Fandom gets closer to the metal - issue 6: "IT FEDERATES!"

[hit_the_books]

This week: Less tech savvy user takes on Hubzilla setup; autopinning; theme fun; privacy groups, and Hubzilla guide!

(Crumbs, it's been a busy week at distributed_fandom HQ!)

Fan v Hubzilla

oulfis did battle this week in getting a Hubzilla (Fanzilla) instance up and running. You can read oulfis's liveblogging experience of it here, which includes lots of helpful insights into what does and doesn't work. As oulfis explained on the distributed_fandom Discord:

"I have created a hubzilla instance at http://oulfis.space/ !! IT FEDERATES!

"I am basically going through this process and trying to get the space working because I am MUCH less tech savvy than demitas and [impertinence], so if I can implement my own copy of what they're doing, I can test its replicability among the 'unskilled but earnest' demographic."

oulfis said people are welcome to come and try out the instance, but warns that it's an experiment and likely to be deleted or accidentally borked. Still... it federates!


Autopinning, themes

I mentioned this pack in issue 1, but impertinence has made some serious progress on autoinning since then. There's now a fully functioning Hubzilla autopin app available via GitHub, thanks to impertinence's efforts. impertinence explained that:

"Any admin who installs this will be able to set a certain number of apps to auto-install and pin to the navbar when new users register."

Outside of this app solving, impertinence has also added an in-progress theme on Git, which you can find here (lots of orange and purple).

Privacy groups

demitas completed work on a task to update privacy groups in Hubzilla. What does this mean? demitas pointed out that:

"It's an update to the privacy groups Hubzilla functionality to make it more obvious a) that it exists and b) how to use it, instead of it being hidden behind the lock icon."

You can check out the issue around privacy groups here on Fanzilla.

Hubzilla guide

daphneblithe has been working on a Hubzilla guide for non-tech savvy users, and is looking for contributions. daphneblithe explained the guide as:

"It's all super basic stuff and assumes zero coding knowledge and a tenuous grasp of tech generally."

If you would like to get involved in helping to write this guide, have a chat with daphneblithe over on the distributed_fandom Discord, or over on Hubzilla. The aim is to turn the guide into a "Hubzilla-adjacent wiki".

Don't forget...
To check out fandom-after  on Tumblr and see what Wings has been posting.

Got something you want mentioned in these updates?
Head to #announcements-roundup channel on the distributed_fandom Discord and post about it before the end of Saturday each week. Thanks to everyone who contributed to this issue.