Recent searches
Search options
Administered by:
If you're creating a brand new server on the Fediverse, it's probably a good idea to use a domain or subdomain that doesn't mention the server's software.
Software projects can change over the years, either in content or leadership or maintenance, and it may be that your server will eventually end up using different software altogether. This can cause confusion for your users if your server's name mentions software that it doesn't actually run on.
Alternatively, software projects may rename themselves, leaving old names orphaned (as happened in messaging with Jabber -> XMPP).
Also, in some cases software projects trademark their names and forbid a name's use on servers running different software. This could make server software migration difficult legally.
For all these reasons, your server's long term future may be better if you use a software-neutral domain or subdomain right from the beginning.
#Fediverse #SelfHosting #FediAdmin
(Thank you to @dj3ei for suggesting this 
@feditips
Disclaimer: Remembering having read https://www.w3.org/Provider/Style/URI in the right moment doesn't make me an expert on this any more than the next person.
That said, I'd even consider whether I'd want to commit to "this is just pictures, never anything else". So maybe "artwork" or "media" or "creativity" or something of that sort?
@afranke
@feditips
I see.
Trying to learn a thing from this: Your argument assumes that the Fediverse isn't all that integrated yet, so (at this point in time) it still rather matters (to the end-user interface) whether one is talking to a peertube or a pixelfed server. Correct?
That'd establish a real conflict of interest, between what's needed now and what's desirable for a better future.
In another word: Tricky. Indeed.
@afranke
I just meant different servers need different subdomains?
It doesn't matter to the end user on another server, because federated posts will all look similar even when they are from totally different server types. BookWyrm and PeerTube posts will look similar if you're following them from Mastodon etc.
But it may matter to the users who are logging into these different servers, because they will need a URL to log in at. If the subdomains are too vague and similar, users may mix up which one is which.
It's not a big issue though, mainly an aesthetic one :)
From a usability standpoint, having the software in the subdomain isn’t a bad idea because it informs the end user, or potential end user, what client(s) they will have to use.
Going to say, misskey(dot)site(dot)win95 immediately tells a (hopefully somewhat educated) user that should they want to sign up there they will be using Misskey and will need to find a suitable client for any mobile devices they want to use.
However, social(dot)site(dot)win95 doesn’t provide that information unless they do some legwork.
@probgoblin
Yes.
But is there any reason for the legwork to involve more than pointing a browser to the domain's root path?
If there isn't, that price I'd gladly pay to buy what TBL has on offer.
Yes. It can be useful to split out subdomains. Its the naming of the subdomains we discuss, not the split itself.
For one trivial example, I use a subdomain prefix "smtp" and not "exim", even though exim is the software I'm currently running as my email server. Similarly, "www" and not "apache2". (FWIW: That apache2 is partly a reverse proxy for other stuff, and both it and that other stuff are all µServices.)
To me, a "mastodon" subdomain looks more like "exim" than like "smtp".
