The WordPress ActivityPub plugin has been updated to version 2.0. The major feature of the release is better comment federation. Comments are now properly threaded, which makes it much easier to follow and understand threads where people are replying to each other. Comments are now also bidirectionally federated. Creator @pfefferleexplains:
“When you respond to comments from the fediverse on your blog, they will now be federated. This allows you to finally engage in (threaded) communication back and forth directly from the comment section of your blog!”
This makes the plugin more valuable for bloggers who do not have another fediverse account for example, allowing them to respond directly from the blog, with their responses now showing up in the fediverse as well.
Comments made by people who use the reply feature on the website itself do not get federated. Pfefferle explains that this is mainly a legal question for GDPR compliance. Work is still continuing on the plugin: Pfefferle mentions working with the Akismet team to make sure that it’s spam detection system also works with ActivityPub, as well as working on a Profile Editor UI.
@LaurensHof Concerning federation of WP-user comments, the idea that "this is mainly a legal question for GDPR compliance" bothers me. It should be more than that.
Like it not, federation is the obsession of a tiny crazy minority. "Normal" people expect their comments to stay where they put them, and "copying" is something only nefarious bad actors do. I've seen several people who, when they first see their comments spread over federation, don't say "oh cool", they get seriously angry.
We can and should change expectations, and we should raise awareness that the big commercial sites don't behave that way either. But that will take many years. You have to bring users in at a speed they are comfortable with. Critically, we also need to give casual users the tools to control where their posts go. Those tools are completely absent right now.
IMO the current WP-AP implementation is doing exactly the right thing. It does federate WP comments from users with accounts, who presumably are plugged-in enough to notice an announcement by the blog owner. Casual users won't have an account and won't expect federation. They're the ones who will be angry, who will start accusing random sites of "scraping" their comment. This version bypasses that drama by just... not.
The next step could be to allow federation of account-less comments, with a disclaimer and a consent box. Presumably that would also be GDPR-compliant. I would suggest being very cautious about that design.
Meanwhile though, there's a narrative that GDPR is a failed attempt by politicians to enslave the free Internet with endless bureaucratic hurdles. Everyone hates those massive popups. Everyone hates talking to lawyers. And no doubt the GDPR is flawed.
But everything people on the Fediverse complain about, happens because our elected representatives abdicated all responsibility to just do their damn jobs. The GDPR is the first serious attempt to establish the principle that yes, democracy trumps technology. Sure, the first attempt was pretty crap. But here it seems to be working. A developer thinks not "oh cool I could implement this feature", he thinks "I could implement this feature, but I'm not sure it's legal, I'll check first".
As time goes on, the costs and limitations of federation/decentralisation will come into focus more.
Some will realise that they cared more about FOSS and community driven social media rather than federation. Others may realise that features they desire from social media are prohibitively difficult/fraught.
That having separate instances doesn't necessarily make for better social media?
And of course your points and the privacy situation in general.
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