#socialcg — Public Fediverse posts

Anyone who is interested in the #Fediverse and #ActivityPub is welcome to join the Social Web Community Group #SocialCG at the #w3c.

It's the group that develops and advances the social standards that make this network go. It's open to anyone. If you have specific interests, we have task forces that work on specific topics. Or you can start one!

It's easy to join.

https://www.w3.org/community/socialcg/

@hongminhee how can we get more East Asian #ActivityPub developers involved in the #W3C #SocialCG and #SocialWG?

I think I just figured out why the SocialCG prioritised work on encrypted private messaging for ActivityPub.

Decentralised DMs already give the fediverse an edge over the ATmosphere (eg BlueSky DMs are BS-only). If they're all E2EE as well, that puts us head and shoulders above anything the ATProtocol can currently handle.

(1/?)

#E2EE #ActivityPub #SocialCG #FediDevs

The #Miscellany context for #ActivityPub, which documents a few widely-used terms, is now a Draft report of the #SocialCG:

https://swicg.github.io/miscellany/

/cc @socialcg

@thefed @hrefna

> Though there may be #SocialCG recommendations on how to deal with those (I have eternal trouble finding these documents quickly).

As it happned, while cleaning up a gazillion browser tabs I had open, I bumped into the SocialCG document that defines HashTag:

https://swicg.github.io/miscellany/#Hashtag

@thefed @hrefna

I have heard people say "In #ActivityPub there's a timeline and a notification feed". No, there isn't. But perhaps in ones solution, there is. "There are Mentions and Hashtags". No, there aren't. Though there may be #SocialCG recommendations on how to deal with those (I have eternal trouble finding these documents quickly). "There are special hashtags to put in a summary field that machines understand". Nope!

https://social.coop/@smallcircles/116394824802521441

There are #FEP documents. These are just guidance that allow people to align on common ways to achieve things, and are currently the best way to avoid an even larger sprawl of protocol decay. They are non-normative wrt to the AP protocol itself.

I think a large part of the quick rise in attractiveness, popularity and adoption of #ATProto stems from how it offered devs a clear and well-documented introduction and a path to doing solution development on top of a robust protocol, where a dev could say "this is my app, and this is protocol".

@djm62 @shlee

Not sure if there's an existing framework that can be designed to work with #ActivityPub. But I do think that thinking about consent in a more general/generic sense would be a worthwhile effort. This should be something that is picked up at the #SocialCG level, or perhaps in #FEP documents first. A lot of the mechanisms that proliferate now are also app-centric and almost *assume* that #fediverse is a glorified #microblogging environment. The more that trend continues, the more that will indeed be the case. This is what my long blog post was about, that I wrote recently:

https://coding.social/blog/grassroots-evolution

@snarfed.org @quillmatiq @bnewbold.net @trwnh @darius @dmitri @thisismissem and others.

Bluesky is working on a new Communities feature for ATProto. At the same time, the #SocialCG at the W3C is working on Groups features for #ActivityPub.

It would be a missed opportunity if we used wildly different architectural patterns that made bridging the two models impossible.

I opened up an issue on our GitHub repo to discuss how we can minimise that:

https://github.com/swicg/groups/issues/55

@abeorch @gary

There are certainly issues. I wrote a long thought piece on social experience and travels in #ActivityPub space and with a call-for-reflection to anyone to ponder #fediverse's Future of #SocialNetworking..

The blog post (which is an hour-long read) also stipulates re-centralization risks, and how a #fedi-native protocol implementation of #GrassrootsStandards and #GrassrootsStandardization processes like the #FEP and #SocialCG can help mitigate the #centralization risks.

https://social.coop/@smallcircles/116379158584600016

PS. See also my call-to-participate as #CommonsCustodian in the #standardization of our networking protocols..

https://social.coop/@smallcircles/116402592862958767

Together we can :boosts_appreciated: #BoostFediForwards and #cocreate a better #future.

#SX #SocialCoding #SocialWeb

#BoostFediForwards :boosts_appreciated:

In this rushed world of ours, do you still have #time on your hands here and there? And love spending it on building and nurturing our sustainable and safe #fedi gardens?

Do you want be more deeply involved in weaving delightful #SocialFabric? Play a part in #SocialWeb future?

Then #SocialHub, the discussion forum for #ActivityPub developers, has #vacancies for you!

The #FEP Process as well as the #W3C #SocialCG, the two major standardization bodies that drive #fediverse future, are inclusive and open to anyone to contribute their 2 cents.

Become a #CommonsCustodian now..
Help cocreate a 💃🕺 #peopleverse.

https://delightful.coding.social/delightful-fediverse-experience/

#UrgentPlatitude: Our #future is created today, not #tomorrow.

https://socialhub.activitypub.rocks/t/vacancy-commons-custodians-help-increase-fep-sustainability-and-progress/8640

See also the broader discussion on ecosystem #sustainability and my personal story and #brainstorm invitation about fedi's #evolution.

https://discuss.coding.social/t/sx-sustainable-ecosystem-evolution-see/836

https://social.coop/@smallcircles/116379158584600016

#FediJobs #Vacancy #Job #Jobs #Volunteer

#ThreeGoodThings

- Great #SocialCG / #SocialWG joint meeting. This is happening.
- Submitted invoices. That feels great!
- Pizza at Star Bar with @maj and @Stavro.

#ThoughtProvoker :blobhyperthink:

App-centrism is a re-centralization force in the #ActivityPub fediverse.

For the #fediverse the accepted app-centric #SocialNetwork work method is a decentralized NPM-like dependency hell waiting to happen.

Apps that introduce extensions become owners of parts of the specs when they become de-facto standards. We can only hope for responsible #ownership, and that the project stays around to keep their #design docs and code in the air.

The #FEP and the #SocialCG are two points of #centralization we find acceptable to help mitigate protocol decay and tech debt. It is not ideal, but a bandaid to keep an utterly fragmented developer ecosystem together.

The people who do most of this holding together are volunteers that can be counted on one hand. They may burnout and leave any day, in typical #FOSS fashion.

#SX investigates the concept of #GrassrootsOpenStandards, where the standardization process matches social dynamics that exist in our #commons.

@evan some time ago you queried about what would be a good comms channel for #ActivityPub API.

I have some ideas / recommendations on the #Github repo that the #W3C TF uses.

- Structure the repo to hold the work of the full task force, not just for the creation of a single specification document.

- Use GH Discussions for all the general elaboration, feedback collection, etc. The repo forms a self-contained body of work. Move most current Issues in the tracker to become Discussions.

- Issues are created by task force members, and always represent actionable items. They are tracked on a Project kanban board where the swimlanes represent a simple protocol development #Process with a number of stages.

Then:

- Primary comms channel is Discussions.
- Issues + kanban represent work tracks.
- Secondary comms channel can be #fedi.

I'd reserve #SocialCG mailing list to #governance and organizational matters concerning the CG itself, and point mails on other subject to appropriate channel.

To chain things together a bit on this fleety medium of ours, create a hyperweb 😜 I'll quote this toot to follow-up to

https://social.coop/@smallcircles/116110545919004233

I remember about 2018 or so, when I joined my first #SocialCG meetup. It was when the CG was still strongly tied to #SocialHub community.

There were mundane items on the agenda, interesting to any #ActivityPub dev, and also the call to action was "whether you are technical or not at all, join the meetup, we are open and inclusive to all fedizens". Very friendly, good vibes.

However during the session the talk was not only CS expert level, but dealing with subject matter nowhere near the spec. It was 'wire reality' slang, and to learn it the guidance was either nowhere, or everywhere, dispersed. And this is still as it is today. To expertised AP developers their domain language sounds all natural, but it likely seems Martian to a dev newcomer.

Stark contrast to the W3C specs that leave folks with refreshing "Let's implement this" vibe.

@ben

@evan

> it's ok if you haven't heard of a REST API.

Well, you be you. I consider this a 'typical Evan remark' by now, dripping with sarcasm. It is a weird fit for someone who want to lead the #SocialCG efforts, I'd say.

Ah well. What I am talking about is architecture and design, and all the things that allow people to easily form a clear mental picture on how things fit together, wrap their head around the fediverse.

A HTTP interface is a very low-level thing, and clearly but one of the many moving parts that play a role in #ActivityPub based solution development.

Never defining this well, and having the documentation be scattered all across the fediverse in 1,001 random locations doesn't help. Meanwhile the dev talk that is going on for years remains very inefficient due to endless Babylonian speech confusion.

https://social.coop/@smallcircles/116109447243110037

@cwebber @steve

#ActivityPub, a *great start* providing the key ingredients.

#Fediverse, where things are cooked into a mush, by pragmatic though unsustainable fast-food preparation.

Recipe:

- Mash everything into #ActivityStreams
- Overload the semantic frying pan
- Sprinkle in combinatorial complexities
- Cook until too hot

Then simply keep stirring with increasing whack-a-mole maintenance burdens until project phased out.

Or become the post-facto #interoperability leader and dominate the restaurant chain.

Recipe improvement tips:

- Add #FEP spice to the mix where you can!
- Participate in #SocialCG collective cooking.

Hello @evan and @bifurcation .. a question.

For inclusion of #ActivityPub information resources on the delightful-fediverse-development curated list there is this (now expired) #IETF draft exploring #MIMI / #MLS versus AP. I find this draft to be well-written and informative, and thus the draft possibly a candidate for inclusion for people as additional background reading to the #SocialCG work on MLS. Unless there are so many changes since the creation of the draft that it may raise confusion, and should not be included. What is your opinion here?

https://ietf-wg-mimi.github.io/mimi-arch/draft-ietf-mimi-arch.html

@steve @jerger

Yes, I would highly discourage the use of "app". It is why I scare quoted it, but "app" is common language when people talk about the fediverse. "App" is a neat container concept that fits the full scope of ones own FOSS project, but on the fediverse - a growing heterogeneous and interoperable social network - one becomes highly dependent on the foundational network communication layer based on #ActivityPub, and any fedi FOSS developer should be concerned beyond direct project scope, and pay attention that this foundation evolves healthily. This unfortunately happens unsufficiently, and only a very small number of people try to get the ecosystem as a whole to higher levels, volunteering time where it does not directly benefit their own projects. Think @silverpill for the #FEP and @evan for #SocialCG.

Cool find yesterday was that @HolosSocial rather than C2S has a "full AP server" client-side, that communicates with a Websockets tunnel to a dedicated relay server.

New Social Web Working Group at W3C https://socialwebfoundation.org/2026/01/15/new-social-web-working-group-at-w3c/ #ActivityPub, #Socialcg, #Socialweb, #Socialwg, #W3c, #Workinggroup

Cool and interesting on LOLA standard: "New Social Web Working Group at W3C" - https://socialwebfoundation.org/2026/01/15/new-social-web-working-group-at-w3c/ #ActivityPub, #Socialcg, #Socialweb, #Socialwg, #W3c, #Workinggroup

New Social Web Working Group at W3C

https://socialwebfoundation.org/2026/01/15/new-social-web-working-group-at-w3c/

@hrast I've seen this passing by in #fediverse discussions many times, but always in fleety timelines.. aka lost-in-time no further #ideation lines :)

This is a good #idea to describe in more detail in the ideas inbox. Staging ground for the #FEP process and #SocialHub #ActivityPub developer community, if there are people willing to pick them up. And then in turn perhaps staging ground for further standardization by #W3C #SocialCG.

https://codeberg.org/fediverse/fediverse-ideas/issues

#SX #SocialCoding #SocialWeb