I think I just had THE fediverse moment:Scrolling through my timeline watching text posts, photos, a peertube video...A short video.

[hikingdude@mastodon.social]

@slothrop @elperronegro@shmg.online

Uh, just click on the profile or the video above and hit follow? Doesn't that work for you?
@elperronegro@loops.video

I'm using the Mastodon client and it really was that easy.

[sunnythesheep@mastodon.social]

RE: https://loops.video/v/cegwblCMED

@MishaVelthuis you can actually quote loops here, you knew?

@adipoeserPursch @hikingdude

[hikingdude@mastodon.social]

@WTL @_elena ugh so sad ️

I just told my wife "like if you scroll through Instagram and see YouTube there as well".

[mishavelthuis@social.edu.nl]

@sunnythesheep @adipoeserPursch @hikingdude

Yes! I originally posted that as a quote, and it showed up as a quote, but then I edited the post (I added "Another one!") and then it stopped showing up as a quote. Maybe on Mastodon the link to the other post has to be the last line of the post for it show up as a quoted post?

[sunnythesheep@mastodon.social]

@MishaVelthuis for what I can see:

- you didn't actually quote the first time either, but just linked it externally. There's different ways on Mastodon to quote. Copy-pasting the URL is one of them, but sometimes the preview doesn't load, then it'll become just an external link, once posted. Solution: try pasting again in the edit window.

- and yes, quoting a quote doesn't actually show the original post as a quote, but always only the last one in the "chain".

@adipoeserPursch @hikingdude

[wtl@mastodon.social]

@hikingdude @_elena I'll wear him down. I am nothing if not relentless. The #Fediverse has given me so much - so many wonderful connections all around the world.

[sunnythesheep@mastodon.social]

@MishaVelthuis I also checked: your instance social.edu.nl is running on Mastodon v4.5.5, so it SHOULD support quotes already.

@adipoeserPursch @hikingdude

[mishavelthuis@social.edu.nl]

@sunnythesheep @adipoeserPursch @hikingdude

Ah ok, I tried to re-paste the url, and to move my comment "Another one!" to the top of the post, but it doesn't seem to make the preview reappear.

What are other ways to quote, apart from pasting the url in your post?

I kind of always thought that a quote is basically just that: a url to another post. And that just like with linking to websites, if you are lucky and the Mastodon stars align, a preview appears.

[sunnythesheep@mastodon.social]

@MishaVelthuis well, Mastodon (usually) shows previews for external links, but that's still not an actual quote. A quote also directly mentions the user handle (clickable, without leaving Mastodon) and some other Fediverse markers like if the quoted post is public and when it was posted, that won't show in the preview of an external link.

Let me show you the difference:

@adipoeserPursch @hikingdude

[sunnythesheep@mastodon.social]

@MishaVelthuis external link: https://social.edu.nl/@MishaVelthuis/116074474851160400

@adipoeserPursch @hikingdude

[sunnythesheep@mastodon.social]

RE: https://social.edu.nl/@MishaVelthuis/116074474851160400

@MishaVelthuis quote:

@adipoeserPursch @hikingdude

[sunnythesheep@mastodon.social]

@MishaVelthuis here's (see the attached screenshot) how it showed in my editor/post preview: if I clicked the "x" to close the quote preview, the quote would have disappeared from my post, again.

I'm using Mastodon in my mobile browser. Depending on whether and which app you use, things might work slightly different, I didn't try that. Never used an app for Mastodon.

Maybe try again a little with copy and pasting, until the preview (like in my screenshot) loads.

@adipoeserPursch @hikingdude

[joergi@chaos.social]

@hikingdude
🥰

[sunnythesheep@mastodon.social]

@MishaVelthuis also make sure the URL doesn't contain empty spaces (at the end) in order for quote pasting to work. Also, you can't add a quote afterwards by editing a post, if that post didn't contain a quote already And ofc also, some posts aren't allowed to be quoted due to privacy settings, but that's another topic.

So, what's the other way/s to quote, if quote-pasting doesn't work? Generally: hit the share button and then choose quoting❞ instead of sharing.

@adipoeserPursch @hikingdude

[sunnythesheep@mastodon.social]

@MishaVelthuis while this doesn't work for replies, cause it will create an independent, new post (containing the quote), there's a work-around (at least in the mobile browser, don't know if in the app/s):

1) normally reply where you want to reply

2) immediately leave the edit window, by going in your bowser and search for the post you want to quote

3) now choose the option "quote" (❞) via the share button

and, as a result, you'll have a reply with a quote

@adipoeserPursch @hikingdude

[slothrop@chaos.social]

@hikingdude @elperronegro@shmg.online @elperronegro@loops.video Hah, that does work!

I went to the Loops page, and was looking for a Follow link there - which I couldn't find. Didn't think this through...

Thanks!

[sunnythesheep@mastodon.social]

@MishaVelthuis and yes, Mastodon sometimes creates really nice previews for external links, that ALMOST look like a quote, like it did for your original post (which I screenshotted here). But:

- in this preview you can't click username handles and hashtags

- you can't start the video without leaving Mastodon

- Mastodon (or in this case: Loops) also doesn't "count" that as quotes (which you could see in the Loops post), plus the creator won't get noticed.

@adipoeserPursch @hikingdude

[xchaos@f.cz]

@hikingdude but it was like this all the time: you can upload videos even to non-loops, non-peertube platforms, and still watch it here.

This is what Internet was intended to be.

[danielcasanueva@mstdn.social]

@hikingdude Yeah! This is one of the killer features for me!

[coreysnipes@hachyderm.io]

@slothrop Eh, don't feel bad - I had the same problem. Fedi integration is nice but far from seamless. Lots of paths to get to the content and profile, but not all of them offer the follow. Thanks Franz! @hikingdude @elperronegro@shmg.online @elperronegro@loops.video