While I understand the concept of federation I’m unclear as to what it actually entails at a technical level. When lemm.ee eventually shuts down, will all of that user content (posts, comments, votes, etc) cease to exist? Is it mirrored on other instances?
For a practical test, search for kbin.social
(and then ctrl+f for it also to get the direct results). Or, just look at a community: !kbinMeta@kbin.social
The only thing that appears missing is the avatars. Though I assume this content is doomed in the long-run when it comes to new instances, as I doubt re-federation (3rd-party federation) is a thing. Unless of course, someone manually crossposts said content.
nokturne213@sopuli.xyz 2 days ago
They will still be visible to federated instances as they have a local copy. But any new posts or comments will not federate.
can@sh.itjust.works 2 days ago
And any new instance will not have a copy.
artifex@lemmy.zip 2 days ago
Ah that makes sense. So federation implies copying essentially, and not merely linking. Thanks!