150 lines
5.2 KiB
ReStructuredText
150 lines
5.2 KiB
ReStructuredText
Exploring the network
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=====================
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To get the most out of GNU social you need to find your way around the various
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servers.
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The different timelines
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-----------------------
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If you've used Twitter before you're used to the *Home* timeline. This shows
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messages posted by people you follow. Because GNU social consists of separate
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servers you can browse three different timelines:
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Home
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People you follow
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Public / Public Timeline
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Everybody on this server
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Network / The Whole Known Network
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Everybody that this server knows about
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This is how it would look if you followed two people on the same server as you,
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plus two people from different servers:
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.. image:: ../../resources/user/home-vs-public.png
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:alt: Difference between home and public timelines
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:align: center
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Following
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---------
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Thanks to federation it is easy to follow both people on the same server as you
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and on different servers. However, following someone on a different server can
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require a couple of extra clicks.
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If you're on one of the *Quitter* servers (or any server that uses the Qvitter
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plugin) there is an easy way to do both. See
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:ref:`qvitter-follow`.
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Following people on the same server
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^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
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Click on their username to go to their user page. There you will find a button
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to follow them. It will look like one of these:
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.. image:: ../../resources/user/subscribe-button.png
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:alt: Stock GNU social subscribe button
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:align: center
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.. image:: ../../resources/user/follow-button.png
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:alt: Qvitter follow button
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:align: center
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Click the button. Their notices will now appear in your Home timeline.
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.. _remote-follow:
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Following people on other servers
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^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
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First go to their user page. You can always get there by clicking on their
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username. This will take you to the server where that person has their account.
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Suppose your account is on *quitter.no* and you clicked on a user who is on
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*quitter.se*. Your browser will now be at an address like
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``https://quitter.se/some_user``. You will not be logged in on the remote
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server — you're just a public visitor. Don't try to log in or create an
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account; it's not necessary.
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The page might look completely different from what you're used to! Every server
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can have its own custom style. What you need to look for is the remote follow
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button. Here are three examples:
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.. image:: ../../resources/user/remote-follow-button.png
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:alt: Qvitter remote follow button
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:align: center
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.. image:: ../../resources/user/subscribe-button.png
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:alt: Stock GNU social subscribe button (same as for local)
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:align: center
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.. image:: ../../resources/user/subscribe-loadaverage.png
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:alt: LoadAverage subscribe button
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:align: center
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Click on it. A box will pop up asking what your account is, in email address
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format. If your username is fido and your server is ``quitter.no`` you would
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type ``fido@quitter.no``. Then click *Subscribe* or *Remote* follow as
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appropriate.
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.. image:: ../../resources/user/remote-part-2.png
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:alt: Entering your address
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:align: center
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You might (or might not) be taken to an intermediate screen like this one.
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Check the details are correct and click *Subscribe* again.
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.. image:: ../../resources/user/remote-part-3.png
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:alt: Remote follow, next step
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:align: center
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You will now be taken back your own server where you're logged in. You will be
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shown profile information about the user you are about to follow. To complete
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the process click the *Confirm* button. It will look something like this:
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.. image:: ../../resources/user/confirm-stock.png
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:alt: Stock confirm button
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:align: center
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.. image:: ../../resources/user/confirm-qvitter.png
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:alt: Quitter.no confirm button (I guess qvitter hasn't styled it)
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:align: center
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You are now following that person. Notices that they post from now on will now
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appear in your Home timeline. If someone else on your server was already
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following them you might get some older ones as well.
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.. _qvitter-follow:
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Following people using Qvitter
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^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
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Qvitter has a handy shortcut for following people regardless of whether or not
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they're on the same server as you. Hover your mouse pointer over their name. A
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popup will appear. Click the *Follow* button.
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.. image:: ../../resources/user/qvitter-hover1.png
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:alt: Hovering over a name in qvitter
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:align: center
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It will change to *Following*. You're all done.
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.. image:: ../../resources/user/qvitter-hover2.png
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:alt: Now following
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:align: center
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Following people using manual subscription URL
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^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
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*Note: This is not the usual way to follow someone but it's a technique some
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people find convenient.*
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You can initiate a remote follow directly from your own server. To do this
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visit ``/main/ostatussub`` on your server. For example if you are logged in to
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quitter.se you would go to ``https://quitter.se/main/ostatussub``. You will get
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to a page with an error like this:
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.. image:: ../../resources/user/manual-confirm.png
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:alt: First page of the ostatussub confirmation
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:align: center
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Enter a profile address such as ``https://quitter.no/doctorow`` and click
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*Continue*. You will jump straight to the confirmation screen as shown above.
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