cross-posted from: https://lemmy.zip/post/68248986

The Button is back for Season 4!

You can sign up now at thebutton.social to earn a few bonuses before the new season begins.

What is The Button?

At first glance, it's simple: there's just one button.

Pressing it is easy.

Knowing when to press it? That's where things get interesting.

Every season introduces a new theme, new mechanics, and new ways for the community to influence the game. Whether you're racing to the top of the leaderboard, collecting achievements, or trying to outsmart everyone else... every press matters.

Season 4 brings a brand new theme, fresh content, and plenty of surprises that will be revealed once the game goes live. If you've played before, you'll find new mechanics to explore. If you're new, there's never been a better time to jump in.

Sign up today to claim your pre-season bonuses and be ready when the button returns!

PS - you can even claim your referral code before the game goes live. Share this around and anyone that signs up with it will earn you a bonus button press too!

Why?

I like weird internet games ok?!

I love the community built up on the fediverse (after all I do host an instance!) and wanted to give back with community games to bring people together :)

I’m aware of Photon and Alexandrite, but since Alexandrite is now unmaintained, Photon seems to be my only viable option at the moment. I’ve also been searching for an old Reddit–style UI, but so far I haven’t been able to find one that fits the bill.

Does anyone know of any active alternatives, or ways to achieve that classic look with current tools?

Season 4 of The Button starts in five days; pre-register between now and then for an extra button press and other in-game bonuses.

For those who haven't played before, The Button is a social game where users across four teams compete to keep a button's timer from running out. Players use their limited button presses strategically to maximize benefits for their team while interacting with other players in the in-game chat. Additional puzzles and features unique to each season add optional complexity to the game as well.

Users log in using their existing Fediverse or Bluesky account, with no seperate account needed. The game is developed and managed by @demigodrick@lemmy.zip, the admin of lemmy.zip and piefed.zip.

cross-posted from: https://toast.ooo/post/15132563

https://canvas.fediverse.events/

Canvas is a collaborative pixel canvas for the Fediverse! It's live until July 20th @ 4am UTC!

Socials

• !canvas@toast.ooo
• @canvas@fediverse.events
• #canvas:fediverse.ooo
• Discord (bridged)
• Appearance on FiresideFedi!

Using lemmy.zip.

I have gone in through my web browser to change my display name, but my name remains the same both in the web browser and on the app when I post.

Am I missing something?

cross-posted from: https://toast.ooo/post/15112115

Canvas 2026 starts tomorrow!

tomorrow! it's tomorrow! in almost 24 hours we begin!

if you haven't heard of this before-- Canvas is a yearly event grant's been running since 2023, and it's a real-time collaborative pixel canvas that runs for 48 hours, just for the Fediverse!

How do I join?

On the website you'll be able to login using fediverse-auth (it works similar to "sign in with google")

if your app supports it, you can also login directly with it ✨

You can also test the login process directly on the site (click the emojis!)

Changelog (vs last week)

Contributions welcome! sc07.dev/sc07/canvas

• [fbebffc] Allow color picking the void or empty space (Ategon)
• [c5a17eb] Add a pixel available chime offset setting (Ategon)
• [7bef4c8] Prevent the settings sidebar from resizing (Ategon)
• [c04c9e1] Make admin and mod buttons compactable (Ategon)
• [5ec44d6] Allow scrolling through keybindings (Ategon)
• [e0fbffa] Show initial canvas coordinates properly (Ategon)
• [8473cd5] chore: update all dependencies (Grant)
• [f42798b] Fix extra color pick on primary when selecting with secondary (Ategon)
• [7e4d906] docs: add AI policy (Grant)
• [fe62158] Add Cursors of other Users & fix eslint checks (Ategon, Grant)
• [01bf450] Add keybindings for zoom (Ategon)
• [c60b152] Add a custom bottom mobile bar with a different color picker (Ategon)
• [22ea4dc] Add panning using keyboard (Ategon)
• [0d3e249] Makes the palette ignore dark reader converting (Ategon)
• [4d6b217] Add the pixel count to the favicon (Ategon)
• [9b7a7ea] ci: remove unused variables (Grant)
• [a6be389] ci: move image build (Grant)

Socials

• !canvas@toast.ooo
• @canvas@fediverse.events
• #canvas:fediverse.ooo
• Discord (bridged)
• Appearance on FiresideFedi!

The spam campaign attacking Writefreely instances is out of control. Can you contact the admins you know?

@fediverse

Yesterday I received this message from my friend @elettrona:

Are you the one running the "writefreely blogs" bot, aka writefreely@poliverso.org? Because there are tons of English accounts full of links that post nonstop.

And indeed, that account republishing posts from some Italian instances had a staggering amount of spam.

This is due to a very serious vulnerability that hasn't yet been patched by the developers, but which has (obviously) started to be exploited on a large scale.

I've notified all the Italian administrators of @writefreely instances, but I'm having some difficulty contacting the foreign ones.

These are the ones with the most users:

https://write.otter.homes/read
https://infosec.press/read
https://blog.liberta.vip/read
https://write.tedomum.net/read
https://val-vgms.gay/read
https://bolha.blog/read

But there are many others.

Is there anyone among you who can try this or at least spread the word?

Note: As I mentioned, the vulnerability has been known for a long time and is currently being exploited on a large scale.

https://github.com/writefreely/writefreely/issues/1649

I follow various "question-based" communities like AskLemmy, NoStupidQuestions etc and I have noticed some strange patterns recently. Mainly that some topics come up over and over again, like Nintendo Switch 2, foreign alphabets and foreign languages (especially Japanese). The users asking these questions will often (but not always) delete them after about an hour.

Looking into it further I've so far found 5 different accounts asking these questions. 4 of them have very similar profile pictures of characters from FPS video games (Battlefield, CoD and Metro), and they were all created between march 22nd and march 29th. On a recent thread of one of them, I asked them whether they were all alt-accounts. They immediately deleted the thread.

On a similar note, I asked another one of them about their thread deletions about a week ago. Once again, it got deleted rather quickly.

Sooo... Is the dead internet finally coming to Lemmy and we're seeing an influx of LLM-based bot users which are given instructions on specific topics to talk about, as well as delete any thread where they're called out? Or am I just being paranoid? Have you noticed any similar patterns on Lemmy recently?

cross-posted from: https://pawb.social/post/47167667

I am currently using Lemmy.zip through the app voyager.

I can also see content from other places like hexbear and fedinsfw.

If I login to lemmy.zip on a desktop I can use my voyager credentials. But I am only able to view lemmy.world and nothing else here.

If I login to fedinsfw on desktop I can seemingly access a multitude of places such as I can on voyager, including lemmy.zip.

I’m sorry if this is such a dumb thing to get confused about. I’ve heard explanation for what all this is, but I’m still just not quite sure I understand.

Your favorite #podcast ( you know the one. The one that's #livestream at FiresideFedi.live and the #VODS hosted at tubefree.org/@firesidefedi )

MORE LIVE-ER

...

than EVER!

...

FIRESIDE FEDI LIVE!

...

AND IN PERSON!

They said it couldn't be done! But we're doing it!

Talking with #fediverse #developers live and on stage!

...

FIVE on ONE!

...

Without a NET!

And this time the STAKES are even HIGHER!

Live studio audience!

RABID #Fedizens!

...

Rabid for content!

...

WITH SPECIAL GUEST for the first time ANYWHERE:

JOHN MASTODON! Cancelled

This won't be just any normal show!  It's the show you've waited your ENTIRE LIFE to see!

We'll also be speaking with these following extraordinary people:

• Dan Supernault - @dansup@mastodon.social

Currently building @pixelfed, @loops, @supapp, @fedidb, and more.

• Django Doucet - @django@social.coop -

Django is a Social Web Developer and Instructor of Digital Design at NAIT (Northern Alberta Institute of Technology). He has contributed to various ActivityPub projects over the years, notably WordPress-ActivityPub, and is currently developing a Progressive Web App to push forward the unrealized potential of the ActivityPub Client API.

• Vagrant Cascasian - @vagrantc@floss.social - 

Involved in various #FOSS projects such as #ReproducibleBuilds #Debian #Guix and so much more. Passionate about #Aikido and #Solar hobbyist.

• Matt Baer - @matt@writing.exchange -

#Founder https://writing.exchange/@write_as , https://musing.studio/

Lead #dev https://writing.exchange/@writefreely

Co-organizer https://gram.social/nycphotostroll

#Admin @ https://writing.exchange/

• Ben Pate - @benpate@mastodon.social -

Ben is the nerd who's building https://emissary.dev/ - an #ActivityPub server for building custom social applications on the #Fediverse .

First app on this platform is a #music #sharing #server for indie bands, called https://bandwagon.fm/ . He's also working on https://atlasmaps.org/, a #social #mapping server for adding #Federated annotations to places in the real world.

HARD HITTING questions! Questions like:

Pie or Cake?

Red, Blue or Green?

Best Fediverse Application?

Don't forget to catch us at #FOSSY #FediCon track Aug 8th! https://2026.fossy.ca/schedule/presentation/465/

IT

WILL

BE

hopefully, honestly just a really a lovely time really!

@fediverse

I have recently learned that the URL fediverse.info is in the spamRL service
BLACKLIST.

I cannot find a link on the fediverse.info site to warn the "owner" : You need to take action.

It could be a Denial of Service Campaign

You need to take action. NOW

cross-posted from: https://toast.ooo/post/15002894

Canvas 2026 is in one week!

Hello Fediverse! I've come bearing some great news, Canvas 2026 starts in one week!

What?

If you haven't heard, Canvas is a collaborative pixel event that runs yearly, exclusively for the Fediverse. You will have 48 hours to make your mark on an art piece, one pixel at a time. This year the pixel cooldown will be 30 seconds flat, but you can stack up 6 pixels at a time so you don't have to wait ages for pixels.

How do I login?

When you login to Canvas it'll prompt you to identify yourself using fediverse-auth, which involves sending a DM to your account to verify who you are (or logging in with your client of choice, if your app supports it)

Try it out on the Canvas homepage using the emojis

Changelog (compared to last week)

Contribute

• ✨ UI got a whole refresh (Ategon)
  • interface visibility toggle
  • settings/info keybinds
  • primary & secondary color selections
  • color pick keybind
  • mobile ui improvements (no longer crammed)
  • palette symbols, numbers being more readable
  • palette collapsing to avoid being covered by sidebar (can be disabled)
  • palette can now show pixels of certain color remaining in template (can be enabled)
  • palette can now hide colors not used in template (can be enabled)
  • buttons now follow sidebar (can be disabled)
  • accessibility settings: disable camera flash, keybinds, hide overlay card, compress buttons (icon only)
  • google maps-style overlay selection
  • long left click for whois instead of exclusively middle click
  • + many misc changes
• ✨ share urls (grant)
• ✨ heatmap works again (grant)
• ✨ new snapshot types (Ategon)
• added cotemplate link to sidebar (grant)
• fixed pixel stack weirdness (grant)
• fixed coords being incorrect upon zooming (grant)
• template source is no longer visible on toggle (grant)
• added initial FAQ for common problems (grant)
• and various minor changes

Socials

• !canvas@toast.ooo
• @canvas@fediverse.events
• #canvas:fediverse.ooo
• Discord (bridged)
• Appearance on FiresideFedi!

I was recently checking out the new fediverse.info (you should check it out, btw, it's very well put together), and was struck by something as I was going through. Under the apps section, where users are prompted to pick an app, there is the question: "What do you want to do?". It's not a bad question, based on how the fediverse is structured. Each app has a niche, and so you need to pick an app based on the type of interaction you want to have.

However, what I noticed is that there is no "General" category. I.e., sites that do multiple of these things well. Sure, some sites might have some type of event functionality, and you can share images/videos on mastodon, lemmy and other microblogging/forum sites, but none of it is done to a standard that would make it your go to for any of those types of functions. So, it is necessary to say "what do you want to do" in order to guide people to the site that specializes in what they want.

Yet, this being the fediverse, all of these platforms can talk to each other. So does it have to be that way? Is there a way that we could move towards a more unified and multifunctional fediverse, vs a series of islands that each have different functionalities? What would that look like, and are there any platforms out there that are doing a more unified fediverse experience, specifically having a lot of different functionality/content types in one site/app?

I know people hate facebook comparisons, but I'm thinking of the level of different content/functionality that facebook has, posts, audience control, private/group messaging, groups, marketplace, events. This is the standard that is expected for social media these days. Can the fediverse live up to that expectation?

When I delete a comment on Lemmy, people can still see that there used to be a comment by me that I later deleted. What’s the reasoning for that?

Edit: changed "post" to "comment".

I don't know if this is stance specific, but whenever I create a new post and start typing the title, it'll list some "posts that might be related", limited to the community if it's already selected.

The problem is that the posts are almost never related to anything I'm writing in the title or might even write in the body at all. For instance, I just posted a question on how to poison videos against AI, the "might be related" posts were about Donald Trump and Epstein, with another post being about WoW Mists of Pandaria.

It seems to look for the post body for all the words in the title first instead of looking for any similar title first

Always hated the ads and thought it would make sense for different fandoms to have their own instances.

Title.

I've noticed that the issues above are becoming increasingly notorious across the entirety of the Fediverse. What's being done to mititage those issues?

I've noticed quite a few top posters that are using LLMs or other software to repost news links and images, probably from Reddit, onto a bunch of specific forums. They don't identify as bot accounts, but they are fairly easy to spot because they are posting a steady stream of posts, around 2-3 posts an hour, 24/7. No sleep periods, just constant posts, at an unnatural rate.

Here's a few examples I've found:

• @Grumpus_Maximus@thelemmy.club - Joined 2 months ago, 1.69K posts, sole moderator of Build A PC Sales@lemmy.world, steady stream of posts without sleeping, only posts on 4 different forums
• @sanitation@lemmy.today - Joined 2 months ago, 1.3K posts, steady stream of posts without sleeping, only posts on 5-6 different forums
• @beep@piefed.world - Joined 3 months ago, 2K posts, moderator of 15 different forums only on piefed.world, also a hidden moderator of Beep—Meta@piefed.world (yes, with an emdash) with zero posts and zero users, seems to try to evade detection by having some posting breaks in-between

Keep an eye on these kind of posters, and report them when you see them.

Most communities are not the sole community related to their topic, there are really often other communities on the same, or similar topics.

An example: there are a tonne of art related comunities, but only a small handful of them have links to other related communities.

It would be great if there was more of a culture of propping up semi-related communities. This would be particularly useful for helping more niche communities get rolling.

cross-posted from: https://toast.ooo/post/14869203

View Countdown

Canvas is a collaborative pixel canvas that runs for 48 hours starting July 18th, 2026 at 4am UTC. This is an event hosted for the Fediverse, allowing anyone with an account with in the Fediverse to participate! More details (like source code and community links) can be found on the website

!canvas@toast.ooo