Plugins for fediverse platforms.

Where is this up to? Is anyone thinking along these lines?

I’ve seen @db0 espouse such (eg https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/comment/8581651) (sorry for the tag if annoying).

I’ve certainly thought of it myself … because it’s a pretty obvious idea for an ecosystem aiming for richness and sustainability.

Seems a perfect fit for reusable moderation tooling too, rather than each new platforms having that trouble.

This is essentially #bluesky 's idea it seems.

@fediverse
#fediverse

  • Skull giver@popplesburger.hilciferous.nl
    0·
    9 months ago

    How would this work? Would there be some kind of standard API? How would you apply thread plugins to Mastodon, or timeline plugins to Lemmy? How do you deal with non-ActivityPub protocols?

    With the flexibility ActivityPub allows, I don’t think a single plugin interface makes sense. You’d need something with a ton of optional APIs.

    I don’t think the “plugin” model Bluesky has will work with any current ActivityPub server. Bluesky’s federation is set up completely differently, and its plugin architecture relies on there only being one single type of server software (the official one). I’m not even sure if they have federation enabled in production yet.

    I have theorised about an ActivityPub “firewall” that would allow for spam filtering and other moderation activity for any ActivityPub server, but I came to the conclusion that the requirement to intercept both incoming and outgoing traffic for effective usage would make the project quite complex.

    • db0@lemmy.dbzer0.com
      0·
      9 months ago

      I don’t think generic apub plugins will work, but a plugin system for lemmy makes a lot of sense and pople like me could then help add the features we need

      • Skull giver@popplesburger.hilciferous.nl
        0·
        9 months ago

        Perhaps, but as far as I understand the Lemmy code base, that would be pretty difficult to pull off. With changes that intensive, you’ll probably end up with a Lemmy fork.

        • db0@lemmy.dbzer0.com
          0·
          9 months ago

          Plugin a thing in so many software, from firefox, to wordpress, to godot engine, to unity engine to whatever else. I doubt it’s something extraordinary to pull off

          • Skull giver@popplesburger.hilciferous.nl
            0·
            9 months ago

            Yes, and they all have very deliberate APIs to make that possible. I’m sure it can be done, but I don’t think it’ll be merged into Lemmy with how overworked the devs already are.

            But don’t feel too discouraged, I’m sure the community will welcome your contributions if you can design a good API and build a proof of concept!