romanzolotarev.com is a Fediverse instance that uses the ActivityPub protocol. In other words, users at this host can communicate with people that use software like Mastodon, Pleroma, Friendica, etc. all around the world.
This server runs the snac software and there is no automatic sign-up process.
1) The text formatting options is much better than in Mastodon. At least, it exists, comparing with Mastodon UI 🙂. I can use this, or this, or this, or this or even:
thisIn Mastodon I could use just text, sadly. And hope that the same markup will be parsed by Pachli or any other client, which could operate with text markup independently of Mastodon.
Sadly, the @volpeon@icy.wyvern.rip emojis looks like accessible only on Mastodon, so here I could use just default emojis 😞.
2) The supported Mastodon API is enough to connect to the Snac2 instance via Pachli. I could reading timeline, following the users, blocking the users, use likes, boosts and write posts or comments. Sadly, looks like I can't report users, or create additional groups (with separate timelines). Possibly, this function is not supported by Snac2.
3) The timeline is not strictly chronological — if I interact with some toot (fav, boost or write a reply), then it going to the top of the timeline.
4) The default HTML1 interface of snac is incredibly fast. Comparing with default interface of Mastodon (or even Misskey/Sharkey interfaces) in terms of speed on my hardware: the Misskey/Sharkey default UI is a Trabant, the Mastodon UI is Nissan Solaris, and the Snac2 UI is F1 bolid 🙂
5) There is no interface to see the list of blocked or muted users, so if I block someone, then there is no way to cancel it 😞.
6) There is strange behavior of the timeline — it I press the "More..." URL to load the next page of toots and press "Like" or "Boost" on some toot, then the first page is loaded, not the second 😞. So, it is better to open interesting toots in the separate tabs and fav/boots it here, not from the tab with main timeline — if I don't want to lost the reading progress.
7) If I'm a paranoid and disallow viewing my posts or posts I'm interacted with in the "Public" page of Snac — then I'm unable to see contents of my profile (which posts, replies, etc I made). The only one way to see it — use third-party clients, like Pachli.
my favorite features of 2.96:
Receiving a follow request from a #GoToSocial or #snac2 instance definitively gets extra points on the accept/refuse checklist ;-)
@grunfink@comam.es what does it mean when mentions don't turn into links? (Maybe tags still work... #Snac #Snac2 )
Is it possible to have my snac instance use TOR to federate *and* to have it available over clearweb at the same time?
Would this mean that my instance pulls data from other instances using TOR, but other instances would only use the clearweb to pull data from me, so they could be blocked at the national level?
the other day i took some time to install #snac2 on my small server. the whole experience was a breath of fresh air, and it made me excited to participate in the #fediverse again, this time owning and controlling my own data.
i just wanted to say a heartfelt thank you to @grunfink@comam.es and other snac2 developers and contributors for this awesome human-made, human-scale software. i'm looking forward to trying to contribute to it in whatever small ways i can.