le sigh another bandcamp friday coming there goes a paycheck

it was a long day but a very very very satisfying one…!

the explosion of new fediverse servers is exciting, but it also means entertaining new bugs. i just noticed that epiktistes stored its first ever empty hashtag (just a #) on sept 16th, which means we operated for over six years until some new server federated that (naming no names, assigning no blame...)

the only part of a research project that makes me unhappy is when i've only just started and early indicators are already telling me where it's going to end...

v3.14.0 ("question authority") is the end of a long road.

The goal was pluggable, algorithmic feeds. "Pluggable" because I want to drop a script into a directory to add a new algorithm—not recompile the server. "Algorithmic" because I want predictable, fine-grained control over what I see and how it's organized.

I've been working on this feature, across releases, for almost four months. A recent thread gave me the motivation to just get it done!

The discussion in that thread also shaped the result: algorithmic feeds ships with four example algorithms (called "judges") that demonstrate what's possible:

• quiet_posters shows posts from the people you follow whose posting frequency is in the bottom 25%
• long_reads groups posts over 500 characters
• community groups posts from threadiverse servers (Lemmy, PieFed, etc.)
• polls puts all polls in one feed

One interesting implementation decision: the exchange format between server and judge is an SQLite database holding the batch of posts to be judged. Rather than rolling a custom data exchange format, you get a well-tested file format that brings schema support, serialization/deserialization, and a query language nearly for free.

Here is the full set of changes in this release:

Added

• Algorithmic feeds, judged by executables in etc/judges.
• Accept community-relayed votes authorized by the object's audience.
• Include the linked SQLite3 version and its features in NodeInfo.

Fixed

• Pick up a remote actor's rotated public key.
• Don't save actors embedded in community-relayed activities.
• Ignore community-relayed and directly delivered activities attributed to a local actor.
• Reload an actor's page only when that actor's Refresh button is pressed.
• Hide the Refresh button on a local actor's panel.
• Fall back to the default avatar when a refreshed icon fails to load.
• Enable icon repair on actor panels and actor cards.
• Keep the no-replies timeline queries on the timeline index.

Changed

• Judge feed posts in the background instead of in the request.
• Reconcile each key once when an actor is blocked or unblocked.

#ktistec #crystallang #activitypub #fediverse

i find myself wondering, what php might i have running somewhere that i've forgotten about...

when an LLM tells me the value of BB(6), then I’ll be impressed…!