RFC Static Profile Page hosting

[berkes]

Summary

From #18 (comment) by @hawkpro-1:

.. when implemented would this be a static generated page or would there need to be a server those who cannot host a server.

Export to HTML, or simple mode or external service that generates a static HTML file to be hosted on peoples own page.

Basic example

As a person with a professional profile
When I isntall or use some tool, and fill in the relevant fields
And I run that tool
Then I get a simple, self-contained HTML file with my professional profile
So that I can host this page anywhere I want.

Motivation

There are several use-cases here:

A person using Flockingbird, wants to host their professional profile on their own website.
A person not interested in Flockingbird, but merely in having a pretty online CV on their own domain.
A person interested in the Fediverse but not in the social features of Flockingbird wants to build, host and then broadcast their profile to the fediverse.

This could be an alternative to registering at a flockingbird instance. Or an alternative to running a full featured flockingbird server. Yet still enriching the flockingbird network.

Detailed design

Three use-cases require different setups and options. Alternatives need to be discussed. Options and use-cases may be split out in separate tasks, rfcs or ideas later on.

1. Export from flockingbird: a registered member can export their profile HTML to a file. Which they can upload to their own server.
2. A distinct tool, e.g. webbased or commandline, allows a person to provide and write a resumé and profile. E.g. through forms or through structured markdown files. The tool then converts this input into a profile HTML file with CSS and images and such.
3. This tool could, alternatively, broadcast a build to a provided list of recipients over ActivityPub. Requirements for AP do place requirements on the hosting env of the profile-file.

Drawbacks

• When not broadcasted, the flockingbird network is not aware of this profile, and cannot index or include it.
• As a static file, adding tags, notes or additional contact details is not possible. A model where such data is stored on the authors' server instead might allow this somewhat.
• Updates to the static file must be actively broadcasted separately, for the network cannot listen to changes with AP.
• Hosting env of the file needs some requirements: SSL, a FQDN, some additional assets such as json-files etc. So that activitypub servers can validate e.g. signatures.
• Static files cannot accept POST to in- and outboxes, so it is not fully AP complient (TODO: research static file blogs that have some AP implementation: do they exist, and how do these solve this issue?)
• People hosting this file don't participate fully in the network. It may keep people from registering instead, but OTOH it may attract some people who would not register at a server anyway.

Alternatives

Allowing anyone to set a FQDN for their "professional profile" page from within their account settings on a service. Through a CNAME for example. This would allow @[email protected] on example.com instance to change their profile URL from https://example.com/m/@[email protected] to e.g. https://cv.johndoe.com.

Adoption strategy

When the static file contains a link to flockingbird and/or the tool used to build the profile, in e.g. a footer, people can host this file and generate awareness and incoming links at the same time. Anyone would be free to remove this from the HTML if they wish, though.

How we teach this

N.a.

Unresolved questions

What use-cases do we want to cover? Is a static-file-hosted instance even possible on Activity Pub? Is broadcasting possible, and if so, how does it protect servers and users against rogue, misbehaving tools? Can they spam others servers to death if ran in an endless loop, for example?

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Footnotes and references