[HN Gopher] Browser extension that let's you follow accounts on ... ___________________________________________________________________ Browser extension that let's you follow accounts on foreign Mastodon instances Author : shafyy Score : 40 points Date : 2022-12-18 20:19 UTC (2 hours ago) (HTM) web link (github.com) (TXT) w3m dump (github.com) | bananafly wrote: | Feels like this should be native to Mastodon. Is there anything | preventing this from being implemented? | cesarb wrote: | > Is there anything preventing this from being implemented? | | Yes, normal browser security restrictions mean one site doesn't | have the necessary access to another site. A browser extension | can bypass these security restrictions (which also means you | have to trust the extension's developer, since the extension | has unrestricted access to all sites you open in your browser). | witheld wrote: | There used to be an oauth flow for interacting with your home | instance. I dont know when they got rid of it, maybe 4.0? | rektide wrote: | Alas there's been ongoing press-back against doing the thing the | web does, which would be to have a way to registerProtocolHandler | with your fedi instance (& be able to quickly flip sites into web | protocol mode). | | One of the more recent WontFixes, citing previous issuee, | https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon/issues/14187 | syx wrote: | I wouldn't install a browser extension just for this. I think you | can use a simple Twitter query[1] that will show you if your | users mentioned mastodon links in their profile. Personally, the | accounts I'm following are slowly moving out, so keeping track of | the links is quite easy. | | [1] | https://twitter.com/search?q=filter%3Afollows%20mastodon%20-... | shafyy wrote: | I think you misunderstood what this does. Because Mastodon is | federated, when you visit a the profile of a user that's not on | your instance, you cannot follow them with the click of a | button. Rather, you need to log in to your instance and then | search for their username. This exension makes it so that you | can follow anybody with the click of a button. | syx wrote: | I totally misunderstood the purpose of this extension. Now | that you've pointed it out, it's clear that it's quite | useful. I was previously manually entering all the users into | the search box, which was a pain. I'm glad this extension | exists to automate the process. It would be even better if | Mastodon integrated something like this natively. | suramya_tomar wrote: | Not sure if I am missing something, but this is something I can | do without any extra extensions installed? Out of the 27 accounts | I am currently following, 20 are accounts from other Mastodon | instances... | | I do have to search for the account on my local instance to start | following them instead of being able to click follow right there, | but that is a minor annoyance | TobTobXX wrote: | It is solving exactly that minor annoyance you mentioned. | maxerickson wrote: | Right, it appears this extension is aimed at the minor | annoyance. | smrtinsert wrote: | I thought following Mastodon was against free speech, why else | would Elon ban it ___________________________________________________________________ (page generated 2022-12-18 23:01 UTC)