feditips,
@feditips@mstdn.social avatar

Okay, big news for everyone with a WordPress blog, including people with a free blog on wordpress.com!

You can now turn any WordPress blog into a Fediverse server which can be followed from Mastodon etc.

I've updated the instructions on how to do this at:

➡️ https://fedi.tips/wordpress-turning-your-blog-into-a-fediverse-server/

Just to repeat, this is now available to ALL WordPress blogs including free tier ones. The free tier has slightly different instructions, but effect is same.

(via https://wordpress.com/blog/2023/10/11/activitypub/)

scott,
@scott@tams.tech avatar

@feditips I followed those instructions and still nothing is showing up in the search for either the blog or me as an author.

Any tips?

#MastoAdmin

feditips,
@feditips@mstdn.social avatar

@scott

At least one person on your server has to be following the account for it to show up in searches on your server.

Did you try pasting the full Fediverse account address of your blog into the search box on Mastodon?

scott,
@scott@tams.tech avatar
feditips,
@feditips@mstdn.social avatar

@scott

Ah, I think that's the web address. Fediverse addresses look something like this:

@ user @ server

I just tried @ workers @ nomugsnomasters.com (but without the spaces) and it didn't show anything so it sounds like that isn't the blog's Fedi address?

scott,
@scott@tams.tech avatar
feditips,
@feditips@mstdn.social avatar

@scott

Hmm... that's definitely the address, yeah!

Have you tried installing the webfinger plugin? (mentioned in instructions) That has sometimes helped?

scott,
@scott@tams.tech avatar

@feditips yes I installed that first... wait a second... maybe if I uninstall and reinstall so that it gets installed AFTER the ActivityPub plugin? 🤔 nope, that didn't fix it 😞

feditips,
@feditips@mstdn.social avatar

@scott

For what it's worth, there are some blogs which have had problems despite doing everything correctly.

Apparently hosting companies' policies have sometimes prevented this plugin from working?

You might want to check if anyone can help on the plugin's support forum at https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/activitypub/

Sorry I can't be of more help... 😟

scott,
@scott@tams.tech avatar

@feditips that's okay! Thank you for pointing me to the forum. I am also suspecting the hosting provider could be the issue. Thanks for taking the time to give me a sanity check and all you do for the fediverse 🙂

feditips,
@feditips@mstdn.social avatar

@scott

Aww, cheers! 👍

Good luck with this issue!

hischeekiness,

@feditips This will be of interest @themself

petrescatraian,

@feditips it works. I tried it with my now-defunct @lataclaleblog.wordpress.com@lataclaleblog.wordpress.com

benny,
@benny@kirche.social avatar

deleted_by_author

  • Loading...
  • feditips,
    @feditips@mstdn.social avatar

    @benny

    I've had mixed reports on whether the comments are supposed to go in the other direction, I'm going to do some experiments and then do a new post about it.

    Leisureguy,

    @feditips Correct procedure for Wordpress.com:

    1. From dashboard, Tools → Marketing → Connections (in menu on the page)

    2. Click the Connect button next to Mastodon.

    3. In the new window that opens:

    a. Sign in to your Mastodon account.
    b. Approve the connection to WordPress.com by selecting Authorize.

    1. After returning to WordPress.com, another pop-up window will confirm the account you want to connect to. Select Connect.

    The instructions you offer don't work.

    feditips,
    @feditips@mstdn.social avatar

    @Leisureguy

    No, that's not this feature.

    This is not about linking a Mastodon account.

    The account this feature creates is on WordPress itself, no linking at all.

    jupiter_rowland,

    @Fedi.Tips @Matthias Pfefferle Good news so far: #WordPress blogs connect to #Hubzilla via #ActivityPub with no apparent problem. Time will tell how blog posts arrive here.

    Yes, Hubzilla has also got an optional WordPress app, but that's for posting to a WordPress blog. I shouldn't try to do that with other people's blogs. But until now, the only way to follow a WordPress blog was via #RSS or #Atom.

    This also means that #Streams users can follow WordPress blogs again. (streams) had its RSS connector removed a while ago.

    Powerfromspace1,
    @Powerfromspace1@mstdn.social avatar

    @feditips 👏👏👏

    housepanther,

    @feditips While cool that we have another #ActivityPub platform, I'm no fan of #wordpress. #Ghost does much better as a publishing platform. Maybe the #ghostdevs will consider ActivityPub #integration. Until then, I can always include links in my toots.

    feditips,
    @feditips@mstdn.social avatar

    @housepanther

    It is an open standard so there's nothing to stop other blogging platforms from including ActivityPub.

    Hopefully ActivityPub becomes a standard option on blogs the same way RSS did.

    ShittyKopper,

    @feditips @housepanther

    Hopefully ActivityPub becomes a standard option on blogs the same way RSS did.

    ActivityPub is way too complex compared to RSS to be as ubiquitous. Anybody with a vaguely template engine shaped tool (hell, static site generators even) can create an RSS/Atom feed while ActivityPub effectively requires a backend server that's running near constantly / every X minutes (with permanent writable storage) for anything that's not a toy example for a quick blogpost.

    Following an RSS feed is "just download this file every few hours and check if there's any new changes to it on your end". AP can't get that simple no matter how much you try (before it stops being widely compatible* AP, of course)

    *: some AP projects may support outboxes, but none of the major ones like masto do afaik.

    feditips,
    @feditips@mstdn.social avatar

    @ShittyKopper @housepanther

    Fair enough, but just in terms of being an option on the blogging software? As in plugins etc?

    beforewisdom,

    @feditips

    How can you tell if you need the second plugin?

    Do you need to make a new post for your blog to show up in a Mastodon search?

    Do you need to wait ( how long? ) for your blog to show up in a Mastodon search?

    feditips, (edited )
    @feditips@mstdn.social avatar

    @beforewisdom

    Do you mean the Webfinger plugin?

    I'm not completely sure on how necessary it is, I am not a developer. Sorry 😞

    Accounts only show up on Mastodon searches if someone on your server is following them, or if they have been interacted with in certain ways by someone on your server.

    It's good idea to tell people on Mastodon etc the blog's Fediverse address and encourage them to follow the blog. Remember to include @ at the beginning of the address so it is clickable.

    BeefGriller,
    @BeefGriller@dice.camp avatar

    @feditips This almost makes me want to start blogging again.

    Uh-oh.

    KhunKai,

    @feditips

    So where do I actually put this copied address. I found on my wordpress blog.....
    khunkai.org@khunkai.org

    ??

    feditips,
    @feditips@mstdn.social avatar

    @KhunKai

    Put it in the search box on Mastodon and the account's profile will appear.

    Or if you include @ at the start you can mention it in posts and people will be able to click on it there.

    For example try clicking on @khunkai.org@khunkai.org and you'll see your blog's profile, which you can follow.

    KhunKai,

    @feditips @khunkai.org@khunkai.org

    Thank you
    🙂

    irina,
    @irina@wandering.shop avatar

    @feditips I must have done something wrong because I can't get it working! I have the ActivityPub plugin but it doesn't generate a feed, just irrelevant search results (I called the feed blog@valdyas.org and it gives all mastodon posts with "blog" somewhere in the text). Help?

    feditips,
    @feditips@mstdn.social avatar

    @irina

    Did you follow all the steps in the link?

    irina,
    @irina@wandering.shop avatar

    @feditips Yes, even installed WebFinger now, but it still does the same thing.

    feditips,
    @feditips@mstdn.social avatar

    @irina

    When you go to Settings > ActivityPub > Settings what is the account address shown for "blog profile ID"?

    Is this what you tried to edit? Did you click "save changes" after editing it?

    irina,
    @irina@wandering.shop avatar

    Username is "blog@valdyas.org" (which gives all the mastodon posts with "blog" somewhere in the text) and profile URL is https://valdyas.org/irina/fo3/@blog (which gives no results at all). Yes, I did click "save changes". I edited it in the "settings" page, and it showed up in the "welcome" page like this.

    feditips, (edited )
    @feditips@mstdn.social avatar

    @irina

    Hmm... couple of things to try:

    -Try the address of an author's account on your blog rather than the blog's main address. You'll find these in ActivityPub settings main page and in the Users section at the bottom of the page. Sometimes the author address works better than the main one.

    -Try it later, perhaps it takes a while for the federation to kick in

    Normally I'd ask the developer @pfefferle if he has any ideas but I think he's a bit overwhelmed at the moment!

    irina,
    @irina@wandering.shop avatar

    @feditips @pfefferle There's only me writing on this blog so the author address would do the same thing. Will try that if waiting until it federates doesn't work, thanks!

    feditips,
    @feditips@mstdn.social avatar

    @irina @pfefferle

    Even if you have just one account, there will be two separate addresses for the account and the blog as a whole.

    It might be that one account works better than the other, so it's worth trying both?

    irina,
    @irina@wandering.shop avatar

    @feditips Off for dinner now but if you say something here I'll see it later.

    dn_mason,
    @dn_mason@mas.to avatar

    saw this and thought of you @raphavisses

    bitpickup,

    @feditips

    Hi, just read you piece about the #wordpress #fediVers conector via #activityPub by @pfefferle and automattic.
    I like it and first of all that it exists but it's important in the introduction to point out the limitations.

    From the fediverse I'm used to real interaction and from what I could see/test there is no two way communication possible.

    The fediVerse can comment on blogs but the blog response isn't federated into the fediVers and that contact.

    Is that still the case?
    #WP

    FinchHaven,
    @FinchHaven@sfba.social avatar

    @bitpickup

    That #wordpress is the new feature that is going to save #Mastodon and the #Fediverse is the lastest hot-techy-take

    So far all I've seen is:

    1. people talking about how their blog is now "on" Mastodon -- but with only words

    2. people talking about how their blog is now "on" Mastodon and posting a link that is no different than any link to any web site anywhere

    3. a very few people talking about how their blog is now "on" Mastodon and posting a link that takes me to their blog, where I can read but cannot comment because it's not connected back to Mastodon in any way except by my 'back' arrow

    I've seen one case where apparently I could comment but I did not -- mostly because the content was pretty uninteresting

    So there's a long, long way to go before Wordpress "saves" Mastodon, to put it mildly

    IMOO, of course

    YMMV...

    cc @feditips @pfefferle

    feditips,
    @feditips@mstdn.social avatar

    @FinchHaven @bitpickup @pfefferle

    This is not Mastodon's project, it's not made by anyone connected to Mastodon, nor is it designed to "save" Mastodon.

    This is an independent Fediverse platform which is compatible with many other Fediverse platforms including Mastodon.

    These aren't VC startups trying to build up hype machines ready for the stock markets, these are FOSS projects patiently improving their functionality over years with the help of volunteers and donors.

    FinchHaven,
    @FinchHaven@sfba.social avatar

    @feditips

    "These aren't VC startups trying to build up hype machines ready for the stock markets, these are FOSS projects patiently improving their functionality over years."

    Wow

    Apparently you've missed the hype I've seen

    Or you're following the wrong hashtags

    Or you have an entirely different definition of 'hype'

    cc @bitpickup @pfefferle

    feditips, (edited )
    @feditips@mstdn.social avatar

    @FinchHaven @bitpickup @pfefferle

    I don't follow hype, I follow the actual platforms themselves.

    I don't care about "hot takes", I care about the Fediverse.

    Hype cycles are meaningless, especially about the Fediverse. There were articles in 2017 talking about how Mastodon was already dead, then 2022 how it was the hot new thing. None of it makes any sense.

    mjgardner,
    @mjgardner@social.sdf.org avatar

    @FinchHaven @bitpickup @feditips @pfefferle Does #Mastodon need or want to be “saved”—and from what?

    not2b,
    @not2b@sfba.social avatar

    @feditips Hey @TomSullivan , can you see if you can talk Digby into doing this? Her blog is a WordPress blog. Thanks. See the post I am replying to.

    mastodonmigration, (edited )
    @mastodonmigration@mastodon.online avatar

    @feditips

    If you are new to WordPress and want a detailed step by step tutorial on how to do this here is a post on How to Create a WordPress blog attached to the Fediverse >>> https://mastodon.online/@mastodonmigration/111226301710143871

    To see how this all works follow @mastodonmigration.wordpress.com@mastodonmigration.wordpress.com to see all new posts from this new Mastodon Migration Blog >>> https://mastodonmigration.wordpress.com/

    Note: You will only see new posts from the blog here.

    #WordPress

    rscottjones,
    @rscottjones@mastodon.social avatar

    @feditips so replies to posts are logged as comments on wp. What happens with replies (on wp) to those comments? Does the commenter see the reply their own fedi feed?

    feditips,
    @feditips@mstdn.social avatar

    @rscottjones

    I'm not sure... I would assume they will see it as replies?

    Would be interested to hear!

    oraculix,
    @oraculix@ieji.de avatar

    @feditips @rscottjones
    I tested this on my free tier WordPress.com blog: comments on the WordPress side do not get federated. Commenters on WordPress.com and Mastodon thus cannot interact.
    Suboptimal, but still better than nothing.

    feditips,
    @feditips@mstdn.social avatar

    @oraculix @rscottjones

    Interesting, thanks for info.

    How do you have comments set on your blog, is it possible that setting is affecting it somehow?

    oraculix,
    @oraculix@ieji.de avatar

    @feditips @rscottjones
    I'm not aware of any setting that would affect comments going out of WordPress. Especially not my own comments.

    All that's coming in needs my approval, but that shouldn't affect what's going out.

    feditips,
    @feditips@mstdn.social avatar

    @oraculix @rscottjones

    Ahh, okay, yup. Yeah, that's not great but hopefully it is improved in the future.

    I wonder if the Friends plugin affects that behaviour?

    _L1vY_,
    @_L1vY_@mstdn.social avatar

    @feditips Shoot I'm going to have to do this with my work blog aren't I

    weirdwriter,

    deleted_by_author

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  • feditips,
    @feditips@mstdn.social avatar

    @weirdwriter @socialaudiodescription.com@socialaudiodescription.com

    Good point.

    I am not sure, but will take a look and update the article if I find out.

    Will reply again when I know more.

    feditips,
    @feditips@mstdn.social avatar

    @weirdwriter

    Okay, I'm not sure what kind of hosting you have, but on the plugin for independently hosted sites you can change the blog's main address by going to Settings > ActivityPub > Settings > Change Blog Profile ID

    I don't have a wordpress.com account so I'm not sure if that differs, or if changing the name is possible?

    weirdwriter,

    deleted_by_author

  • Loading...
  • feditips,
    @feditips@mstdn.social avatar

    @weirdwriter

    Yeah, it looks like the name change is only available through blogs that use the plug-in?

    It's good you highlighted this, it should save confusion for other users.

    feditips,
    @feditips@mstdn.social avatar

    @weirdwriter

    By the way, can I ask if you get new block types added to your lowest paid plan?

    If you try creating a new post are there any blocks available called "Fediverse followers" or "Follow me on the Fediverse"?

    weirdwriter,

    deleted_by_author

  • Loading...
  • feditips,
    @feditips@mstdn.social avatar

    @weirdwriter

    Ok, thanks. Guess this is another feature that is only on the plug-in?

    It looks like because the free/lower tiers don't have plug-ins, wordpress.com have done a simplified feature set with the most essential functions but left a lot of the plug-in's options out.

    The WebFinger plugin optionally improves the federation side of things, but I am not a developer so I don't know exactly what it does. Also, I don't know whether its functionality is included in the free/low tier system?

    feditips,
    @feditips@mstdn.social avatar

    @weirdwriter

    It's possible that they've built this into the free/low tier behind the scenes.

    juergen_hubert,
    @juergen_hubert@thefolklore.cafe avatar

    @feditips I switched it on for my own blog.

    But are only new posts shared as an ActivityPub post, or are older posts converted as well?

    feditips,
    @feditips@mstdn.social avatar

    @juergen_hubert

    If you copy and paste the URL of a blog post into your Mastodon search box, you should see the post appear if it is converted.

    However, bear in mind servers will only notice any kind of Fediverse post if at least one person on that server has followed the account at time of publication or shared the post.

    juergen_hubert,
    @juergen_hubert@thefolklore.cafe avatar

    @feditips Thanks! That worked.

    Sparky,

    @feditips does it include an obscure piece of half-capable WordPress blog that is hosted on a Plesk server

    feditips,
    @feditips@mstdn.social avatar

    @Sparky

    I don't know, but guess you could try?

    TechyDad,
    @TechyDad@mstdn.social avatar

    @feditips I've been thinking of writing short stories and novellas and releasing them for free. I don't like the idea of posting them to some service where I won't control my data, though. This is good news. I could spin up a WordPress site, post my stories there, and link it up with the Fediverse to increase visibility.

    (I actually have a WordPress site I was going to use for this so I might add this plugin to test it out.)

    martin,

    @feditips Anyone know how to set the profile picture, header etc for the account?

    There's no obvious way yet in the ActivityPub plugin.

    mastodonmigration,
    @mastodonmigration@mastodon.online avatar

    @martin @feditips

    The profile picture and description are picked up from the WordPress icon image and description entered in Settings >>> General

    feditips,
    @feditips@mstdn.social avatar

    @mastodonmigration @martin

    Thank you! 🙏

    mastodonmigration,
    @mastodonmigration@mastodon.online avatar

    @feditips @martin

    Note it can take a while to update. Maybe unfollowing and refollowing helps it propagate, not sure.

    martin,

    @mastodonmigration @feditips Unfortunately no, it’s something deeper. @openedtechnews

    expert,

    @feditips I wonder why doesn't your website haven't entered Fediverse yet.

    feditips,
    @feditips@mstdn.social avatar

    @expert

    My sites are powered by WordPress but they're not blogs.

    The Fediverse compatibility is for WordPress blogs, i.e. sites that post regular new articles rather than a single set of static pages.

    expert,

    @feditips OK, got ya 👌

    jiangshanghan,

    @feditips You've been often keeping up with current events. 👍🏼

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