People are asking me to implement webmentions, and since I don't have a strong opinion on it (it would not be hard to implement), here's another poll: https://www.strawpoll.me/15428538
Webmentions are like blog pingbacks, essentially, if you remember those.
Pro:
- Blog/website authors know when their stuff is discussed on Mastodon
- More links towards Mastodon from outside
Contra:
- You may not want blog/website authors to know that you are discussing their stuff, lol
@Gargron Isn't this something a user should be able to decide themselves?
I'd like for mastodon to have this feature, but I wouldn't want to force everyone to leak data like that.
Is this something that if implemented would be added to every instance, or would be be a toggle-able module?
At a certain point I think Mastodon would benefit more from less-is-more (cheaper less demanding hardware, lower running costs). I don't know where that point is, any maybe it's less about whether to add it so much as knowing the % of instances that ever think it is worth activating.
@Barcode Yeah that's another contra: processing webmentions *is* going to take server resources, however few
@gargron i kinda dont because i think about how angry some people get about criticism
@Gargron the con can be "bypassed" by just talking in Private visibility, doesn't it?
@Gargron Probably adding and making it opt-in would be a good way to go, if it's added. This way no one would be using it "by accident" and Mastodon would behave as it does until now and people who want it, can just go to settings and enable it for their account.
This way everyone could/would be happy.
@Gargron maybe make it optional? or only in public toots maybe
@Gargron It would be hard to communicate to everyone that - by default - all their toots that have a link will know they are linking to it (if they accept webmention requests).
So in that way, it's probably not a good idea, unless it was opt-in. But, like you say, there are already a lot of configuration options.
@Gargron If anywhere you could put it as a setting in the "Other" section right under "Opt out of search indexing." Those two are pretty related.
Also I'm glad I looked because I just checked that box, haha.
@gargron This feature sounds handy but only for public toots (so not unlisted ones, either), imo.
@florrie@cybre.space That's why the poll says "public toots"
@florrie@cybre.space That's why the poll says "public toots"
@florrie@cybre.space That's why the poll says "public toots"
@florrie@cybre.space That's why the poll says "public toots"
@florrie That's why the poll says "public toots"
@Gargron I'd really like these, but yeah, I can see how it'd need to be optional somehow and the complications that brings... 🤔
@Gargron I'd really like these, but yeah, I can see how it'd need to be optional somehow and the complications that brings... 🤔
@Gargron I vote user-level option.
@Gargron yeah, that. I don't see a point, really. if it really is similar to @'ing the author, you might not always want them to be part of your conversation, and the only way to opt out is to obfuscate the link.
@bonzoesc @Gargron and that part is pretty much a "no": https://mastodon.social/@Gargron/99798044724950227
@Gargron
Might that be a way that readers could easily find discussion about an article they found eg via RSS? For either use case how would it compare to just searching Mastodon for the article's URL?
@sporksmith @Gargron searching masto for the articles URL would turn up nothing unless you were looking for a conversation you’d already participated in - masto has intentionally not implemented a full search for a variety of reasons
@Gargron i dig the pros!
@Gargron
Don't blog/website owners already know that their site is being mentioned by looking at the referer URL in their server logs? It seems like actually implementing pingbacks would be too much effort for something that doesn't actually add utility over log processing & also will be controversial on the fediverse (which is pretty privacy-concerned generally).
@enkiv2 @Gargron The referrer policy (https://w3c.github.io/webappsec-referrer-policy/#referrer-policies) on my instance tells the browser to strip the path from outbound referrers to other sites. They'd see that my instance linked to their website, but not what toot did.
@Gargron yeah if this was implemented i'd want it to be opt-in. i don't necessarily feel comf posting links if they always tell the link's owner about my toot. i always felt like pingbacks were kind of a kludge to connect independent blogs discussing different topics anyway - the concept is barely relevant here imo
@Gargron I don't see why us users would want this.
@esp @Gargron I can see a case for users following those back if they have access to it to find what other people are saying about [thing], but this mainly benefits the people being linked to. If those people are also mastodon users, it could make finding people talking about your thing easier, I guess.
Unless there's something obvious I'm missing somewhere
@Gargron public posts having pingbacks would be nice but followers only shouldnt - if its too complicated to implement that way than I’d side with no/not right now
Are you fucking kidding
@Gargron hahahaha fuck
@Gargron just toss a coin
@Gargron incredible
@Gargron Implement everything but leave it disabled?
@Gargron
Please halfly implement it
@Gargron It's now 81 to 81!!
@Gargron I feel like it would cause a large surface for harvesting, and would be counter-intuitive -- linking and @-ing should be two very seperate things. This conflates them.
@Gargron take the less stressful route and don't add it
@Gargron The community goes MEH
Ahahahaha yessss the wisdom of the masses speaks!
@Gargron "vote stuffing" for 500, alex
@Gargron 😂 sorry.
@Gargron Hahaha 😂🤣
@Gargron Hahaha 😂🤣
@Gargron As fun for it to see a tie vote, just cast a vote to slightly shift the balance.
@Gargron As fun for it to see a tie vote, just cast a vote to slightly shift the balance.
@yookoala Dunno what's happening but you're posting double at the exact same time.
@Gargron No is currently winning, and it's my vote from the options, but perhaps it could be a setting?