of toots relate to subsequent Lemmy comments
Mentioning a Lemmy community profile in a toot

How do we handle that? Probably we don’t want any random fedi account to be able to create Lemmy posts.

One option might be to add a separate timeline to communities to support this: “Mentioned across the Fediverse” or something, where you can find all mentions, drill-down in the toot thread and maybe respond from Lemmy. Responding may be a moderator-only feature, as they talk on behalf of the community.

With Image Media apps

Federating with apps such as PixelFed.

Do you wanna give a shot at this? Then burn loose below 🚀

With Video Streaming apps

Federating with apps such as PeerTube and Owncast.

Do you wanna give a shot at this? Then burn loose below 🚀

With Podcasting apps

Federating with apps such as CastaPod.

Do you wanna give a shot at this? Then burn loose below 🚀

With Event Planning apps

Federating with apps such as Mobilizon.

Do you wanna give a shot at this? Then burn loose below 🚀

With Your App of Choice

Go. go. go! 🚀 🚀 🚀

  • Liwott
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    3 years ago

    Oh indeed my comment does not rule out option 1, I was actually thinking of it as an option 3 (killed in utero by mastodon).

    If I understand correctly the options, there’s one thing bugging me in each : (3 actors : toot author, post author, community)

    1. The link of the toot is only a link, nothing notifies back the toot author, or their followers, about the post in lemmy
    2. The post being being seen as a reply toot is not shown in the timeline or a user that does not follow both the authors (or toot author and community? Not sure to understand who is the microblogging poster between post author and community)

    What about the following option 4? Post is a reply to toot that mentions the community (basically option 2), then it’s boosted by the community, so as to appear on community subscribers’ feed.

    Note that I’m a simple user, this is just a naive comment of how the UX of Lemmy could be translated to the one of Mastodon. I don’t the first thing about the actual implementation of either (as is probably obvious from my confusion on option 2). Sorry for spam if it’s too naive 🙂

    • smallcirclesOPM
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      3 years ago

      Ah yes, your option 4 is nice. It is a combination of both 1 and 2.

      When the toot contains only a link (option 1) then the original toot author might me mentioned in that as well. For option 2 the lemmy toot reply would not be part of the timeline unless you follow both the original toot author and the community profile (I think).