What if there was a feature on the fediverse that when you followed someone that your server didn't know about, you could click a button that says something like, request full federation, and that would run a query to backfill them onto your home server.
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@liaizon That would be great. I've been using @michael's #FediFetcher python script since 2023 to backfill accounts of people. I am not sure how far it goes back when it backfills accounts, though, but it really makes it nice to open a profile and see posts instead of an empty profile.
"It can also backfill profiles on your instance. In particular it can
fetch missing posts from users that have recently appeared in your notifications
fetch missing posts from users that you have recently followed
fetch missing posts from users that have recently followed you
fetch missing posts from users that have recently sent you a follow request
fetch missing posts from users that have recently been added to your lists"Pull missing posts from new followers, as well as recently followed accounts into Mastodon - blog.thms.uk
Since v3.0.0 of FediFetcher you can backfill remote accounts, after you have begun following them. This post explains how.
blog.thms.uk (blog.thms.uk)
GitHub - nanos/FediFetcher: FediFetcher is a tool for Mastodon that automatically fetches missing replies and posts from other fediverse instances, and adds them to your own Mastodon instance.
FediFetcher is a tool for Mastodon that automatically fetches missing replies and posts from other fediverse instances, and adds them to your own Mastodon instance. - nanos/FediFetcher
GitHub (github.com)
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@liaizon in fact, one might reasonably assume that's what the outbox is *for*.
@Floppy it's one of those things that seems like it hasn't been done only because it hasn't been done
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@liaizon could at least fetch the last 20 posts and such by default!
@dantescanline that seems like the absolutely most sane default as oppose to starting with 0
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@liaizon Yep, there's an old Mastodon ticket requesting exactly this.
Backfill statuses from remote accounts when first subscribed · Issue #34 · mastodon/mastodon
Your self-hosted, globally interconnected microblogging community - Backfill statuses from remote accounts when first subscribed · Issue #34 · mastodon/mastodon
GitHub (github.com)
It hasn't been closed yet, so who knows, maybe we'll get this one day!
@stefan 2016 fml
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What if there was a feature on the fediverse that when you followed someone that your server didn't know about, you could click a button that says something like, request full federation, and that would run a query to backfill them onto your home server. So you get the full history like that server had been following the account since the beginning. It could be scoped so the admin of the instance only allowed this ability to spesific people, and maybe it could enter a review mode first.
Only barrier I can think of is people getting really angry that there's basically a way to slurp up their profile data, though honestly, ActivityPub isn't really a great protocol for privacy no matter how many loud people say it is.
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@stefan 2016 fml
@liaizon Quotes have been requested since 2016 as well!
quote + boost · Issue #309 · mastodon/mastodon
This turned out to be a major Twitter feature: being able to inline the text of a retweet while adding your own. It was done by manually copy-pasting the text before a feature was developed. How to go about implementing this, or an equiv...
GitHub (github.com)
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Only barrier I can think of is people getting really angry that there's basically a way to slurp up their profile data, though honestly, ActivityPub isn't really a great protocol for privacy no matter how many loud people say it is.
@flaky I think these people need to find another network tbh this place is not designed for that at all. The entire network is designed with the opposite premise and the people worried about their data that is already being slurped up by 30k servers are trying to fight a windmill with an umbrella
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@flaky I think these people need to find another network tbh this place is not designed for that at all. The entire network is designed with the opposite premise and the people worried about their data that is already being slurped up by 30k servers are trying to fight a windmill with an umbrella
I think any decentralised/federated network is pretty much not what they're looking for, they probably want something like phpBB instead tbh.
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@Floppy it's one of those things that seems like it hasn't been done only because it hasn't been done
@liaizon yeah, I think that's probably right. Assuming it hasn't, in fact, been done and we just don't know about it.
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@liaizon Quotes have been requested since 2016 as well!
quote + boost · Issue #309 · mastodon/mastodon
This turned out to be a major Twitter feature: being able to inline the text of a retweet while adding your own. It was done by manually copy-pasting the text before a feature was developed. How to go about implementing this, or an equiv...
GitHub (github.com)
@stefan yeah I know about that one for sure, at least we have it now in 2026 and it sorta works
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@liaizon @paul no, it just accesses the API so you can run it from ... anything you want, including Github (which would be the easiest way to get it running from free) a computer you have flying around at home, or whatever else takes your fancy.
Full details in the wiki:
Home
FediFetcher is a tool for Mastodon that automatically fetches missing replies and posts from other fediverse instances, and adds them to your own Mastodon instance. - Home · nanos/FediFetcher Wiki
GitHub (github.com)
