It often happens that a given lemmy link didn’t match with my own login from another instance. This causes troubles to comment and participate in the thread. This is what I have learned so far. Is there a better method of doing this? Browser extension suggestions are welcome.

Context:

  • Have an account @username on instance lemmy.test and being logged in
  • Given a lemmy link lemmy.example.com/post/12345
  • Want to comment as @username@lemmy.test on lemmy.example.com/post/12345

Expected behavior:

  • Opening links from lemmy.example.com automatically recognizes login from lemmy.test, commenting and voting done without problems

Actual behavior:

  • Instance lemmy.example.com expects logins only from its own server, not other federated servers like lemmy.test

Manual fix (for web browsers):

  • Check for the “federation link” (the icon with five-colored star, is there a name for this?) from linked URL’s page. (If the icon does not exist, check Observations below)
  • Open “search” from own instance (lemmy.test > search)
  • Enter the “federation link” at search bar.
  • First result should be a URL that’s compatible with the own instance: e.g. lemmy.test/post/98765

Observations:

  • If the link and its OP shares the same instance domain (@user@lemmy.example.com posting to !community@lemmy.example.com), then the federation link should be the link itself (please confirm if this is actually true).
  • If not, then the “federation link” has to be obtained.
  • INCLUDE HTTPS before domain, otherwise it won’t appear in the search:

https://lemmy.example.com/post/12345 OK
lemmy.example.com/post/12345 NOT OK

  • petunia@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Matrix tackled this UX issue in the bud relatively early with https://matrix.to/. It still isn’t ideal, but much better than expecting users to install browser extensions or OS-specific hacks to properly handle ActivityPub links.