Date: Wed, 22 Mar 2023 00:25:38 +0100
From: Jiri Vlasak <jiri.hubacek@gmail.com>
To: risturiz@gusl.org
Cc: ~qeef/damn-project@lists.sr.ht
Subject: Re: Fediverse?
Message-ID: <ZBo88u4zQzjKiO2n@gmail.com>
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First of all, thank you for the ideas. These are things that keep me
motivated.

Also, please note, that requests from mappers and communities have the
highest priority, but it is important to understand what they _really_
need.

I will quickly summarize my understanding of the Fediverse, write note
about the relation to the damn project, and discuss the proposed ideas.

Fediverse, in my (short) opinion, is how content can be shared between
people using different servers. Like email.

There are two types of content created by using the damn project: areas
and commits, both being temporal; it is not possible to create anything
else (think about the mastodon instance where only 'e' letter is allowed
to be tooted). Content that matters is created by updating the
OpenStreetMap.

The discussion follows.

> - If DAMN join "federation" could bring more attention? Maybe... (
> https://fediverse.party/ | https://fediverse.info/ |
> https://www.fediverse.to/ )

Probably yes, but it is not a priority for the damn project.

> - I see some advantage when you have "two way sync"... This create community
> around the platform ( bots, retoot, stats, notifications )

I am not sure we should be aiming to create a community. The damn
project should primarily serve (different, already existing)
communities, improving the workflows of mappers, reviewers, and (area)
managers.

> - You can monitor with RSS but you cant give feedback ( like have your
> federate account to interact with other people working in your area )

Because the content that matters is created by updating the
OpenStreetMap (OSM), the OSM infrastructure should be used, i.e. OSM
messages and changeset discussions.

> - Best way to advertise the working areas? ( Some fediverse spam could help
> here... With RSS is possible, with some bridge and glue i think )

I believe the areas you care about should be shared within your
community using a communication channel the community preffers.
Advertising areas, managing areas, or work on areas cannot be the
responsibility of the damn project. However, the damn project should
simplify the workflow you use to advertise, manage, or work on areas as
much as possible.

> - Reminders!! Yes, i need a lot of them xD ... ( The Area 2443 of DAMN is
> going to close for inactivity... Thanks Mastodon! )

I agree. That is good idea. I will add "inactive status" to every area's
RSS feed. What is the preffered time of the notification? Day? Week?

I believe there are already solutions for "RSS to ActivityPub/Mastodon"
if that is desired. Maybe it would be even better if such a bot is set
per community, because it would probably be easier to set the bot to
follow certain RSS feeds than to filter the bot's toots.

> - Sometimes real-time notifications are good :-) ... ( Remote
> Notathon/Mapathon with people working directly on area... Like auto update
> notes area recently added )

I totally agree and I do not hesitate when I am not in doubts. For the
example mentioned, the workflow (even potential) is clear. The workflow
for notifications about inactive status of the area is clear, too.

I believe that before we start implementing something, we need such
clear specification of the problem.

> I'm federation advocate, certainly i don't know if this would change the
> game with damn... But i want to give some ideas.

Thank you!