Template talk:Mastodon user

Wikidata property P4033
It would be good do make this template similar to Template:Twitter so that it can be used parameterless if it's for the subject of a Wikipedia article who has the wikidata property wikidata:property:P4033 set up correctly - as in wikidata:Q3190732 for Jérémie Zimmermann. The template would not be quite the same, since the Fediverse is not limited to a centralised domain name. IMHO it would still be usable on user pages. Boud (talk) 18:41, 11 May 2019 (UTC)
 * - I'm fairly sure that replacing P2002 by P4033 everywhere is not enough, especially since there also seems to exist such a thing as a twitter ID which differs from a twitter NAME. Boud (talk) 18:50, 11 May 2019 (UTC)
 * Pages that link to the template will have to be updated if someone carries out my suggestion. As of 19:14, 11 May 2019 (UTC), there are only a few. Boud (talk) 19:14, 11 May 2019 (UTC) (minor fix: Boud (talk) 19:15, 11 May 2019 (UTC))

✅ See next section for TODO. Boud (talk) 20:40, 20 December 2022 (UTC)

Wikidata + Wikipedia template - avoid depending on mastodon.social
The is dependent on a single server, https://mastodon.social, which is bad in terms of robustness and in terms of unnecessarily adding server load to a single Fediverse server.

If someone knows how to do it, then please:
 * update the wikidata:Property:P4033 structure so that a Mastodon address in the format  is correctly handled by https://wikidata-externalid-url.toolforge.org so that ...
 * this template Template:Mastodon user can use either a single parameter  and split it up correctly to create https://instance/@user as the URL,

or use two separate parameters,  and   and handle them correctly to create the URL; this would requiring updates to both the sides.
 * Wikidata and
 * Wikipedia

By the time someone decides to handle this, it may be necessary to experiment in a sandbox to avoid upsetting existing usage of this template until the update is fully tested and debugged.

Boud (talk) 20:50, 20 December 2022 (UTC)

A flaw in the current version of the template is that for mastodon.social addresses using the bypass, i.e. to avoid the url https://mastodon.social/@user@mastodon.social, the category of disagreements with Wikidata will be triggered. Boud (talk) 23:21, 20 December 2022 (UTC)
 * I recognize that this might read as "perfect being the enemy of the good," but hear me out. I think prioritizing the implementation of this Wikidata feature over the functionality of the template is a mistake, tbqh. Defaulting to MDS isn't a temporary fix. It's just incorrect behavior. This template should not proliferate through the site before it can actually describe a generic user on a Mastodon server. I considered working on a fix, but the fact that it has already been published in this state means that anything I did would need to also support that bad assumption, which would make the template a mess. Moreover, honestly, the conceit of this template may simply be wrong. The fact that they are on a Mastodon server in particular is largely irrelevant; the point should be that they have one (or maybe many) service on the Fediverse. And I think you understand why because the first time I saw this template was on a page where you wrote "[handle] on Mastodon on the Fediverse." It may be best to create a Fediverse affiliation template first to cover this generically, and then figure out a way to differentiate between Mastodon/Frendica/etc. from there. lethargilistic (talk) 22:58, 21 December 2022 (UTC)


 * Removing the dependence on MDS is ✅. I agree that usage of this template should be restricted until it's improved further. Currently there only seem to be 14 usages in mainspace, so the risk is not as high as in templates used in say, 1000 or 10000 pages. In any case, the warning about a deletion discussion should be enough to discourage new usage for a week until the debate is closed, so the risk of proliferation is low.I agree that in principle a generic Fediverse template would make more sense, but there are currently (at least) three problems: (1) the format @user@instance is not universal - I don't think that this is constrained by ActivityPub, though I'm not sure; for example, although https://instance/@user is valid for PixelFed, https://instance/@user fails for Pleroma instances; Pleroma URLs (currently, at least, in my testing) have to be https://instance/user ; (2) there is currently one person who is not convinced of the notability of Mastodon, and Mastodon is better known than the wider Fediverse that it is part of; we have to see what consensus emerges; (3) the formats in Wikidata would have to be compatible. Boud (talk) 07:49, 22 December 2022 (UTC)


 * A generic Fediverse template would probably be doable with at least one extra optional parameter, e.g. to generate the correct URL without an @ symbol. However, first the Wikidata structures for the various Fediverse components would have to be entered into Wikidata, with the correct subset relations to allow using the generic Wikidata Fediverse address and the appropriate constraints and so on; and then that super-level Fediverse address property should be used rather than P4033. This would need an experienced Wikidata person ... maybe someone like ;) or an inexperienced one making a good effort to learn ... ? Boud (talk) 20:06, 23 December 2022 (UTC)

Possible TODO: handle the erroneous case of two @ symbols
If someone puts two @ symbols in the Wikidata entry, then a warning will appear there. However, someone who provides a first positional parameter and puts two @ symbols here on Wikipedia, e.g. will get a wrong result, because this will be parsed as zero-length-string@user. In principle, a test could be made and the user warned if two @ symbols are used this way. Boud (talk) 08:03, 22 December 2022 (UTC)


 * If it helps, I implemented a way for users on Camera-wiki.org to add a Mastodon link to their profile but my solution lets them enter the actual, valid Mastodon handle with both the @'s (e.g. @username@instancename ) and it builds a complete URL to their profile on their instance. The part that turns the user-entered parameter into the URL is a pretty simple one-liner. Maybe it could help here?
 * You can see it in action on my profile page at http://camera-wiki.org/wiki/User:Steevithak
 * - Steevithak (talk) 20:05, 12 February 2023 (UTC)
 * You can see it in action on my profile page at http://camera-wiki.org/wiki/User:Steevithak
 * - Steevithak (talk) 20:05, 12 February 2023 (UTC)
 * - Steevithak (talk) 20:05, 12 February 2023 (UTC)