(Reminder: if you have shared the original version in a public post with an old version up, replacing it with this one might be more helpful.)
I want to preface, if you see a mistake in the image or have something helpful to add, go right ahead! I still have the layered files for this, so edits can be made very quickly. I chose to handwrite the text to avoid font copyright infringement.
Feel free to share this poster as you wish, especially on Reddit. All I ask is that you respect the license and don’t remove my socials at the bottom. If anyone’s addition is included, I’ll credit them, and if this gets added onto (or translated) by someone else later, they can add their info as well.
I hope someone can find it useful with the subreddit blackouts right around the corner.
I want to thank the Beehaw admins so much for their amazing work!
(Poster edited; I spotted a duplicated word, [email protected] noted the lack of whitespace; current version is slightly larger and has been spaced out. You can still request the 800x2000 size, but know it is a little squished.)
(Edit 2: Removed defederation part as it’s not really required. The email analogy [email protected] suggested has been added, thanks!)
(Edit 3: Here’s another version making the interconnectivity a bit clearer and mentioning some cool-looking reader apps that have been suggested! Also made the image slightly longer for ease of viewing. I might do some small cosmetic changes tomorrow)
(Edit 4 is here with the date updated towards the bottom. This version contains a reminder to verify your email, lets people know why mlem isn’t showing up on App Store searches, and added fedia.io to Kbin instances. Some colors have been changed slightly to be more mobile friendly, as this is written and edited from a phone tablet. If you have a hard time reading this because of the changes, please let me know. Thank you all for the help and tips!)
Alright so this seems a good a place as any to ask dumb questions... This almost feels like the 90's and using the internet for the first time 🤣
So, I'm viewing this post on lemmy.world, but the content itself is from beehaw.org, simple enough. What happens if beehaw.org is unavailable, let's say permanently shut down, right now? Is the past content still available on other instances or does it just poof? Could I still view this post one day, week, month, year after a shut down? Could I still comment? The image itself I see is hosted directly on the beehaw instance so that obviously depends on a stable instance.
If an instance shuts down, they're supposed to send a "self destruct" notice to all other instances to delete their content, but technically speaking, instances do not have to listen to these notices. Thus, it's possible that deleted or unavailable content still remains available on some platforms.
And what about user accounts ?
Lemmy's source code shows that user account deletion means the hosted instance will purge and redact all of that user's content and send a notice to other instances as well, but since it's federation, nobody is required is to listen to these commands, although the vast majority will.
The concern which has been raised about this is also what happens if one of those other instances is down when the purge message goes out. It's a risk of a federated system like this, that because there isn't a single source of truth, that instances fall out of sync with each other and content is semi permanent... That's also one of the strengths of a federated service, so I think that should also help foster a better community.
so you're saying that even if a post started on a specific instance (like beehaw, for example), and then got deleted from the main source, other instances would still be able to see it? kind of like the light from a supernova reaching us a million light years away?
Well, the originating instance would no longer serve that post, so if it were cached on other instances, yes. Otherwise, no. Also, "good" instances will honour the deletion signal from the originating instance.
Why is it a good thing to encourage instances to respect deletion of other instances?
No. Each instance hosts its own contents.