Re: A native internet protocol for social media

Melvin wrote:

> Pub/Sub is indeed a valuable technology. However, in today's context, one
> might consider utilizing websockets to some extent as an alternative.

WebSockets <https://websockets.spec.whatwg.org/> is not an "alternative" to
PubSub, it is a method that enables PubSub to be done more cheaply, and to
be done in situations where it otherwise wouldn't be possible (i.e. where
the message recipient wasn't able to present a globally visible sink for
published messages, such as a server). Without application protocol
changes, a protocol that relies on polling over HTTP would simply become a
protocol that relies on polling over WebSockets. Given that ActivityPub
defines a polling protocol, the use of WebSockets would be only part of a
solution. ActivityPub would need to be extended to define its behavior over
persistent connections.

I agree that, in many cases, a WebSockets interface to WebSub would, in
fact, be a good thing. But, we still need the publish/subscribe patterns
that WebSub defines in order to fully exploit WebSockets. Also, we'd need
to remember that while WebSockets enables persistent connections, such
connections are not always possible since not all clients are able to
maintain persistent connections (due to connectivity loss, etc.).

bob wyman