Chee Aun 🤔

I've been wrestling with implementing #multilingual content support in Hackers' Pub, our #ActivityPub-powered platform for software engineers.

While ActivityPub theoretically supports multilingual content through the contentMap property, the reality is that most server implementations (Mastodon, Misskey, etc.) don't properly handle this content as of April 2025. This creates a significant challenge for us.

We want our users to share their knowledge in multiple languages, but we need to ensure compatibility with existing ActivityPub servers. I'm considering several approaches:

1. Creating separate posts for each language with clear language indicators, linking them through inReplyTo relationships (so translations appear as replies to the original post)


2. Using the primary language in content while storing translations in contentMap


3. Adding "View in other languages" links at the bottom of each post


4. Implementing inline language dividers that degrade gracefully on non-supporting servers, for example:

   <div lang="en">
     <h3>English</h3>
     <p>This is the English content…</p>
   </div>
   <hr>
   <div lang="ko">
     <h3>한국어</h3>
     <p>한국어 내용입니다…</p>
   </div>

   
   

I'm leaning toward a hybrid approach—showing content in the user's preferred language when possible while providing easy access to other language versions.

Has anyone tackled this problem effectively? I'd love to hear about your experiences or ideas for making multilingual content work well in the fediverse, especially when dealing with server implementations that don't fully support ActivityPub's multilingual features.

#fedidev #federation #i18n

Sharing some professional news: I've joined Mastodon full-time as Head of Communications! After freelancing with the project since 2023, I'm excited to bring my experience in open source and community to help tell the story of the Fediverse. Read more on my blog.

https://andypiper.co.uk/2025/04/15/communicating-changes/?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=jetpack_social

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🆕 blog! “You don't need an API key to archive Twitter Data”

Apparently there's no need for IP laws any more, so here's a way to archive high-fidelity Twitter data without signing up for an expensive API key.

This is perfect for academics wishing to preserve Tweets, journalists wanting to download evidence, or simply embedding content without leaking user data…

👀 Read more: https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2025/04/you-dont-need-an-api-key-to-archive-twitter-data/
⸻
#api #HowTo #twitter

Pushed a ton of changes to https://www.mastoreqs.com that should make it less of an eye chart and much easier to navigate, especially on mobile.

Dependencies are broken out into multiple matrices, notes are color coded, there is also a quick navigation bar on the side to jump directly to particular components.

Enjoy. Also, upgrade your shit #MastoAdmin.

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