ArtBear on Catodon 
(@ArtBear@catodon.social)
Föderation · Fr 09.08.2024 01:59:07
@monkeyninja @paninid
I've seen conversations around #blackMastodon & development for the couple years since I've been here. I have not commented before. I have wondered if there has been any attempt to fundraise for some additional Dev time to fix or fork features that would assist? Eg reply limiting? If that's not practical on #Mastodon, would this be on possible another of the Fedi's many platforms? (I've used non-Mastodon quote posts for years for example).
Apologies in advance if this post adds nothing of value to the conversation.
Luke Kanies (@lkanies@hachyderm.io)
Föderation EN Fr 09.08.2024 05:31:40
@ArtBear @monkeyninja @paninid I asked the mastodon cto if I could do exactly that, and he basically said no. Merging code requires their time, and he would not provide that time, and would definitely not look at any large commits that were not discussed with them first
ArtBear on Catodon (@ArtBear@catodon.social)
Föderation · Fr 09.08.2024 07:01:30
@lkanies @monkeyninja @paninid
I'm sorry to hear that. Other things get built in the Fedi. Mastodon brought millions of users. Which is amazing. Maybe something new in future brings tens of millions.
Renaud Chaput (@renchap@oisaur.com)
Föderation EN Fr 09.08.2024 08:51:08
@lkanies this is not exactly whar I said. If someone comes wanting to implement such a feature, discusses with us about requirements and what needs to be done, then has a working implementation, we will be very happy and make our best to ensure they can work on it and it gets merged.
But if someone sends a huge PR without prior discussion, we will probably not be able to look at it
@ArtBear @monkeyninja @paninid
Renaud Chaput (@renchap@oisaur.com)
Föderation EN Fr 09.08.2024 08:54:37
@lkanies on the specific topic of reply control, the first step would be to work on a specification for the ActivityPub part. Some people tried (even one of our core developers, see https://socialhub.activitypub.rocks/t/fep-5624-per-object-reply-control-policies/2723?page=2) but discussions died off. GoToSocial recently published something (but not an FEP) and we need to find time to study it and provide comments.
Thats a complex feature in a federated network, so this step is critical so it can get implemented in all fedi software
@ArtBear @monkeyninja @paninid
Luke Kanies (@lkanies@hachyderm.io)
Föderation EN Fr 09.08.2024 10:18:46
@renchap I have scanned some discussions, but have no other familiarity with either ActivityPub or Mastodon internals.
Is there no mechanism for Mastodon to add this feature without it being part of ActivityPub? At least one commentator on that thread indicates they have already implemented it (if not to this spec), so I assume it is possible in mastodon, too.
Is there discussion on Mastodon’s lists, explaining why it must go through ActivityPub?
Renaud Chaput (@renchap@oisaur.com)
Föderation EN Fr 09.08.2024 10:26:32
@lkanies If this is only implemented in Mastodon, then it would be local to your server. So you could prevent people to reply, but everyone except the users on the same server as you would see the replies, which is not good.
For such a feature to be effective, you need most of the software/servers to implement it. Yes, bad actors could patch the code, ignore this, and keep replying, but such a server would quickly be blocked as not behaving correctly.
Luke Kanies (@lkanies@hachyderm.io)
Föderation EN Fr 09.08.2024 09:15:56
@renchap @ArtBear @monkeyninja @paninid I did worry about trying to paraphrase.
But… you present a daunting, abstract barrier to anyone except your team doing important work. I cannot imagine anyone reading your responses to me and feeling anything but discouragement. And indeed, when I see others discuss improving Mastodon in ways your team does not prioritize, I see only despair. And the despair is about people and process, never technology.
How should I describe that?
Renaud Chaput (@renchap@oisaur.com)
Föderation EN Fr 09.08.2024 10:29:39
@lkanies I am sorry if that makes you feel this way. Big features like the one mentioned above are hard and will require months of work, there is no way around it. This is why we think we need to have full-time people working on the project so they can achieve this.
We most probably need to communicate better around this, and are working on it.
Renaud Chaput (@renchap@oisaur.com)
Föderation EN Fr 09.08.2024 10:33:44
@lkanies This is also why I wrote https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon/issues/30167, which links to a list of issues that should be doable by an individual developer, with some knowledge in Rails and/or frontend development. I am trying to point people to things that are both often requested, and for which we know the scope and checked that they will not cause issues.
This is also why I am spending time every month to write our Trunk & Tidbits blog posts, to showcase some contributions.
Noah Krohn 
(@monkeyninja@mastodon.cloud)
Föderation EN Fr 09.08.2024 15:46:25
@lkanies @ArtBear @paninid Honestly I'm just glad my comment sparked such a discussion, this is great. If nothing else comes of it, I at least feel I've learned something and I feel I understand the barriers a bit better. I don't think they're insurmountable but I clearly was missing some key facts to give me a full picture so thank you for chiming in @renchap. I haven't written in Rails in years but maybe it's time for me to update my skills a bit and see if I can help at all.
Luke Kanies (@lkanies@hachyderm.io)
Föderation EN Fr 09.08.2024 18:38:14
@renchap that kind of “getting started” work is always important to have, and I’m glad it’s there. But it’s more helpful for people who generically want to get involved, rather than people who have a specific goal they want to accomplish.
Remember my original question — if we came up with sponsorship money for safety work, could we be confident it would be accepted?
This kind of list is a different direction from that.