So, given WP is willing to sell all its users down the river for some quick "AI" buzz, what fedi-enabled alternatives exist for human-centric websites?
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@haverholm I'm glad you asked because I was wondering the same thing. Yesterday I posted about how infuriating it was to spend hours doing normal tasks and after I finally got a blog post up, Wordpress sent me a questionnaire asking how they could improve it. I told them to get rid of AI and read Ed Zitron and Cory Doctorow. Or I suggested they offer the old non-AI version as a option. Here's something I wrote about AI:
proustsaidthat.blog/2025/05/11the-microsoft-doom-loop/@nspsegal I think there's a slash missing in your URL: https://proustsaidthat.blog/2025/05/11/the-microsoft-doom-loop/ Giving it a read now.
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@julian Could be. How far along is their fediverse implementation?
Also, do you have experience migrating large-ish sites from one to the other? Because I'm involved with one group blog that would need to have 15 years or so worth of posts and podcast series moved from an ancient WP install...
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@nspsegal I think there's a slash missing in your URL: https://proustsaidthat.blog/2025/05/11/the-microsoft-doom-loop/ Giving it a read now.
@nspsegal Not a bad piece. I try to avoid Microsoft as much as possible, but they deliver infrastructure for my day job. It has been so depressing to follow how they just forced Copilot on *their paying customers*.
Suddenly the entire educational institution has implemented guidelines and advice on how students and staff can use "AI" in their work. Not guidelines *against* it, because it has been normalised through the software the workplace provides.
See also https://www.currentaffairs.org/news/ai-is-destroying-the-university-and-learning-itself
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@nspsegal Not a bad piece. I try to avoid Microsoft as much as possible, but they deliver infrastructure for my day job. It has been so depressing to follow how they just forced Copilot on *their paying customers*.
Suddenly the entire educational institution has implemented guidelines and advice on how students and staff can use "AI" in their work. Not guidelines *against* it, because it has been normalised through the software the workplace provides.
See also https://www.currentaffairs.org/news/ai-is-destroying-the-university-and-learning-itself
@nspsegal Me, I dodge the bullet by using Linux and open source software. So far, LibreOffice hasn't drunk the "AI" kool aid.
Wordpress straying down that path is not a great sign of things to come, but I remain hopeful of a not entirely idiotic future.
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@julian @haverholm
Hubzilla is an option, too. -
@julian @haverholm
Hubzilla is an option, too. -
@haverholm @julian
It's indeed usable as CMS. There's of course not that supply of themes and fancy stuff like for WP. -
@haverholm @julian
It's indeed usable as CMS. There's of course not that supply of themes and fancy stuff like for WP. -
@haverholm @julian
I saw some amazing sites people have built on their Hubs.BTW ... what is the magic that this thread is located in the activitypub.space #nodebb forum? Didn't the conversation start with a common Mastodon post?
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@haverholm @julian
I saw some amazing sites people have built on their Hubs.BTW ... what is the magic that this thread is located in the activitypub.space #nodebb forum? Didn't the conversation start with a common Mastodon post?
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@haverholm @julian
Indeed it is. Viva La Föderation!
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@haverholm@radikal.social @morph@morphnet.de heheh yes you're looking at NodeBB, a forum that speaks ActivityPub!
It pulled in your thread because you used the ActivityPub hashtag.
It didn't get your update because I don't follow you 🥲
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@julian One thing confuses me a bit. Registration for NodeBB works just locally (with Email, Github, Google etc.) and creates a new AP handle, right? Not by use of your existing one. That's just in use by following the forums' categories.
@haverholm -
@julian One thing confuses me a bit. Registration for NodeBB works just locally (with Email, Github, Google etc.) and creates a new AP handle, right? Not by use of your existing one. That's just in use by following the forums' categories.
@haverholm@morph@morphnet.de yes that's correct, you create a new local account.
Use of your existing fedi handle is not quite available yet. Requires R&D and implementation from other software, so it's a much bigger lift.
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@julian I saw there exists a YunoHost package and of course now I want to run a node. I just have to figure out my ressources. They say it eats up to 1.5GB RAM. o.O
But won't that be much lower with the very few people on board which are to expect? Or will nodebb reserve the memory? -
@julian I saw there exists a YunoHost package and of course now I want to run a node. I just have to figure out my ressources. They say it eats up to 1.5GB RAM. o.O
But won't that be much lower with the very few people on board which are to expect? Or will nodebb reserve the memory?@morph@morphnet.de NodeBB doesn't require much memory at all. It does need maybe 1gb to build static resources.
Running it itself shouldn't need more than 500mb.
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@julian That sounds good. Thanks for the info. I think I'll install NodeBB soon, and also Mitra. I got even an idea for a use case. Well ... and a potential community of 3-4 people.
And of course thanks a lot for your fascinating project and competent work for the Open Social Web at all. Ehm ... I'm not so good in compliments.
