Despite constant reports such as this one, the #KidsAct poses a threat to the foundations of the #Fediverse, not #Meta.

> Meta Is Refusing to Remove AI-Generated #Facebook Videos of Graphic Child Abuse, Including a Baby Roasting in an Oven Meta is making it clear: it doesn't care about AI-generated child abuse videos on its platforms.

https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/meta-ai-generated-videos-graphic-child-abuse?eicker.news

cc @cathleen @wikimediaDE @wetell

#FediForum #FediAdmins #AgeVerification #Altersverifikation #Fediday #OpenSocialWeb #OSWA

Good night, federated friends, and everyone who comes across this message.

Thank you for the privilege of being here, federated, together.

#Goodnight #Fediverse

Week in Fediverse 2026-10-09

Servers

- Hollo v0.9.22
- PieFed v1.8.0
- Mitra v5.11.0
- Mbin v1.11.0
- Catodon v26.10.0
- NeoDB v0.19.6.3
- NodeBB v4.16.2
- Lemmy Development Update September 2026

Clients

- Tusky v33.0
- Pachli v3.9.1
- IceCubesApp v2.1.4
- Summit v1.87.0
- Pixelfed Mobile App v2.0.0
- Aria v1.5.15

For developers

- Fedify security updates: 2.0.30, 2.1.26, 2.2.15, 2.3.10, and 2.4.0

Protocol

- FEP-4f18: ActivityPub Network Time

-----

#WeekInFediverse #Fediverse #ActivityPub

Previous edition: https://mitra.social/objects/01a0fe1a-a0fe-7d20-895a-b18c4561484c

Today, one of the world’s largest democracies, with the far right once again getting close to power, will vote for its next president.

Almost every post I see here about the global far-right movement concerns the US and Europe, or countries that directly threaten the current democratic world order and international relations. Not exactly a civilized order, but at least some are trying.

Does anyone else see a diversity problem on the #Fediverse?

And yes, at least I’m seeing some discussion of the Brazilian election on Bluesky.

#Brazil #US #Europe #FarRight #Bluesky

Open public consultation on the EU KIDS ACT. If you have opinions about EU rules for children on social media, age verification, concerns about how this will affect the fediverse, etc... here's the best place to share them: https://ec.europa.eu/info/law/better-regulation/have-your-say/initiatives/19418-Child-online-safety-keeping-digital-spaces-accountable-and-trustworthy-EU-Kids-Act-_en

#EU #KidsAct #EUKidsAct #AgeVerification #PublicConsultation #EUHaveYourSay #fediverse #mastodon #socialMedia

Week in Fediverse 2026-10-02

Servers

- PeerTube v8.3.1
- Hollo v0.9.20
- Mastodon v4.7.3
- Ibis v0.3.4
- Wafrn v2026.10.01
- Hometown v1.3.0
- Misskey v2026.10.0
- NeoDB v0.19.5
- Hatsu v0.3.5
- Wanderer v0.21.0

Clients

- Pachli v3.9.0
- Fedilab v3.45.0
- chan-fe v0.4.0
- PeerTube Mobile v2.3.0

For developers

- Fedify v2.4.0
- activitypub-federation-rust v0.6.6
- Fedipub v0.10.0

Protocol

- FEP-070c: Block synchronization across servers
- FEP-302f: QuantPub — federated personal metrics for quantified-self sharing
- FEP-6757: Content License Metadata in ActivityPub

Articles

- Why Does Nobody Use Lemmy?
- Fediverse News – Summer 2026

-----

#WeekInFediverse #Fediverse #ActivityPub

Previous edition: https://mitra.social/objects/01a0dbf1-5095-74a1-b198-2872b783a198

Good morning, #BSDCafe
Good morning, #illumosCafe
Good morning, #Fediverse

Sunny and warm here, as usual. The day will be long and quite interesting. I'm waiting for a 'freebsd-update upgrade -r 15.1-RELEASE', waiting for a 2FA code for a commercial "secure" VPN to arrive (spoiler: I've been waiting for more than one hour. Old man yells at bad and inefficient solutions), and I badly want a Tiramisu.

Meanwhile, here's a photo I took a couple of weeks ago. I like the geometry in this photo and the shadows.

I hope you'll have a great day!

#Photography #Photo #GoodMorning #TGIF

Alt...

A brick tower and surrounding historic buildings under a clear blue sky. The warm sunlight creates strong, sharp shadows across the walls, with geometric lines formed by the rooftops, windows and battlements.

I want to publicly thank @dch
The FreeBSD port of littleFedi was already ready at release time, and it’s really well done.

One of the peculiarities of littleFedi is that it was developed and tested first on the BSDs, then on illumos, and only later on Linux.

The first public instance, my own @stefano@rpi0w.stefanomarinelli.it account, runs on a Raspberry Pi Zero W with NetBSD.

I don’t think many social platforms have started out on NetBSD in recent years.

#ThankYou #RunBSD #NetBSD #FreeBSD #OpenBSD #illumos #OwnYourData #Fediverse #littleFedi

RE: https://littleone.littlefedi.social/@littlefedi_official/01a0f644-8ed6-7a7d-ade6-46f4c0a74f41

littleFedi is out!

#littleFedi #Fediverse

Friendly periodic reminder that snac is a great, great piece of software.

I've upgraded #FediMeteo in minutes, recompiling snac *inside each jail*.

The Fediverse, as the Fediverse should be.

https://codeberg.org/grunfink/snac2

#snac #snac2 #Fediverse #OwnYourData

Boost if you agree. Let them know we know they don't really care about us!

#eu #europe #evropa #sad #fediverse #fediart #mastoart #comic

Alt...

panel from "Zimmer Saves the Union"; brank is cutting up a flag and glues stars to his collage

There are days when the main goal is just to make it to the evening without falling apart... today is one of those days 😄

Have a great day, #BSDCafe!
Have a great day, #illumosCafe!
Have a great day, #Fediverse!

Good night, Fediverse.
May the glow of this moon and the peace of this sea soothe and illuminate your life, even when the light is dim and the path ahead of you seems dark.

#Photography #Photo #Sea #Goodnight #Fediverse

Alt...

A bright moon glows in a deep night sky, casting a shimmering ribbon of silver light across calm, dark waters. On the left, a rugged breakwater of pale, moonlit stones extends into the tranquil sea, where quiet figures sit peacefully under the vast night horizon.

THEODORE ROOSEVELT SHOT BY CRANK IN MILWAUKEE STREET

#content_review #unix_surrealism #fediverse #loops #mastodon #lemmy #art #mastoart #javascript #cats #snac

Alt...

Funhole Content Review FEDIVERSE I HAVE A DREAM 'you need to enable javascript to run this this app.' How to make it big? You don't @mmtmm pls sponsor me How to get more boosts? Cats. so many rabbits LOOPY CONSPIRACY - Who is behind the manufactured fame of a tiktok clone nobody asked for? THE C BANSHEE: What is snac and should you be worried? FEDIVERSE MENACE: HAVE YOU SEEN THIS MAN? hackers.town: Is nowhere safe? ONE FREE ANTI-SLOP KITTO THE LIST: 50.000 mastodon addresses to avoid if you don't like illegal content.

Good morning, #BSDCafe
Good morning, #illumosCafe
Good morning, #Fediverse

Have a great #SeaWednesday !

#MeerMittwoch #Photography #Photo #Picture #Pic #Sea

Alt...

A sailboat with white sails gliding across a bright, calm sea under a clear sky. In the foreground are two palm trees, vibrant pink oleander flowers, green bushes, and the flat roof of a white beachfront structure.

It’s not Tuesday yet, but it will be soon.
And I want to thank @grunfink for creating and maintaining snac. Tomorrow I’ll talk about FediMeteo at DevConf, and it would never have come to be if it weren’t for snac and for the help the author gave me in fixing some things to optimize its use.

True Open Source, made with passion, by people who do things for the love of the things themselves.

#ThankYouTuesday #snac #FediMeteo #Fediverse

After Bluesky, Threads, and so on, the whole #WSocial thing is another reminder that it was never about the #Fediverse being "too complicated" or "just for nerds".

A bafflingly large amount of people genuinely only act on a gut feeling telling them that only commercial products with fancy marketing owned by a for-profit corporation can be trustworthy, 'official' and 'legal', for the lack of a better word.

If something is a commercial offering by a competent-looking, rich family man in a suit, it's clearly an official, legal, trustworthy product. You can be proud of using such a fancy-looking service.

When they see a community-run open-source project or a grassroots initiative, their first instinct is that it must be shady, illegal, complicated, broken or predatory in some way. It's probably some aftermarket grey area bootleg made by weird tech nerds, political groups with an ulterior motive, conspiracy theorists or some naive teenage hackers. They'd also be embarrassed for using it in front of their peers and neighbours; who uses some free back-alley software, are you poor or something?

The same people are the reason why Google is using the word 'sideloading', why scammers love wearing fancy suits, why people suddenly act childishly helpless in front of LibreOffice, or why DIY HRT is so demonised.

They trust any kind of 'official approval' over their own senses. If someone does something that isn't 'approved', they're a bad person or clearly endangering themselves and others. No idea why exactly, but psh, it must be wrong somehow, or everyone would do it, right?

If people on the Fediverse understood that the whole "it's all so complicated and clunky" thing is just a thinly veiled excuse for a general disdain for non-commercial software, we could finally stop making all our software imitate their corporate equivalents in a futile attempt to appease people who never gave us a chance in the first place.

You'll never convince them to treat it in good faith no matter how much effort or money you put into UX or 'ease of use'. All you're doing is making the software worse, e. g. through things like dot-social, verified accounts or begging brands, corporations and politicians to join and give your product some kind of 'official' validation.

#mastodon #openSource #linux

When I wrote about FediMeteo (https://it-notes.dragas.net/2025/02/26/fedimeteo-how-a-tiny-freebsd-vps-became-a-global-weather-service-for-thousands/) for the first time, I told the story from the beginning: the idea born almost by chance while checking the weather for a holiday, the memory of my grandfather, who for years had been my personal meteorologist, the decision to build something small and useful, and then the surprise of seeing people actually use it. What began as a personal experiment quickly became a small global service, still running with the same philosophy: FreeBSD, jails, simple scripts, snac, text, emoji, and a lot of small pieces doing their work quietly.

That article was mostly about the birth and growth of the project. This one is about one of the less romantic parts of the same story, although I have to admit that I find a certain beauty in it too: keeping the service light as it grows.

FediMeteo (https://fedimeteo.com) is still intentionally simple from the outside. A homepage, some numbers, a list of countries, and many ActivityPub accounts publishing weather forecasts. The posts are text and emoji. There is no JavaScript requirement to read the pages, no heavy frontend, no unnecessary media attached to every forecast, and no dynamic homepage recalculated at every visit just to show the same numbers. This is not accidental. It is the way I wanted the service to behave from the beginning.

But the more the service is used, the more the small details matter. A request that looks harmless when there are ten followers may become a repeated request when there are thousands of followers, remote instances, crawlers, previews, and other servers fetching the same public objects. In the Fediverse, the same small thing can be asked many times by many different places, each one with a perfectly legitimate reason. The backend doesn't care: it just needs to deal with the requests.

And in FediMeteo, the backend is snac (https://codeberg.org/grunfink/snac2).

I like snac very much precisely because it is small, clear, and efficient. It is not a giant application that tries to be everything. It does a focused job and does it well. But this also means that I want to respect its shape. I do not want to waste its threads on work that the reverse proxy can safely do. A snac thread serving the same public avatar again and again is not a tragedy, but it is still a waste. A snac thread answering the same public ActivityPub object several times in the same minute is doing real work, but often not necessary work.

This is the reason behind the HAProxy (https://www.haproxy.org) tuning I am currently using in front of FediMeteo.

It is not about making the configuration look clever. It is about keeping snac quiet.

A continuation of the same idea

This is especially important because snac uses a limited number of threads. I like that. Limits are healthy. They force us to understand what the service is doing, and they prevent a small program from pretending to be an infinite resource. But limits also make waste visible. If a few threads are busy serving files that could have been served from cache, those threads are not available for something more useful.

With FediMeteo the implementation is different because the reverse proxy is HAProxy, but the reasoning is the same. I have many small snac instances, each one in its own FreeBSD (Bastille (https://github.com/BastilleBSD/bastille)) jail, and one public entry point that has to route, terminate TLS, compress, cache, and generally remove as much repetitive work as possible from the backends.

This is, in a way, the natural continuation of the original FediMeteo design. In the first article I wrote that I wanted to manage everything according to the Unix philosophy: small pieces working together. This is another piece of that same puzzle. HAProxy does the edge work. snac does the ActivityPub work. Scripts generate forecasts. cron launches updates. ZFS gives me snapshots. FreeBSD jails keep countries separated. Nothing is particularly heroic by itself, but the whole system becomes pleasant because each part has a clear responsibility.

Why there is almost no media

FediMeteo does not use media in its forecasts.

No images attached to the posts, no generated weather cards, no maps for each city, no decorative banners. The forecasts are text and emoji. This was a deliberate decision. Weather information does not become more useful just because it is put inside an image, and every media file used by the service would become something to store, serve, cache, federate, expire, back up, and occasionally debug.

Text and emoji are enough. They are accessible, light, readable in text browsers, friendly to timelines, and understandable even when someone does not know the local language perfectly. This was one of the original design principles of FediMeteo, and it also helps the infrastructure. Less media means less work, fewer cache entries, fewer repeated fetches, fewer surprises.

There is one exception: the avatar.

All FediMeteo accounts use the same avatar, and this is also intentional. I could have used a different avatar for each country, or for each city, or created something visually richer. It would have been nicer in some screenshots, perhaps. It would also have been operationally worse.

With one shared avatar, the reverse proxy has one very useful object to cache. It is public, identical for everyone, small, requested often, and therefore almost always hot in cache. HAProxy can serve it directly instead of asking each snac instance to return the same file. Since avatars are requested by remote instances, browsers, profile previews, and all sorts of federation-related fetches, this single decision removes a surprising amount of pointless backend traffic.

So the avatar is not only a visual identity. It is part of the architecture.

This is the kind of optimization I like most, because it starts before the software. It starts with deciding not to create a problem.

The homepage is static because it can be static

It is a static HTML page generated from a template. Once per hour, a cron script updates the numbers and statistics. It counts the data I want to show, regenerates the page, and then the page remains static until the next run.

This is not because I cannot make a dynamic page. It is because I do not need one. Boring is good.

The homepage does not need to query all the country instances on every visit. It does not need a database request for each user who opens it. It does not need to ask snac anything in real time. The numbers are useful, but they do not need to be updated every second. Once per hour is enough, and it also fits the spirit of the whole project: do the work when it is needed, then serve the result cheaply.

I have seen too many small services become heavy because the first implementation was convenient rather than appropriate. A cron job and a template are not fashionable, but they are often exactly what a page like this needs.

Many countries, one entry point

fedimeteo.com
www.fedimeteo.com
it.fedimeteo.com
uk.fedimeteo.com
jp.fedimeteo.com
us.fedimeteo.com
usa.fedimeteo.com
can.fedimeteo.com
canada.fedimeteo.com

At the beginning, it is always tempting to write one ACL after another in the HAProxy frontend. It is quick, it is explicit, and for five hostnames it is perfectly fine. But FediMeteo did not remain at five hostnames. As countries and aliases grew, a long chain of ACLs would have turned the frontend into a list of names instead of a description of how the proxy behaves.

So I moved the hostname to backend mapping into a map file:

fedimeteo.com        backend_fedimeteo
www.fedimeteo.com    backend_fedimeteo
it.fedimeteo.com     backend_it
uk.fedimeteo.com     backend_uk
jp.fedimeteo.com     backend_jp
us.fedimeteo.com     backend_us
usa.fedimeteo.com    backend_us
can.fedimeteo.com    backend_ca
canada.fedimeteo.com backend_ca

use_backend %[req.hdr(host),field(1,:),lower,map(/usr/local/etc/fedimeteo.map,backend_fedimeteo)]

I like this because it keeps the configuration honest. The frontend contains the policy. The map contains the data. Adding a country means adding an entry to the map and defining a backend. I do not need to make the frontend more complicated every time the service grows.

Backends as small compartments

backend backend_it
    mode http
    http-reuse safe
    server srv1 10.0.0.2:8001 maxconn 30
backend backend_uk
    mode http
    http-reuse safe
    server srv1 10.0.0.7:8001 maxconn 30
backend backend_jp
    mode http
    http-reuse safe
    server srv1 10.0.0.32:8001 maxconn 30

The maxconn 30 value is not a magic number. It is a ceiling. I want each small backend to have a visible limit in front of it. If something starts hammering a country instance, I prefer the pressure to appear at the HAProxy layer instead of becoming unlimited concurrent work inside snac.

http-reuse safe lets HAProxy reuse backend connections where appropriate. This is another small reduction in unnecessary work. Opening connections repeatedly is not the biggest problem in the world, but avoiding it is still better, especially when many small services sit behind the same proxy.

The front door

frontend https_in
    bind :::443 v4v6 ssl crt /usr/local/etc/certs/ alpn h2,http/1.1
    mode http
    option http-keep-alive

ssl-default-bind-ciphersuites TLS_AES_128_GCM_SHA256:TLS_AES_256_GCM_SHA384:TLS_CHACHA20_POLY1305_SHA256
ssl-default-bind-options no-sslv3 no-tlsv10 no-tlsv11 no-tls-tickets

acl letsencrypt-acl path_beg /.well-known/acme-challenge/
http-request redirect scheme https code 301 unless letsencrypt-acl
use_backend letsencrypt-backend if letsencrypt-acl

http-request set-header X-Real-IP %[src]
http-request set-header X-Forwarded-Proto https

http-response set-header Strict-Transport-Security "max-age=31536000; includeSubDomains; preload"

Two caches, because the requests are different

cache mediacache
  total-max-size 128
  max-object-size 10000000
  max-age 3600
  process-vary on
  max-secondary-entries 12
cache jsoncache
  total-max-size 16
  max-object-size 1000000
  max-age 60
  process-vary on
  max-secondary-entries 12

The media cache is larger and has a longer maximum age. In FediMeteo, this mostly means the shared avatar and a few static-looking objects. Since there is intentionally almost no media, the important cached object is requested very often and remains warm.

The JSON cache is smaller and short-lived. It is there for public ActivityPub GET requests, not to store federation state forever. A 60 second cache is enough to collapse many repeated requests that arrive close together in time, without pretending that ActivityPub responses should be treated like immutable files.

This distinction is important. Caching is not one decision. It is a set of small decisions about what a response means, who can see it, how often it changes, and what happens if it is served again.

Recognizing media

acl is_media path_end -i .jpg .jpeg .png .gif .webp .svg .ico .mp4 .webm .mp3 .ogg .wav .flac .mov .avi .mkv .m4v

http-request set-var(txn.is_media) bool(true) if is_media

http-request cache-use mediacache if { var(txn.is_media) -m bool true }

http-response set-header Cache-Control "max-age=3600, public" if { var(txn.is_media) -m bool true }
http-response del-header Set-Cookie if { var(txn.is_media) -m bool true }
http-response del-header Vary if { var(txn.is_media) -m bool true }
http-response cache-store mediacache if { var(txn.is_media) -m bool true }

This is aggressive only if removed from its context. In this service, with this media policy, it is a reasonable choice. FediMeteo is not serving private media under these paths. It is mostly serving the same public avatar over and over.

For the same reason, I clean the request before it reaches the backend:

http-request del-header Authorization if { var(txn.is_media) -m bool true }
http-request del-header Cookie        if { var(txn.is_media) -m bool true }

The result is exactly what I want: the shared avatar becomes an almost perfect cache object. Small, public, repeatedly requested, and served by HAProxy instead of snac.

ActivityPub JSON microcaching

acl is_ap_json   req.hdr(Accept),lower -m sub application/activity+json
acl is_ap_ldjson req.hdr(Accept),lower -m sub application/ld+json
acl is_outbox    path_end /outbox
acl is_get       method GET
acl has_auth     req.hdr(Authorization) -m found
acl has_cookie   req.hdr(Cookie) -m found

So I only mark public ActivityPub GET requests as cacheable:

http-request set-var(txn.is_activitypub) bool(true) if is_get !is_outbox is_ap_json !has_auth !has_cookie
http-request set-var(txn.is_activitypub) bool(true) if is_get !is_outbox is_ap_ldjson !has_auth !has_cookie

It must be a GET, because I am not caching deliveries or anything that changes state. It must not be /outbox, because outbox collections are not the traffic I want to cache here. It must not have Authorization, and it must not have cookies, because authenticated or user-specific requests do not belong in a shared public cache.

Then the cache can be used and populated:

http-request cache-use jsoncache if { var(txn.is_activitypub) -m bool true }
http-response set-header Cache-Control "max-age=60, public" if { var(txn.is_activitypub) -m bool true }
http-response cache-store jsoncache if { var(txn.is_activitypub) -m bool true }

This is microcaching in the most practical sense. It reduces repeated work without changing the nature of the service.

Static media paths

acl is_short_path path_reg ^/[^/]+/s/
http-request cache-use mediacache if is_short_path

In FediMeteo this is less central than on a normal social instance, because I deliberately do not use media except for the avatar and basic static objects. Still, the rule fits the general policy: let HAProxy handle repeatable edge work, and let snac spend its threads where they are actually needed.

Vary, but not without limits

process-vary on
max-secondary-entries 12

For media, I remove Vary before storing the response. A shared avatar does not need to vary by Accept. For ActivityPub JSON, I am more careful because the representation matters.

Again, the important thing is not the number itself. It is the decision to make variation explicit and limited.

Seeing whether it works

http-response set-header X-Cache-Status HIT if !{ srv_id -m found }
http-response set-header X-Cache-Status MISS if { srv_id -m found }

Did this request reach snac?

A test can be as simple as:

curl -I https://it.fedimeteo.com/path/to/avatar.png
curl -I https://it.fedimeteo.com/path/to/avatar.png

For ActivityPub JSON, the test must use the right Accept header:

curl -I \
  -H 'Accept: application/activity+json' \
  https://it.fedimeteo.com/some/activitypub/object

curl -I \
  -H 'Cookie: test=value' \
  -H 'Accept: application/activity+json' \
  https://it.fedimeteo.com/some/activitypub/object
curl -I \
  -H 'Authorization: Bearer fake' \
  -H 'Accept: application/activity+json' \
  https://it.fedimeteo.com/some/activitypub/object

Compression and operational paths

filter compression
compression algo gzip
compression type text/css text/html text/javascript application/javascript text/plain text/xml application/json application/activity+json

There is also a local Prometheus exporter:

frontend prometheus
  bind 127.0.0.1:8405
  mode http
  http-request use-service prometheus-exporter
  no log

What this changes in practice

The map keeps hostname routing manageable. The backend definitions keep each country isolated and limited. The static homepage avoids dynamic work for something that changes once per hour. The shared avatar gives HAProxy one very hot media object to serve directly. The media cache keeps public files away from snac. The JSON microcache absorbs short ActivityPub bursts. Header cleanup prevents useless variation. Connection reuse avoids unnecessary backend connection churn.

But all of this is only a longer way of saying one thing:

fewer requests reach snac.

That is the metric I care about here.

Not because snac is slow. If anything, FediMeteo exists in its current form because snac is efficient enough to make this kind of project possible on a very small VPS. But precisely because the whole architecture is small and pleasant, I do not want to waste resources where there is no need.

This is also consistent with the rest of the project. Forecasts are serialized by scripts. Updates happen every six hours. The homepage is regenerated hourly. Countries live in separate jails. Snapshots and backups are handled outside the application. No single component tries to be the entire system.

HAProxy is just another small piece, but it sits in the right place to remove a lot of repeated work.

Caveats

It matches FediMeteo as it is now: almost no media, one shared avatar, static homepage, public forecasts, many small snac instances, and ActivityPub traffic that can benefit from a short public cache when there are no cookies or authorization headers.

If I decide one day to use media in forecasts, the media cache rules will need to be reviewed. If I use different avatars for each city or country, the cache will still work, but I will lose the very nice property of one shared, always-hot avatar. If ActivityPub responses become actor-dependent, public JSON caching must be reconsidered. If one country grows a very different traffic pattern from the others, it may deserve a different limit or policy.

This is why I do not like presenting configurations as magic. A good configuration is a written form of the assumptions behind a service. When the assumptions change, the configuration must change too.

Conclusion

The HAProxy layer follows this idea. It terminates TLS, routes hostnames through a map, reuses backend connections, serves the shared avatar from cache, microcaches public ActivityPub JSON, avoids authenticated and cookie-based traffic, and gives me a small diagnostic header to see what is happening.

There is no single brilliant directive here. There is only the usual work of matching infrastructure to reality.

FediMeteo publishes weather forecasts as text and emoji. The homepage is static HTML updated every hour. The accounts share the same avatar because it is enough, and because it is better for the cache. Each country has its own snac instance in its own FreeBSD jail. HAProxy stands in front of them and tries, quietly, not to bother them unless it has to.

I like this kind of infrastructure.

Not because it is invisible, but because when it works well, it leaves very little to say.

https://it-notes.dragas.net/2026/05/18/fedimeteo-haproxy-and-the-art-of-not-wasting-snac-threads/

#ITNotes #NoteHUB #fediverse #freebsd #haproxy #hosting #jail #networking #ownyourdata #server #snac #snac2 #social #web

Your reader, your couch, your rules.

Starting today, both my-notes.dragas.net and it-notes.dragas.net are changing the way they distribute content - on RSS and on the Fediverse alike.

No more excerpts. No more "read more" links. Full posts, delivered directly to you, wherever you choose to read them.

Here's why:
I don't run ads. I don't have paywalls. I don't sell attention, or measure success in page views. I never have, and I have no intention of starting. My blogs exist because I enjoy writing, and because
some of what I write might be useful - or simply enjoyable - to someone else.
That's the whole business model. There isn't one.

When that's the case, there's no reason to keep content behind a click.
Sending you a teaser and asking you to visit my site would only make sense if I needed you *on my site* - for an impression, for a conversion, for something. I don't. So why would I make you leave your reader, your client, your comfortable corner of the internet, just to come to mine?

What I want instead is simple: that you can read what I write the way you'd read a book on a cold winter evening, wrapped in a warm blanket. Privately.
Quietly. On your own terms, in your own space, without anything tracking your eyes or nudging you toward something else.

Your RSS reader is yours. Your Fediverse instance is yours. The content should be yours too.

If you're on the Fediverse, you can follow both accounts directly:

- my-notes → @mynotes

- it-notes → @itnotes

These are low-traffic accounts. If you don't want them to get lost in your timeline, feel free to hit the notification bell. I promise it won't make much noise.

So from now on, it will be.

#ITNotes #MyNotes #Blogging #Fediverse

Week in Fediverse 2026-02-20

Servers

- snac v2.90
- Castopod v1.15.0
- Ktistec v3.3.0
- tootik v0.21.1
- Badgefed v0.1.1
- Gush! v0.0.30
- Wanderer v0.18.5
- PieFed v1.6.6
- Our technical direction (Mastodon)

Clients

- Sengi v1.8.0
- tooi v0.21.2
- Summit v1.77.0
- Aria v1.4.3
- Pixelix v4.3.2

Tools and Plugins

- feed2fedi v3.5.0
- PeerTube Browser: A video discovery project for the federated PeerTube network

Protocol

- FEP-34c1: Collection Filtering using TREE Hypermedia Vocabulary

Articles

- Where Does Community Live?
- Why MAEPs? What should they look like?
- how to not regret c2s
- Reimagining Fediverse Advocacy
- FR#154 – Search and Community

-----

#WeekInFediverse #Fediverse #ActivityPub

Previous edition: https://mitra.social/objects/019c5906-05c0-87bf-8302-8226a8513c00

The time is probably right.

Back in 2022, when I was still using iOS, I wasn’t completely happy with the Fediverse apps that were available. I was mostly using Akkoma, and the interface I liked the most was actually its web UI, even on mobile. So I started playing with Xcode and put together the foundations of an app tailored to my needs.

A lot has changed since then and today we have great alternatives like IceCubes, Mona, Ivory, etc. Each one has strengths and weaknesses though, so I picked up my old project again and kept pushing it forward.

So I’m happy to announce that my app will finally see the light: I’ve been using it for the past few days and, in my spare time, I’m fixing bugs and adding missing features. I’m building it around my own needs, so it doesn’t have to “appeal to everyone”. I wouldn’t call it opinionated, but it’s definitely targeted.

The app will have one key trait: #snac2 support will be a first-class feature, not an incidental one. Many apps, especially on iOS, support snac as a side effect, but the experience is often not optimal. In this case, the choice is deliberate and it strictly follows the Mastodon API support implemented by snac. So snac will work properly (within the limits of the platform, of course).

Among the features already implemented: the app is minimal and lightweight (under 10 MB, including debug code), easy on RAM, and privacy-first (for example it strips EXIF data from media before posting, so the server will never see it). On snac it also cleans up the "Boosted by Aoderelay" messages that appear when using a relay, removes the character limit, and supports posting in Markdown.

I also added support for Apple Intelligence to generate alt text, both for the media I post and for media posted by others that is missing alt text.

Everything is processed locally through Apple APIs and only on supported devices. The results aren't amazing, Apple Intelligence is extremely limited, but in my opinion it's the only privacy-friendly and ethical way to approach it. And of course, you can disable it.

On Mastodon it supports all the main features: lists, quote posts, granular notifications (you can choose what you want for each category), notification grouping, multi-account support, and it works.

It's still missing a few things (block, etc.) and has some bugs, which I’m spotting as I keep using it.
As soon as it's stable enough, I'll invite a few people to test it. I still haven't fully decided how I'll distribute it: an Apple Developer account has a yearly cost, and I hope to reuse it for other projects too. So this app might be paid, with a trial period, but if possible (I still need to check what’s feasible) I'd like it to be free if you connect to one of the BSD Cafe instances, illumos Cafe, or any snac instance, including your own.

I don't know how long it will take before it's ready... but I can already tell you what it will be called.
It already has a name, and it's... MastoBlaster.

This name was chosen for personal reasons, and also because of its similarity to Master Blaster by Stevie Wonder, which even today feels relevant and fitting for the Fediverse.

Stay tuned!

#MastoBlaster #Fediverse #Mastodon #iOS #FediverseApp #Announcement #Apple #snac #snac2 #BSDCafe #illumosCafe

Alt...

MastoBlaster, showing my profile on my phone

Get snac'd up (not just) for #fosdem !

You can now purchase #snac propaganda stickers and apparel to show your allegiance or to wage war with.

https://www.redbubble.com/people/analognowhere/shop?artistUserName=analognowhere&asc=u&collections=4443355&iaCode=all-departments&sortOrder=top%20selling

Blessed be the hacker @grunfink for they can C.

#snac2 #runbsd #linux #unix_surrealism #fediverse

Alt...

snac's suzie qr, points to comam.es/what-is-snac

Alt...

snac alien SINCE YOU LEFT ME IVE BEEN SNACPILLED comam.es/what-is-snac

It's amazing how much energy has been injected into the FediMeteo project by @stefano
I've just surfed to the page and saw this enormous amount of Cities which are now covered

Two Thousand nine hundred and eight cities!

Yes you've read that right 2908 cities.

In order to get a city up and running in the system there's a significant amount of code that Stefano needs to add to the system. He has of course written everything in a modular and scalable manner, but that does not make the work any less.

We should all be thankful for this work that is done so that people from thousands and thousands of cities can see their weather right in the FediVerse.

If your city has not been covered yet, just be patient, like me. Realize how much work Stefano does in his free time in an OpenSource manner.

#Programming #OpenSource #technology #weather #FediMeteo #FediVerse #BSD #UNIX

Alt...

The image is a promotional graphic for a weather service called "FediMeteo". The graphic includes a series of colored icons representing different weather conditions: a sun, a cloud with rain, a cloud with snow, and a warning symbol resembling a hurricane or storm. Below the icons, there's text stating "FediMeteo" and "Get started today!". There's also a call to action: "Visit our website to find your city". The text continues with "Get forecasts for 208 cities across 38 countries, delivered right to your timeline". It includes a reminder to "Follow your city's account." Finally, it offers a way to "Enjoy weather updates." There's a website address listed: "https://fedimeteo.com". Provided by @altbot, generated privately and locally using Gemma3:12b 🌱 Energy used: 0.426 Wh

#fediverse #activitypub

My friends, I'm so excited and happy to introduce a new project: the illumos Cafe!

The positive and constructive spirit of the BSD Cafe, created and maintained by all the friends who participated from day one in building a strong and friendly community, deserves to spread to other operating systems. Because there are other OSes that deserve attention, certainly more than they're getting right now.

Operating systems based on illumos (like SmartOS, OmniOS, Tribblix, OpenIndiana, etc.) are mature, stable, secure, and perfectly usable for a wide range of tasks. ZFS is native, zones are an excellent method for containerization, and bhyve and kvm coexist beautifully - and so much more, too much to list in a single post.

So from today, the illumos Cafe will stand alongside the BSD Cafe in creating a positive, respectful, and growth-oriented (but also relaxing!) environment, starting right here in the Fediverse with a Mastodon instance and a snac one.

I've written an introductory article about the project, including some technical details. I invite everyone interested to read it: https://it-notes.dragas.net/2025/08/18/introducing-the-illumos-cafe/

Choose your table, take a seat and enjoy your time at the illumos Cafe!

#SysAdmin #IT #BSDCafe #illumosCafe #Community #OpenSource #OSS #illumos #SmartOS #OpenIndiana #ZFS #bhyve #kvm #Fediverse #Mastodon #snac #ITNotes

I just had such a lovely conversation with #bsd "barista" @stefano about building community here. What a nice way to start the week -- by being reminded that there are thoughtful humans who care about genuine connection.

Thank you to @_elena and others who recommended him.

Now I want more fedi friends! 😃 Anyone? Anyone?

#fediverse #inspiration #opensource #community

FediMeteo: How a Tiny €4 FreeBSD VPS Became a Global Weather Service for Thousands

https://it-notes.dragas.net/2025/02/26/fedimeteo-how-a-tiny-freebsd-vps-became-a-global-weather-service-for-thousands/

#Fediverse #FreeBSD #RunBSD #Hosting #ITNotes #Networking #NoteHUB #Server #Snac #Snac2 #Social #Web

https://it-notes.dragas.net/2025/02/08/caching-snac-proxied-media-with-nginx/

#Data #Fediverse #Hosting #ITNotes #Networking #Nginx #NoteHUB #Ownyourdata #Server #Snac #Snac2 #Social #Tipsandtricks #Tutorial #Web

Some technical details for those interested:
The entire FediMeteo setup runs on a FreeBSD VM costing around 4 euros per month. It supports almost all major EU countries (plus the UK), with just a few left to complete. Currently, there are 25 separate jails, each running its own instance of snac, totaling 25 instances. The VM load typically stays around 10%, which increases to 30% when updates are published for countries with larger numbers of cities (currently Germany and Italy). The only time the load spikes is when new countries are announced; during that time, all remote instances connect to all cities to download their details.
As for RAM usage, excluding the ZFS cache, it's currently a total of 213 MB. Yes, MB.

#FreeBSD #FediMeteo #snac #Fediverse #Efficiency #RunBSD

#CrazyFediverseAnalogies

Announcing FediMeteo – Weather in the Fediverse!

UPDATE: I have created an account for updates and other information on FediMeteo - follow the account @admin to stay updated!

UPDATE: Ireland, Poland, Portugal and Switzerland have just been added

Weather has always influenced our lives: from agriculture to outdoor activities, to extreme events that, thanks to modern technology, can now be predicted with greater reliability. Personally, weather plays a significant role in my daily decisions, which is why I decided to create a service tailored for the Fediverse.

FediMeteo uses Open-Meteo data to publish updates every 6 hours, including current weather conditions, forecasts for the next 12 hours, and predictions for the upcoming days. Each country is served by its own dedicated instance (e.g., it.fedimeteo.com for Italy), managed through snac to ensure simplicity and efficiency in publishing.

You can follow FediMeteo directly in the Fediverse (on Mastodon and compatible platforms), via RSS, or by visiting the dedicated page for your city (e.g., fr.fedimeteo.com/paris).

Currently supported countries include:
Austria, Germany, France, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland and the United Kingdom, – with many more regions coming soon!

FediMeteo is hosted on a FreeBSD-based VPS, with each country isolated in its own jail to ensure security and scalability.

Visit the main site to explore the national instances and start following your local weather updates today:
https://fedimeteo.com

Happy weather monitoring to all! 🌦️

FediMeteo is dedicated to my grandfather, who every evening would give me the weather forecast based on TV, radio, and his personal experience. He would convince me that the weather would be bad, so he had an excuse to accompany me to school instead of me going alone.

#FediMeteo #Announcements #FreeBSD #FediMeteo #WeatherForecasts #Weather #Meteo #snac #Fediverse #Mastodon

When I talk about the importance of going all in on the Fediverse, I speak based on experience.

At Opera we built a massive user community. When I quit, we had something like 35 million registered users and 35 million monthly visitors.

The new Opera management did not see the value of that. They believed it was cheaper and better to just use Facebook and that investing in your own community was a waste of money. So they closed down MyOpera and built a following on Facebook and Twitter instead. Then they got caught by the bait and switch when Facebook changed and you would no longer reach your audience, without paying. Later on Twitter changed as well.

This is important to explain to companies and institutions as they go shopping for social media sites to invest in. The best investment is clearly in your own site, being part of the Fediverse. It is not even all that expensive to do. It may take longer to build, but at least it is your own.

Not saying you cannot build a following on those other sites, but your long term strategy should be the Fediverse with your own server.

We try to lead the way here and thus we build Vivaldi Social. Not just for our selves, but to make a point and support the Fediverse.

#fediverse #Mastodon #Twitter #Threads #BlueSky #Vivaldi

Mastodon Follow Pack FAQ 1.0

What are Follow Packs?

They are just packaged topical lists of up to 35 accounts you can follow from your Mastodon or other Fediverse account. You can follow the entire pack by importing a file. And the entire pack loads into a list, so it becomes a feed for that subject. You can also just browse for accounts you might want to follow individually.

So, they’re like Bluesky Starter Packs?

Yes, but not quite as convenient. It’s not hard, but because Mastodon does not have a one-click way to do this, you need to download a follow pack file and then use Mastodon’s import facility. Instructions are provided in the directory and also below.

What Follow Packs are there?

Packs are being added all the time. Right now there are packs for Astronomy and Space, Climate, US Politics and Miscellany. For a current directory check out the Mastodon Migration FediBlog at: https://mastodonmigration.wordpress.com/2024/11/20/mastodon-follow-pack-directory-nov-20-2024/

How do I do do it?

Check out the latest directory at https://mastodonmigration.wordpress.com/2024/11/20/mastodon-follow-pack-directory-nov-20-2024/ . Basically determine which pack you want to follow and download the .csv then import the pack. Instructions are provided. Follows are loaded into a list in your account.

OK, but I don’t want to mess up my lists. What happens if I already follow an account in the pack?

That’s fine. The followed account will just be added to the new list, and if you already had that account in a list, it will now just be in both lists.

Can I then add more accounts to the list?

Sure! That’s the idea. Many of these accounts boost other great accounts in their topic area. You will quickly find additional accounts you will want to follow. When you do follow a new account add it immediately to the list by clicking the “…” button at the top of the profile and selecting “Add or Remove from lists”

What if I don’t like your pack list title?

Simply change it. Click on the list, then the gear icon and you can edit the list name and contents. Also, you can determine if you want to “Hide these posts from home” so they don’t clutter up your home feed.

What if I’ve been added to a list and I don’t want to be in it?

Every follow pack has a listed administrator. Message them to ask to be removed.

How do I know if my account is in a Follow Pack?

You can search through the directory. Also, whenever a new directory is posted all members of every pack are notified by being copied on the post.

What if I don’t want to follow accounts from Threads or Bluesky?

Any pack that contains Threads or Bluesky bridged accounts will have a special notice. Just don’t import one of them.

#FollowPack #StarterPack #MastodonMigration #MastoTips #Help #Directory #Guides #Mastodon #Fediverse #FediBlog

Follow Pack Notices

OPT-OUT NOTICE: If your account is listed in any Follow Pack and you do not want it to be, please message the pack administrator and refer to the pack from which you would like your account removed.

BRIDGE ACCOUNT NOTICE: Packs that include accounts that bridge outside the Fediverse will be identified with a special notice.

REPLIES ON MASTODON NOTICE: Replies include all named accounts. Please edit any replies to remove addresses you do not intend to send the reply.

Follow Pack Instructions

Download the pack .csv file and import into Mastodon to follow all accounts:

– Click on a FollowPack .csv file link to download
– Click on Preferences (gear) icon on bottom right
– On mobile or narrow desktop click top right “hamburger” button
– Click Import and Export >>> Import
– Import type dropdown: Select “Lists” (NOT “Following list”)
– Verify that ‘Merge’ is selected (IMPORTANT)
– Click Browse… button >>> Select “[file name] – list.csv”
– Upload >>> Confirm

______________________________

This post comes from the WordPress Mastodon Migration Blog: https://mastodonmigration.wordpress.com/

You can receive all new posts to this WordPress Blog on Mastodon by following Mastodon account:

https://mastodonmigration.wordpress.com/@mastodonmigration.wordpress.com

(Copy and paste above address into search to find and follow)

Important: Replies on Mastodon to this WordPress post by default include all named accounts. Please edit your reply to remove all addresses you do not intend to send the reply. Thank you.

#accountlist #activitypub #astronomy #Astrophysics #bluesky #Booster #Climate #ClimateScience #Dire #Directory #FediBlog #fediverse #followpack #followpackdirectory #GlobalWarming #guide #Guides #Help #mastodon #mastodonmigration #MastoTips #Media #Miscellany #mmfp #Politics #Random #socialMedia #Space #StarterPack #Threads #twitter #USPol #USPolitics #USPoliticsBoos #USPoliticsMedi #USPoliticsMedia #USPoliticsThreads

This afternoon, an acquaintance joined a Mastodon instance and asked me which "celebrities" are present in the Fediverse, as if it were important to determine the value of a social network based on that.

I told him that the most important user in the Fediverse is him. Just as it’s you, reading this. Someone who has decided to interact with others freely. Who has chosen to trust their administrator (or create their own instance) more than they trust those who run traditional, monolithic, centralized social networks.

So, I want to thank all the friends of BSD Cafe, whether local or not, for being here and making this place what it is. And I thank all my friends in the Fediverse, who make my timeline lively, interesting, intelligent, fun, and thought-provoking - every day, at any time.

#BSDCafe #Mastodon #Fediverse #SocialNetworks #SocialMedia #Community #Trust #OpenSource #DigitalFreedom #JoinTheFediverse

#snac #fediverse

I have to stop posting active links to our content on Mastodon.

Every time I do so now, it brings down our website for up to 5 minutes.

We've tried pretty much every claimed fix, including third party caching (which in turn breaks other elements of our website's dynamic display abilities), code changes and such on our back end code, and more stuff I don't understand at all (but have spent money paying our WP developer to implement). None of it has worked.

The #fediverse powers that be need to fix this growing problem of the #MastoDDos effect on websites. The more followers and more servers your followers are from, the more impact this has on literally bringing a website to its knees with all the DB calls.

For instance, this morning, I posted the lovely article our creative writer Ethan wrote, which ended up only getting 2 boosts and one "favourite" here, but it brought down our website for 4 minutes and 12 seconds.

That's not sustainable.

After getting to try the #Snac activity pub server developed by @grunfink on bsd.cafe thanks @stefano , I'm kind of tempted to spin up my own instance. Anyone here other than Stefano that runs their own instance ? Please share you pro's and con's plus any workarounds you have come up with.
Also how are you viewing / posting on mobile ? Are you just sticking with web or using the likes of #Tusky ?
#Fediverse #ActivityPub

https://codeberg.org/grunfink/snac2

I want to launch a hashtag where, every Tuesday, I'll post a message and it would be great if it became a habit for many.

In a world full of conflicts, selfishness, and egocentrism, it would be nice to focus on the good that others do, what makes our lives better thanks to the contribution of others.

My first #ThankYouTuesday to the friends of #BSDCafe - both within the community servers and beyond - who have undoubtedly contributed to making my life better, more stimulating, and richer. So, I extend this gratitude to all those who, here in the fediverse or elsewhere, are present and positive, giving me inspiration and motivation.

Truly, thank you!

#ThankYouTuesday #gratitude #positivity #community #fediverse #mastodon

Lol

Guess who's the "most popular" person in the Fediverse.

https://fedidb.org/popular-fediverse-accounts

#fediverse #zuck #fedidb

Alt...

FediDB showing zuck as the most popular account in the Fediverse.

Week in Fediverse 2024-03-22

Servers

- Hatsu v0.1.1
- lotide v0.15.0
- Friendica v2024.03
- snac v2.50
- Hubzilla v9.0

Clients

- Fedilab v3.28.2
- Tuba v0.7.0
- Husky v1.5.4
- Mastodon for iOS v2024.2
- Photon v1.28.4
- Voyager v2.0.0

Tools and Plugins

- Granary v6.2
- Fedi badge: A badge generator for ActivityPub-enabled social media platforms

Articles

- Bonfire Launches Open Science Network for Academics and Researchers
- Pixelfed introduces Loops, a Short-Form Video App
- Oh, Zot! Nomadic Identity is Coming to ActivityPub
- The Efforts to Extend ActivityPub
- Threads has entered the fediverse
- Last Week in Fediverse – ep 60

-----

#WeekInFediverse #Fediverse #ActivityPub

Previous edition: https://mitra.social/objects/018e4384-6968-4bee-0dc6-9f542a42d847

15 million users in the Fediverse, now.

No ad-blocker needed.
Zero ads.
My data stays on my server.
Interactions are genuine, driven by people's desire, not an algorithm pushing for conflict to boost engagement (and ad sales).
Nobody's here just because it's trendy. If you're here, you want to be here.
The best social media experience I've had in years.

Thank you to all of you, among these 15 million accounts, who have helped make this a wonderful place to be.

#Fediverse #Privacy #NoAds #GenuineInteractions #Decentralized #ThankYou #Mastodon