Re: Proposal to add the ActivityPub WordPress extension to the W3C Community site


Hey Ian,

I am Matthias Pfefferle, one of the Maintainer of the ActivityPub plugin and happy to answer all your questions.

The Plugin has the main focus on publishing, that means it is build to distribute all new posts to the fediverse, but has no options to subscribe to other fediverse users (yet). But the plugin provides an Inbox, to receive replies to posts, to show them as comments to the initial post. With the next version it also provides the possibility to answer to these comments directly in the blog.

RE: DOS

Because of your DOS concerns: ActivityPub itself is a very noisy/chatty protocol, so depending on the number of followers, a new post could cause an increase of traffic: https://ar.al/2022/11/09/is-the-fediverse-about-to-get-fryed-or-why-every-toot-is-also-a-potential-denial-of-service-attack/

I am currently running the plugin on my blog in a shared hosting environment without traffic issue so far.

RE: Spam

Because the plugin allows comments from external sources, there might be an increased risk of spam, but the ActivityPub plugin uses the build in moderation system of WordPress and messages will be checked by sam plugins if one is used (for example Antispam-Bee or Akismet).

You can find some more informations in the GitHub repo: https://github.com/Automattic/wordpress-activitypub/blob/master/FEDERATION.md

Matthias

> Can you say more about what capabilities these plugins enable? (I am new to these protocols; I hope to quickly understand
> the implications and appreciate your patience.) 
> 
> I hope to understand in particular what sort of “inputs” these would allow that might create DOS or spam risks. Do the plugins merely
> distribute posts from the CG’s WordPress instance to other fora? Or do they create new “write” opportunities to w3.org <http://w3.org/>?
> 
> Thanks!
> 
> Ian
> 
> 
>> On Dec 19, 2023, at 1:41 PM, James <jamesg@jamesg.blog> wrote:
>> 
>> I could see having this on the SocialCG as a good starting point so we can all experiment with the integration and start documenting how others can use it! Perhaps such a process would render feedback that helps inform a broader rollout.
>> 
>> I'd encourage others' perspectives, too!
>> 
>> James
>> 
>> 
>> On Tuesday, 19 December 2023 at 19:37, Ian Jacobs <ij@w3.org> wrote:
>> 
>> 
>>> Hi
>> 
>>> James
>> 
>>> ,
>> 
>>> Quick question: is your request to enable these plugins just for the SocialCG or for all CGs?
>> 
>>> Once I have a better understanding of the request, I’ll check with the Systems Team.
>> 
>>> Thanks!
>> 
>>> Ian
>> 
>>>> On Dec 19, 2023, at 1:26 PM, James jamesg@jamesg.blog wrote:
>> 
>>>> Hello there,
>> 
>>>> We have a proposal from a member of the SocialCG to add the ActivityPub WordPress extension (officially maintained by Automattic) to the W3C Community site. What is the process for exploring this further?
>> 
>>>> Given the W3C incubated ActivityPub, it makes sense for us to be using our own technologies to enable communication between the community and the W3C Community property.
>> 
>>>> I would extend this further to ask if we could add the Webmention extension, too, another product of the former SocialWG with dozens of interoperable implementations and active use. The Webmention extension is co-maintained by the lead maintainer of the ActivityPub WordPress extension, with active community support and usage.
>> 
>>>> Resources:
>> 
>>>> - ActivityPub plugin: https://wordpress.org/plugins/activitypub/
>>>> - Webmention plugin: https://en-gb.wordpress.org/plugins/webmention/
>> 
>>>> Thanks
>>>> James<publickey - jamesg@jamesg.blog - 0xC06B40B5.asc>
>> 
>> 
>> 
>>> --
>>> Ian Jacobs ij@w3.org
>> 
>>> https://www.w3.org/People/Jacobs/
>>> Tel: +1 917 450 8783
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> <publickey - jamesg@jamesg.blog - 0xC06B40B5.asc>
> 
> --
> Ian Jacobs <ij@w3.org>
> https://www.w3.org/People/Jacobs/
> Tel: +1 917 450 8783