If server A makes one request, it keeps server B from being overload by thousands of requests from users A.
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lvxferre@mander.xyz 9 months ago
That sounds a lot like a weird spin on the Slashdot effect, caused by content mirroring. It seems that it could be handled by tweaking the ActivityPub protocol to have one instance requesting to generate a link preview, and the other instances copying the link preview instead of sending their own requests.
But frankly? I think that the current way that ActivityPub works is outright silly. Here’s what it does currently:
- User is registered to instance A
- Since A federates with B, A mirrors content from B into A
- The backend is either specific to instance A (the site) or configured to use instance A (for a phone program)
- When the user interacts with content from B, actually it’s the mirrored version of content from B that is hosted in A
In my opinion a better approach would be:
- User is registered to instance A
- Since A federates with B, B accepts login credentials from A
- The backend is instance-agnostic, so it’s able to pull/send content from/to multiple instances at the same time
- When the user interacts with content from B, the backend retrieves content from B, and uses the user’s A credentials to send content to B
Now, here’s my question: why is the ActivityPub works in that way, instead of this one?
DaGeek247@fedia.io 9 months ago
lvxferre@mander.xyz 9 months ago
“A” Users would need to send requests to some server anyway, either A or B; that’s only diverting the load from B to A, but it isn’t alleviating or even sharing it.
Another issue with the current way that ActivityPub works is foul content, that needs to be removed. Remember when some muppet posted CP in LW?
breakingcups@lemmy.world 9 months ago
Yes, but this way demand on instances scales with user count and aliows smaller instances to exist. Otherwise an errant toot on a small instance that suddenly gets popular will instantly drag that smaller instance down.
lvxferre@mander.xyz 9 months ago
Got it - and that’s a fair point. I wonder however if this problem couldn’t be solved another way, specially because mirroring is itself a burden for the smaller instances.
chicken@lemmy.dbzer0.com 9 months ago
Check out Nostr, ActivityPub alternative that does authentication separately from content, works more like that.
lvxferre@mander.xyz 9 months ago
I’m aware of Nostr. In my opinion it splits better this separation of back- and front-end tasks, even if it has a few problems on how relays work, depending on the demographic. It’s still an interesting counterpoint to ActivityPub.