When the Open Social Web Hybridizes: Raccoon for Friendica is a new app... Mastodon. And it even has a little Lemmy in it! That's why the Free Software + Fediverse duo is such a valuable resource.@fediverse Raccoon 1.0 was finally released for Android in recent days, a rather innovative client originally created for #Friendica, but which has now become one of the most innovative apps for the user experience on #Mastodon. The app is available for Android (already on the Play Store and Izzidroid, and will soon be available on F-Droid), but a #Debian package has also been released. An iOS version remains to be seen for its success.The app introduces some very important innovations to the federated app landscape.1. Navigate the Fediverse from an app, even without creating an accountRaccoon is the only app that lets you browse the Fediverse even without an account. When you install it, you can select any Friendica or Mastodon instance and "leverage" its local public and federated timelines. This way, users can explore multiple instances before choosing which one to open an account on. Of course, even after adding an account (the app manages multiple accounts), you can browse the timelines of servers other than the one you signed up to.2. "Browse through" messages: "swipe" navigationUnlike all other social apps (both those for the Fediverse and those for commercial social networks), #RaccoonForFriendica lets you open a post in your timeline and continue browsing through previous and next posts by simply swiping left and right.This is a truly interesting ergonomic innovation.3. Finally a formatting bar in social appsSince the app was created for Friendica, it features a built-in formatting toolbar reminiscent of Lemmy clients (in fact, the developer @janTeko first experimented with app development with a Lemmy app). The formatting toolbar can also be used for Mastodon instances running the Glitch-soc fork, such as infosec.exchange, tech.lgbt, and my poliversity.it instance, which was the one the developer experimented with.In addition to being more immediate, writing formatted posts is also made easier by a "preview" function that helps avoid errors in Markdown or BBCode coding.4. Finally, Mastodon users will be able to enjoy Fediverse groups too.As you may know, Mastodon doesn't support the display of group posts. Even if you select a group, you'll still see a single timeline where top posts alternate with replies. Searching for a thread on Mastodon is therefore very complicated, but the #Raccoon developer has found a way to enable "topic" viewing across all accounts that are "activitypub groups," be they #Lemmy, #NodeBB, Piefed, Mbin, Peertube, Wordpress, Mobilizon, Flipboard, etc.This idea also came about thanks to the fact that the developer had previously tried his hand at developing an app for Lemmy and was able to experiment with the formatting bars and display of Lemmy "communities," which are nothing other than "#activitypub groups."5. Other interesting featuresAmong other features, you canview the HTML code of messages;send scheduled posts;fully configure the interface;support for writing in HTML, useful both for Mastodon Glitch-soc and for writing WordPress posts by integrating the plugin "Activitypub for Wordpress" from @pfefferle and the "Enable Mastodon App" plugin from @alexintegrate translation libraries6. What's still missing?The app features all the features found in most other Mastodon apps, except one: the correct handling of Mastodon posts that quote other posts. These are still displayed in a fairly primitive way. The developer is trying to decide whether to adapt to Mastodon specifications or reinterpret the feature in a more personalized way.It must be said that, unfortunately, the implementation of quoted messages (already present in Friendica for ages) was implemented by Mastodon very late, only in recent months, and in a very "personal" way that many other software developers did not appreciate.7. Raccoon is an app that will benefit users who already use Mastodon but also those who have never "tried" the FediverseThis app has been under development for almost two years, and the beta version is just over a year old. However, version 1.0 has resolved all previously encountered issues.Based on user feedback, the developer will evaluate whether to create an iOS version and even a Windows version.Anyone who wishes to allow reporting of application errors can enable anonymous crash reports.8. Links and ResourcesThis is the developer's profile:androiddev.social/users/janTekoThis is the app repository: github.com/LiveFastEatTrashRacThis is the Play Store link:play.google.com/store/apps/detThis is the link on IzzyDroid (the app will be released on F-Droid soon, but is currently under review):apt.izzysoft.de/fdroid/index/aHere is the developer's blog:livefasteattrashraccoon.githubFinally, from here you can download the .apk or .deb package without using the online stores. line:github.com/LiveFastEatTrashRacOne last recommendationThe public's response will be important to enable the further development of this app.If you want to test it on Mastodon, I recommend using instances running the glitch-soc fork. Among these, I'd recommend the infosec.exchange instance, which is well managed by @jerry. And of course, but only if you communicate in Italian or Esperanto, I'd be happy to host you on my poliversity.it instance.Regarding Friendica, I recommend two instances: friendica.world, managed by @ruud and featuring a rather lively timeline, and, of course, social.trom.tf, excellently managed by @tio.If you communicate in Italian, I'd be happy to host you on my poliverso.org instance.Greetings to all and let me know if you need further information, if you have tried the app and how you found it.FrancescoYou can also interact with me through the Mastodon account @informapirata and the Friendica account @notizie

That's quite a wall of text...

@ruud @jerry @pfefferle @tio @notizie @informapirata @janTeko @macfranc @alex Today I'm downloading the app and trying it out.

@pfefferle @jerry @informapirata @notizie @macfranc @alex @janTeko @ruud Fantastic! Awesome job. And I for sure will give it more of a try. I've already made a few friends use it and so far so good. And thank you for mentioning our instance!

@tio Your instance is one of those shortlisted by Raccoon both because it's very well moderated and because it has a local timeline accessible even without logging in.I'm glad you'll recommend this app to your contacts. In that regard, although none of us are in love with Google (🤬), we must admit that the presence of the 1.0 release on the Play Store is essential to overcome the psychological barrier of all those users who do not want to go to alternative stores or download the .apk package.@pfefferle @jerry @informapirata @notizie @alex @fediverse @janTeko @ruud

Why are people upvoting this?

If OP used AI to "make" this post, obviously the app is gonna be slop too

@givesomefucks I'm sorry, but you're making serious and false claims that do not honor either your reputation or your ability to recognize the synthetic origin of a text or code.I wrote the post in Italian and first translated it into English (a language I don't know) using a machine translation system. I then did a back translation to make sure everything was at least comprehensible.Regarding the app, if you had the necessary knowledge, you could take a look at the code to understand that the development wasn't done with vibe coding, but was done over the course of almost two years, integrating observations and addressing issues.

I mean, the 1h old account, who’s first comment was this post, chiming in about downloading the app wasn’t a giveaway?

Nvm it’s weird fediverse shit

using a machine translation system.

So...

AI "wrote" this post, like I said...

the development wasn’t done with vibe coding, but was done over the course of almost two years, integrating observations and addressing issues.

And AI coded it to?

You're just saying you put more effort in instead of just vibes?

Even your comment sounds like AI, it disagrees but then immediately acknowledged everything I said was correct.

Even your fucking chat or knows I'm right, you just told it to say I'm wrong.

Why would anyone download this fucking slop?

@givesomefucks The post was not even published by the developer of the app (me btw), how can you assume the way its code was written by just reading an article by someone else? If you want to help with development you're welcome! @macfranc

Well...

The fact that so many zombie account are suddenly all active and super supportive of this ai slop?

Like, this is some of the worst astroturfing Ive ever seen.

Have you seen the new show? It's on Tubu. It's literally on Heebee. It's on Poodee with ads. It's literally on Dippy. You can probably find it on Weeno. Dude it's on Gumpy. It's a Pheebo original. It's on Poob. You can watch it on Poob. You can go to Poob and watch it. Log onto Poob right now. Go to Poob. Dive into Poob. You can Poob it. It's on Poob. Poob
has it for you. Poob has it for you.

Posts about Fediverse interoperability are always a mess of different flavors of internet nerds who post in radically different formats clashing. It’s a glorious mess.

Personally I think micro blogging is an atrocious anti-discourse format but I also think anyone who writes the word “discourse” is automatically not worth listening to. So what do I know.

Insert 23 redundant hashtags about open source software here and tag eight accounts run by three people across six instances

(Mastodon friends I appreciate you but your posts are painful to look at through the Lemmy interface good god)

I share your concerns about AI slop but you're being a bit of a jerk.

Not everyone speaks English.

My favorite part of AI hallucinations is "finally" being halfway thru their arbitrary numbered list...

It wasn't "finally" as in "this is the last item in the list" it was "finally" as in "mastodon users can finally do this"

@fizzle Given that machine translation systems have nothing to do with LLMs, I see you understand perfectly well that it's perfectly fine not to know English, just as it's perfectly fine to use machine translation systems.However, I can't be concerned about those who manage to turn what should be a legitimate and justified concern about the proliferation of AI-generated texts into a complete obsession.@givesomefucks

it's the giant text isn't it?!?!? Or repeating it both in the title and then still yet over again, once more?!?!

Well I still think it's interesting content, after that.

Chatbot accounts always crash out after running out of tokens...

Always turns into jr high insults after 2-3 replies in a row.

@ggtdbz There's something I don't understand: from the desktop and smartphone web interface , it appears the display isn't that abnormal. Do you see it differently?I also don't understand the reference to Mastodon: most Mastodon users write in plain text, while only users of certain forks can use formatted text. What's the problem that bothers you reading Mastodon users' comments?@FrederikNJSPS: I wrote from my Friendica account because the images sent by Mastodon are not always readable on Lemmy

@cannedtuna Can you explain better what you mean? Which accounts have been active for an hour?

@cannedtuna I understand what you mean: you're referring to the post published by @lorenaal (here's Lemmy's post and here's the original on Friendica).As you can see from the image, friendica.world/profile/lorena…The date you find on Lemmy is because the user has likely never participated in a discussion on Lemmy.world.lemmy.world/u/lorenaal@friendi…I therefore ask you to amend your comment in light of the arguments I've presented.

@macfranc @cannedtuna How come I'm also registered on lemmy.world? I've never registered on lemmy.world.

New account, was an hour old at the time I wrote the above, first thing they do is hop to this post to comment about downloading it.

There’s been a slew of posts recently about new apps, primarily on !selfhosted@lemmy.world that appear to be AI coded.

I did see you’ve got a number of people involved in this project so, maybe it’s unwarranted suspicion. My apologies if that’s the case. Just not a fan of AI.

Interesting how Lemmy shows the date. Fair enough.

@lorenaal no, tranquilla 😅 non ti sei mai iscritta su lemmy.world. Quella è solo la pagina del tuo account Friendica che viene riportata su un'altra istanza. Si tratta di una cosa normale, perché oggi sei "entrata" in un Thread ospitato in una community di lemmy.world e quindi è stato creato un "profilo fantasma" che serve all'istanza lemmy.world per gestire i tuoi post e le tue interazioni@cannedtuna

There are many cases where AI is harmful, translation from Italian to English is not one of them.

@cannedtuna New account, was an hour old at the time I wrote the above, first thing they do is hop to this post to comment about downloading it....and as I explained here, it wasn't a "new" account, but rather one that was "intercepted" by Lemmy.world only when he replied to my post.

...

So you think OP honestly typed it themselves and just used standard AI formatting?

Bro...

AI may have wrote it first in Italian and then translated. But even if OP won't admit it, a human didn't write the post in any language.

They're just lying because they can't image it's obvious to some people

@macfranc @cannedtuna Oddio che casino! 🤯

Add in Orbot/Proxy support and I'm there day 1

Tbf, no one will,...

but still!

If the code is Ai slop, we might could, I dunno... have some proof? Maybe? It just might help your argument avoid another goal-post move.

have some proof?

OP saying it?

the development wasn’t done with vibe coding, but was done over the course of almost two years, integrating observations and addressing issues.

But if everyone stopped to investigate every piece of slop thrown in front of them, all they'd do all day is that.

It just might help your argument avoid another goal-post move.

This isn't an argument, if you think goalposts are moving it means you still don't understand any of it.

But most importantly, I don't really give a fuck if people end up understanding. Go for it bro, slop em up, get those steaks super sloppy and slick your hair back reaaaaaal nice.

I think you're extrapolating statements as admissions for the sake of your own benefit.

The OP being slop doesn't mean the original dev's code is.

the development wasn’t done with vibe coding, but was done over the course of almost two years, integrating observations and addressing issues.

...isn't an admission of vibecoding

So, let's back up.

https://github.com/LiveFastEatTrashRaccoon/RaccoonForLemmy

There's the source, so you don't even have to go looking yourself, not that you were.

None of this would have been necessary if the platforms allowed native interoperability with a protocol that is literally designed to be interoperable.