Hi,

Lurker refugee from reddit here. Being a network engineer, I’m somewhat tech-savvy. But I’m having a hard time getting to grips with lemmy, or I should say the fediverse. I understand that it’s a bunch of servers/instances that connect/federate with each other. I also just learned or understood why I can’t login with my user account from lemmy.world on lemm.ee. It’s like email providers :)

But I’ve got a few questions that maybe someone who knows more about lemmy and the fediverse can answer.

  • What happens to accounts, communities and posts when its instance decides it’s been a fun few months and decides to shut down?
  • Can someone register with my username on other instances, or is my username “taken” across the fediverse?
  • If so, how are spoofing and/or scams using my username but on a different instance handled?

I’m starting to understand that it’s not my data that is federated, but only links to the data in other instances. Would that be a good understanding on how the federation technically works?
All my account data is located on my “home” instance, but in turn my posts are stored on the instance where I posted or commented and linked to all other federated instances.

I could try my 2nd question myself, but I don’t like creating more accounts than what I need.

Thanks!

  • SpziEnglish
    8•1 year ago

    Hello and welcome! I’m on a similar quest, let’s share! First, what I know:

    • Can someone register with my username on other instances, or is my username “taken” across the fediverse?

    Yes, they can. We need to understand that ‘names’ include the instance here. My username is not Spzi, but @[email protected]. (Same story with communities. There are no ‘same name’ communities on multiple instances once you accept the instance is part of the full name). This identifier is unique per instance. Further, you can choose a display name, even if it conflicts with another display name from the same instance (AFAIK).

    You can register your name on other instances, to block it from being taken by others.

    • If so, how are spoofing and/or scams using my username but on a different instance handled?

    Maybe we use this platform in very different ways, but I wouldn’t worry about this too much. In contrast to mastodon, we follow topics, not people. In contrast to reddit, there is no account karma. If you still run into trouble related to spoofing and/or scams, just remember to look at the full identifier, not just parts of it.

    What happens to accounts, communities and posts when its instance decides it’s been a fun few months and decides to shut down?

    I’m not exactly sure. Please someone @notify me when someone else has a good answer.

    it’s not my data that is federated, but only links to the data in other instances. Would that be a good understanding on how the federation technically works?

    AFAIK, data is actually cloned in the process of federation. Edits and deletes are propagated. Each instance holds a local copy. Threads can have differences when viewed from different instances.

    This post and subsequent comment was gold for me to learn more about it: https://lemmy.world/comment/205763

    • @durd_OPEnglish
      2•1 year ago

      Thanks for the informative comment!

      I apologize, I wasn’t entirely clear in my first two questions. They adhere to background checks for work. I’ll obviously have to spell out my whole username with @lemmy.world. But if someone who isn’t as well versed would find multiple durd_s and many have posted or commented something that wouldn’t be in good taste, this isn’t good for me.
      I’m not sure if I’d be allowed to explain what the fediverse is and how it works.

      Registering my username on other instances is possible, but not very feasible as there are quite a few instances already, and I venture that more are created by the hour.

      • SpziEnglish
        2•1 year ago

        Oh, I see. I guess, similar to email, you have to trust that people can tell the difference between durd_@yourmail.com and durd_@othermail.scam.

        You could also make it clear at work what your Lemmy account is, and that other accounts with possibly similar names aren’t yours. I guess that’s not feasible or wanted.

        Or you could choose to use a completely different name on Lemmy.

  • minnixEnglish
    5•1 year ago

    1. They go bye bye. See all the Mastodon closures. Although Mastodon has account migration, not sure about Lemmy.

    2. Yes and No. They can be @durd_ but they cannot be @[email protected].

    3. See 2.

    • Lucid5603English
      4•1 year ago

      Migration is something planned and in the works iirc

      • MuddybulldogEnglish
        3•1 year ago

        Pretty sure it was in the list of “if you want this anytime soon you better start coding it”.

      • @durd_OPEnglish
        2•1 year ago

        This is good, but requires my home instance to be alive while I migrate.

      • @[email protected]English
        1•1 year ago

        Migration of list of subscribed communities is in the works/almost ready, but migration of comments and updoots is still far away.

    • @durd_OPEnglish
      2•1 year ago

      Thanks, I remember when everyone was leaving Twitter for Mastodon. I couldn’t understand why all the different servers and what they had to do with anything. I do understand more now obviously.

      Is federation automatic or do I have to apply to each instance? I’m thinking I could self host and only rely on my own eptitude and internet connection.

      • @[email protected]English
        2•1 year ago

        Kind of both. You get to decide who you federate with but deciding who ferdarates with you is opt out. By default your server doesn’t know any other server. But you can search for communities on other instances by taking the url of the community on the other instance and entering it into the search field. This way the other server gets indexed by your server and after that federation is automatic

  • Rikudou_SageEnglish
    3•1 year ago

    Your data is federated as well, not only links, but your home instance is the only true copy and instructs other servers what they should do with your data. Which leads me to believe your posts and comments might not be gone when an instance shuts down. But your ability to login with your account is definitely gone.

    • @durd_OPEnglish
      2•1 year ago

      Heh, conflicting information now from what @[email protected] said :)
      If my data is federated as well, why not also my login information? Allowing me to login on any instance I want with my regular user. Assuming that my home instance has instructed other instances (and they allow it?) to do so.

      This would make me, and I’m sure more users, at ease with using closer, smaller, less popular and probably faster instances.

      • Rikudou_SageEnglish
        1•1 year ago

        Because your login information is not content, the ActivityPub protocol that’s used for federation synchronizes content. If federation of login information would be possible, I could just create an instance, let it synchronize, and have everyone’s login data (with hashed passwords, but it’s much easier to crack locally stored passwords than on an online service). Also your pictures aren’t federated, that’s (probably) not to overwhelm other instances with huge amounts of data.