This is a unique experiment in the Fediverse.
from atomicpoet@atomicpoet.org to fediverse@lemmy.world on 26 Feb 2025 23:49
https://atomicpoet.org/objects/18e2be08-fa27-4425-b520-e93f8a4897cc

This is a unique experiment in the Fediverse.

What’s going on?

To explain what’s happening with my account:

I’ve created a new art form.

I don’t mean this in a pretentious “guy in a turtleneck sniffing his own farts” way. I mean, literally, I’ve invented a form of art that hasn’t been done before. And to understand it, you first need to understand what’s happening.

The Backstory

A long time ago, I organized photos into categories and themes for an ARG (alternate reality game) centered around r/Sizz. But then Reddit went and enshittified itself, forcing me to abandon the original plan.

From that, I learned a crucial lesson:

Keep that in mind—it’s key to what happens next.

The Problem with the Fediverse

I tried migrating the ARG to my personal server, atomicpoet.org, but I hit a wall:

The Fediverse makes it really hard to build an art community, and by extension, an ARG. The platform favors certain topics—politics and tech do well, but art? Not so much.

At first, I was frustrated. But then I had an idea:

What if the same content could look completely different depending on where you view it?

The Breakthrough

Mastodon and Lemmy attract different audiences, which means people interpret the same post in completely different ways. What if I leaned into that?

That’s when I discovered Piefed.

How It Works

On Mastodon, my posts look like scattered poetry, fiction, and chaotic personal musings:
🔗 Example

But on Piefed, those same posts take on an aesthetically unified theme:
🔗 Example

Two completely different experiences—from the exact same content. The way each platform processes posts creates a divergent reality.

The Artform

Think of it like this:

Each community on Piefed has its own theme and patterns:
🔗 Lumoura
🔗 Blue
🔗 Dustbloom
🔗 Sizz

Look closely, and you’ll see that these patterns form a larger story—one I’ll eventually compile into multiple books.

The Big Reveal

Instead of making you guess the “game,” I’m telling you upfront: this is how it works.

And none of it would be possible without ActivityPub and the way different platforms interpret content.

@fediverse@lemmy.world

#fediverse

threaded - newest

imaqtpie@sh.itjust.works on 27 Feb 2025 00:02 next collapse

The fediverse really do be like that sometimes.

But seriously, this is very cool and I love to see people being creative and sharing things like this. I saw your earlier post about this and it seemed like a great idea.

Also Piefed is awesome and it’s great to see more people discovering and talking about it.

pelespirit@sh.itjust.works on 27 Feb 2025 00:12 collapse

So is piefed an app or another type of fediverse? I’m not sure I understand. It looks like it talks to both Mastodon and Lemmy, but I could be wrong.

imaqtpie@sh.itjust.works on 27 Feb 2025 00:21 next collapse

It’s another type of content aggregator like Lemmy and Mbin. Totally unique software, not just an app.

piefed.social

It’s not as well known because it only started development a little over a year ago, well after the APIcalypse when most of the Lemmy userbase came over from reddit. But it’s been improving rapidly and already has a lot of innovative features that Lemmy lacks. I believe that one of those features is better compatibility with Mastodon, but I’m not entirely sure. It’s also written in Python which makes it easy for a variety of developers to contribute if they so wish.

mesamunefire@piefed.social on 27 Feb 2025 00:33 collapse

Its exceptionally good at federation and has a unique(?) solution to multiple like communities (Topics). Topics can be lemmy communities, but can also be peertube channels. Example: https://piefed.social/topic/wholesome

It also has anonymous downvoting so you don't have the issue like lemmy where admins know exactly how everyone votes across all of lemmy.

imaqtpie@sh.itjust.works on 27 Feb 2025 00:55 collapse

Indeed.

Although the private voting feature isn’t all that effective. First of all it doesn’t work with trusted instances (which includes many of the big ones), and secondly it only obscures the voter identity, it doesn’t completely randomize it.

See these posts for context.

piefed.social/post/408115#post_replies

piefed.social/post/205362#comment_2496068

I don’t necessarily think these limitations are a bad thing, because totally private voting could theoretically be a vector for bad actors to manipulate the visibility of content on the fediverse. This solution provides some protection for the average user but also makes it possible for admins to identify vote manipulation if it becomes a problem.

notanapple@lemm.ee on 27 Feb 2025 00:28 collapse

Its a lemmy alternative written in Flask (Python). Piefed has got more moderation features and is probably faster to develop being written in Python. Both lemmy and piefed can talk to Mastodon (and obv to each other too).

rimu@piefed.social on 27 Feb 2025 00:39 next collapse

That sounds awesome!

Maybe PieFed's new feeds feature could be used to combine communities in interesting ways - https://piefed.social/post/500805

TropicalDingdong@lemmy.world on 27 Feb 2025 00:52 next collapse

I don’t mean this in a pretentious “guy in a turtleneck sniffing his own farts” way.

<img alt="" src="https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/48772eb1-fc79-4c40-bb4d-abd9d4cac071.png">

urda@lebowski.social on 27 Feb 2025 01:44 next collapse

Digging your energy though, love seeing this excitement!

brutallyhonestcritic@lemmy.world on 27 Feb 2025 02:06 next collapse

It’s cool and all. But a completely new art form? I think you’re overselling it…then again, if it’s a marketing tactic, it’s a solid one.

MishaVanMollusq@sfba.social on 27 Feb 2025 02:46 next collapse

@atomicpoet @fediverse

You’ve rediscovered Social Media Branch Planting.

With a Mastodonian Trumpeting and a Fediverse Floorish.

Is it Art?
Is it New?

Only Time and The Culture Vultures will tell.

Genius@lemmy.zip on 27 Feb 2025 05:32 next collapse

The two examples look the same to me

Jackhammer_Joe@lemmy.world on 27 Feb 2025 06:27 next collapse

<theyarethesamepicture.jpg>

cenobyte@mastodon.thirring.org on 27 Feb 2025 12:54 next collapse

@atomicpoet @fediverse That's actually really cool. Perspective is fluid an depends on where you are. Fascinating idea

Emperor@feddit.uk on 27 Feb 2025 16:58 next collapse

I don’t mean this in a pretentious “guy in a turtleneck sniffing his own farts” way.

It’s better than finding a guy in a turtleneck sniffing my farts. I don’t want to kink-shame but it was a crowded bus and he could have asked first.

Feathercrown@lemmy.world on 27 Feb 2025 17:06 next collapse

This is so cool!

NocturnalMorning@lemmy.world on 27 Feb 2025 17:57 collapse

Sounds like marketing, not art.