Automating the Software category

Community
1

I’d like that we take advantage of existing software and initiatives such as FediDB, Fediverse.observer and other similar tools to consolidate common knowledge of ActivityPub-compliant software in the Software category.

I can imagine we have access to the following data:

  • software name
  • software logo (preferably in SVG and embedded in a circle form without cutting any of it)
  • software repository and issue tracker
  • software licensing information
  • software homepage URL
  • software community channels (Fediverse, chat, forum…)
  • contact point for software community members

Given all this, we can automatically create a dedicated group and subcategory in Software for all free software implementing ActivityPub, with a category description that mentions all the data.

When involved people are part of this community, they can choose what level of engagement they want with other people here (that can go from nothing to use the SocialHub as a support forum): this is then reflected in the permissions granted to the dedicated software category.

In turn, this consolidated information can be useful to add to other tools in the Fediverse community, and remove duplication of effort.

(This is the kind of things I’d like to engage in with RIPE NCC Community Fund 2023)

2

The idea is cool. But I wonder if it will work. The software sub-categories we currently facilitate aren’t broadly used. They were all created with consult of project folks who said “oh yes, cool, thx”. But then never or hardly ever posted. Why is that? I think because it adds an extra channel, and they don’t see it as a real community channel. The same barrier exists that withholds so many fedizens from engaging here.

It would be a different story if forum categories would federate across forum instances. And e.g. a subcategory in the Mastodon forum would show up here as if it belonged, synchronising all interactions of two communities in that subcategory.

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