I was searching for a very specific set of features in a WordPress plugin. As searching on search engines was not helping, I asked ChatGPT to interactively ask me questions about my requirements and suggest a free plugin.

The WP-multicomment-threads I wanted

Those of you who remember Squidoo will remember the side-by-side debate module. Comments could be added to one column or the other to make the case for or against something.

I wanted that. I was thinking a page with two child pages to hold the for and against comments. That way, it could also take WebMentions with a target for each side.

As a plugin, ideally. Something already tested.

The WP-multicomment-threads I got

Chat did not know of anything that matched. So it gave me some code.

I’ve created a repository on GitHub and plan to review and refine the code. Please join me as we code review ChatGPT.

Read more to see the code and find out what happened next. (Mastodon users might see some ugly code view on the original page to see nicely formatted code).

As most WordPress users know, there is a great ActivityPub plugin that makes your blog part of the fediverse. It pairs well with the WebMention plugin to bring in reactions from all over. The trouble is, it can be hard to get noticed. Here are some tips to get over that hump.

Have an account on a large instance and follow yourself

The quickest way to get started is if you, yourself, follow you, your blog. That means that the server instance you are on will poll for content. That gets it into the global feed at least.

The global feed by itself is not all that much help. That’s why the second step is to also boost your best content. This will show it to your fedi-followers. From there, it is down to the quality of your post as to how much further it goes.

You could set up camp in multiple instances but you will face the law of finishing returns. One account is usually fine (if it is active and picks up relevant followers).

The wider the array of instances that users follow you from, the better this tip works.

Use the Friends plugin

The Friends plugin is far from perfect, but it does allow the blog to follow Mastodon accounts (as well as RSS feeds). Friends and ActivityPub cooperate well.

You can use the Friends plugin to follow interesting people. As a general rule, people tend to follow back when followed. Not always. Which is why you should only follow people if you mean it. If you want to see their stuff in your Friends’ feed.

Connect with relays

There are servers out there that exist to connect ActivityPub nodes. There’s a whole list of them on relaylist.com. I don’t know a lot about relays, but I do know there’s a setting in the activityPub plugin for relays to ping.

If you know a bit more, please chime in.

Use hashtags and maybe hashcats too

You can set your ActivityPub plugin to convert tags into native Mastodon tags. You can do the same with categories as well, but you will need to customise your template with [hashcats].

Tags are used for content discovery from the public timeline. This means you will want to use some of the other tips in this post as well.

Ask for a few follows

I assume that you are connected with at least a few mutuals. Friends and family can be a great starting point. If they are willing, you could ask them to fedi-follow your blog. This has the same benefits as following yourself, and might be spread out over a few more instances.

Check out Bridgy

If you are using the WebMention plugin too, Bridgy might be for you. Bridgy acts as a link between various blogging platforms and social media.

Post interesting stuff

Don’t launch naked. Before you try to get federated, have at least three posts that you are proud of. This gives you something to boost with your Mastodon account and something for visitors to discover.

To get further federated, the most important thing is to post interesting stuff. To post fun stuff. To post as a way to engage with interesting people (reply, boost, and reblog via your Friends feed). If you don’t do that, the rest of these tips are pretty much useless to you.

Use ALT Text widely

For your photos, memes, graphics, and featured images, apply liberal alt text. The alt text tag explains what the picture is about for those who cannot see it. Fedi-folk like to see alt text. It is considered rude not to supply it. Which is why people who write good alt text are both (1) better liked on Mastodon and (2) slightly easier to find on search engines.

Give it time

The fediverse is not a place of instant gratification. There is no algorithm – only people. You have to make friends the old-fashioned way – one at a time.

Once you are somewhat federated, give it time. Keep sharing good stuff. Keep being social. Play well with others. You know what to do.

Bonus tip: Bridgy Fed

You can also bridge the gap into BlueSky with fed.brid.gy. You may pick up additional likes and follows.

Maybe drop me a follow, too

You can subscribe to my blog via Mastodon. Let’s connect.

Matthew Brown

@lordmatt

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Matthew is a writer, web dev, and geek from Kent (UK). He is the founder and current chair of Thanet Creative as well as head geek for Author Buzz. His ambitions include seeing a film or TV series based on something he wrote. Matt is also responsible for fixing stuff on AuthorBuzz.co.uk when it breaks.

197 posts

10 followers

What are your federation tips?

I’m sure there are other, better, fedi-tips for blogs joining the ActivityPub world. Please share your thoughts with me. You can WebMention, reply on ActivityPub, or just drop a comment.

I’ve been pondering the weird collection of sets I cooked up in this post. In this post, I’d like to take a crack at defining the sets.

I’m going to bow to my ego and call these the MattSets. MattSet Prime is the set of all integers found in all the other MattSets.

MattSet₀ is the set of all powers of two. As such, it is an even set. All members of MattSet₀ are even.

There are two types of MattSets – even and not even (odd) sets. Each set is generated from the set before it.

MattSet₁ is the first odd set. It is the set of all the numbers when multiplied by three that the numbers in the previous set is one more than. Another way to say this is – make an intermediary set of all members of MattSet₀ (MattSet_n-1 in general form) that are one more than a multiple of three. Take all the members of this intermediary set and apply the function (x-1)/3. This will give you MattSet₁ which is an odd set.

MattSet₂ is two be an even set. MattSet₂ is the set of all integers that are twice a member of MattSet₁ (MattSet_n-1 in general form).

Each subsequent set is generated in the same way such that MattSets with even indexes are even numbers and MattSets with odd indexes are odd.

As far as I have, so far, tested each odd MattSet has half the number of members as the preceding even MattSet.

In theory: As n approaches infinity, the size of the MattSet_n approaches 0. At least I think that it does.

The question I am looking to answer is does MattSet Prime contain all the positive integers? If I can’t prove that one way or the other, is there anything interesting about these sets that can be proved?

A better-defined series of sets, 8^th October 2024, by Matt

Note: I’m not sure I was all that clear the first time, but only integer values can be members of these sets.

You could add some other series of (empty) sets for completion. MattSet_nx. A member of the MattSet_nx is an even number not found in MattSet₀ that is twice the value of a MattSet₀ member. MattSet_n+1x. Would be all the even numbers not in the preceding sets that are twice the value of one of the previous nx sets. In theory, all MattSet_nx sets are empty, as twice a power of two is another power of two.

Prove me wrong.

Bury me with some weird shit

If/when I pass, I want everyone who attends the service to bring things to fill my coffin with. These must be unique or unusual and of no discernible purpose. Things like stone polyhedral dice, an assortment of random but purposeful-looking glass counters, and a whole bunch of well-made but meaningless things (cogs, geometric shapes, handmade fantasy coins with fictional glyphs, etc.). Ideally, they should obtain or make two. One for my coffin and one for theirs. That way, far into the future, we will confuse the hell out of a generation of archaeologists. They’ll spend decades trying to work out what or who I was to all these other random dead people. It will be one last prank from me to the future.

Bury me with some weird shit, 2 June 2025 by Matt

So, you’ve written a blog post and want feedback from the rest of the team? Great to hear. I guess you will now want to set it to Pending. Here’s how.

Look right. You should see something like this:

This screenshot was taken from my editing screen as I wrote this.

If the Block tab is highlighted, click the Post tab.

If the sidebar is missing or showing something else, click the sidebar button. Show here in a black square.

Look for the Status thing. Yours, like mine, probably says “Draft”. Give it a click.

You now have a bunch of options. The second one down is the Pending setting.

You are almost done.

Click anywhere to close that floating menu. Your blue Publish button at the top right should now have become a blue Save button. Click it.

When it then says Publish again, your post is now saved as pending.

This post you have been reading is, as I write this, now a pending post. I’m going to go ahead and hit publish so other people can read it.

I hope this was helpful.