Kb Fediverse Long Form Text

Fediverse Long-form Text (FEP-b2b8) — Complete Reference

Overview

Long-form text — blog posts, magazine articles, forum posts — is represented in ActivityPub using the Article type, defined in the Activity Streams 2.0 vocabulary. FEP-b2b8 (authored by Evan Prodromou, received 2024-11-07, status DRAFT) collects and extends guidance for publishers and consumers of multi-paragraph text objects.

The core problem FEP-b2b8 addresses: the fediverse grew around microblogging where Note dominates. Mastodon and similar clients either display Article objects as just a title + link or strip their HTML, providing a degraded experience. Many publishers worked around this by sending Note instead, causing overly-long posts in microblog feeds. FEP-b2b8 defines how to structure Article objects properly and introduces the preview property as a fallback for microblogging clients.

1. Article vs. Note — When to Use Which

The Activity Vocabulary defines:

• Note — a short written work, typically less than a single paragraph
• Article — any kind of multi-paragraph written work

Publishers SHOULD use Article for multi-paragraph content. The common workaround of stuffing long content into a Note causes problems for consumers that expect Notes to be short. FEP-b2b8 explicitly discourages it:

Publishers should avoid this workaround, and instead give consumers the full information they need to display the content correctly in their own interfaces.

The IndieWeb community uses a pragmatic heuristic: articles have titles (a name property), notes don't. The post-type-discovery algorithm checks whether name exists and is not simply a prefix of content.

2. The Article Object — Properties

id

A unique HTTPS URL that resolves to the object. Equivalent to RSS 2.0 guid.

name

The title. Should be plain text (no HTML entities like &), 75–150 characters. Equivalent to RSS 2.0 title.

"name": "Long-form text with included content"

url

Location of the full HTML representation. Can be:

• A single string URL
• A Link object with mediaType: "text/html" and href
• An array of strings/Link objects for multiple representations

At least one entry should have mediaType of text/html and protocol https. Equivalent to RSS 2.0 link.

"url": "https://example.com/2024/11/07/long-form-text.html"

Or as a Link:

"url": {
  "type": "Link",
  "mediaType": "text/html",
  "href": "https://example.com/2024/11/07/long-form-text.html"
}

summary

A brief description, teaser, abstract, or "lede." Guidelines:

• Maximum about 500 characters
• A few sentences or a short paragraph
• Can include HTML markup
• MUST NOT include embedded media (images, video, audio)
• MUST NOT include navigation elements or affordances (favourite, like, bookmark buttons)
• MUST NOT include "Read more..." links

Equivalent to RSS 2.0 description.

Summary generation hierarchy (recommended by Evan Prodromou):

1. Manual user-defined summary (preferred)
2. Use full text if it is ~500 chars and a single paragraph
3. Use first paragraph if it meets the rough guidelines
4. Truncate with ellipsis (…) as fallback

Implementation note (NodeBB): NodeBB allows a "magic string" (HTML comment) that power users can place in their content to manually select where the summary should end. The limit and marker are configurable per instance. After consulting with Matt Baer (WriteFreely), this approach was adopted alongside ellipsis on truncation.

Interop quirk (GoToSocial): GoToSocial treats summary as a content warning, not as a teaser/abstract. This means Articles with a summary may display with a content warning gate on GoToSocial, which is not the publisher's intent.

attributedTo

The author(s). Can be:

A string (just the actor id):

"attributedTo": "https://example.com/evan"

An object with full author info:

"attributedTo": {
  "type": "Person",
  "id": "https://example.com/evan",
  "name": "Evan Prodromou",
  "summary": "<p>Founder of Social Web Foundation</p>",
  "url": "https://example.com/evan",
  "icon": {
    "type": "Image",
    "mediaType": "image/png",
    "url": "https://example.com/evan.png"
  }
}

A Link (for authors without an AS2 representation):

"attributedTo": {
  "type": "Link",
  "href": "https://example.com/evan",
  "name": "Evan Prodromou"
}

An array for multiple authors (strings, objects, or Links mixed).

published

Publication date as YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SSZ. Equivalent to RSS 2.0 pubDate.

updated

Date of last update, same format. If absent, consumers can assume the object has not been modified since published.

image

A notable or representative image. Can be an id string or Image object. Multiple values are allowed (array), ordered by importance (most important first). Consumers use as many or as few as needed.

content

The full text of the article in HTML. The HTML MUST be a sanitized subset — no CSS, no JavaScript. Allowed elements:

Notable omissions: <h1> (the title goes in name), <table>, <div>, <figure>, <figcaption>, <details>, <summary>.

The content MUST NOT include navigation links (home page, category pages), affordance buttons (favourite, like, bookmark), or "Read more" links. Any embedded media (<img>, <video>, <audio>) in content SHOULD also be listed in attachment for pre-fetching.

source

If the text was originally created in a different format (e.g., Markdown), the original source for editing:

"source": {
  "mediaType": "text/markdown",
  "content": "# My Article\n\nFirst paragraph..."
}

replies

A URL resolving to a collection of reply objects. Replies are usually Note objects but can be Article or Question. Equivalent to RSS 2.0 comments.

inReplyTo

If the article is a reply to another ActivityPub object, a string URL or JSON object. If it is commentary on a web resource (not an AP object), a Link object with href pointing to that resource.

attachment

Additional media for pre-fetching without parsing content:

"attachment": [
  {
    "type": "Image",
    "id": "https://example.com/image1.jpg",
    "mediaType": "image/jpeg"
  }
]

tag

Two important tag types:

• Hashtag: { "type": "Hashtag", "name": "example", "href": "https://..." }
• Mention: { "type": "Mention", "href": "https://..." }

context

Link to a larger collection — an article series, newspaper column, blog category, magazine section. Can be an array. (For topic tagging, tag with Hashtag may be more appropriate.)

generator

Information about the publishing software. Usually an Application or Service object with id and name.

to, cc, bcc, bto, audience

Addressing properties. Determine delivery targets in ActivityPub and provide access control. Publishers and consumers MUST NOT disclose Article properties to anyone except addressees and creator(s).

sensitive

Marks content as potentially sensitive (nudity, violence, spoilers, etc.). When set, consumers should obscure the article until the user opts in.

To help users decide whether to read, display these properties (in order):

1. dcterms:subject — Dublin Core subject string(s). Most informative and least likely to leak sensitive content.
2. tag — Hashtag names. Less human-readable than subject.
3. name — Title. Authors may leak sensitive material here.
4. summary — Last resort. A well-written summary likely includes significant excerpts of the sensitive content.

Using dcterms:subject requires extending the context:

{
  "@context": [
    "https://www.w3.org/ns/activitystreams",
    "https://purl.archive.org/miscellany",
    {"dcterms": "http://purl.org/dc/terms/"}
  ],
  "type": "Article",
  "sensitive": true,
  "dcterms:subject": ["Citizen Kane"]
}

3. The preview Property — Microblogging Fallback

The preview property is a key innovation in FEP-b2b8 for bridging the Article/microblogging gap. It provides a Note that gives a well-formatted preview of the article:

{
  "type": "Article",
  "id": "https://example.com/article.jsonld",
  "name": "Long-form text with preview",
  "url": "https://example.com/article.html",
  "attributedTo": "https://example.com/evan",
  "summary": "<p>This is the summary.</p>",
  "content": "<p>Full article content here...</p>",
  "published": "2024-11-07T12:00:00Z",
  "image": {
    "type": "Link",
    "href": "https://example.com/image.jpg",
    "mediaType": "image/jpeg"
  },
  "preview": {
    "type": "Note",
    "attributedTo": "https://example.com/evan",
    "content": "<p><strong>Long-form text with preview</strong></p><p>This is the summary.</p>",
    "published": "2024-11-07T12:00:00Z",
    "attachment": {
      "type": "Link",
      "href": "https://example.com/image.jpg",
      "mediaType": "image/jpeg"
    }
  }
}

Rules for preview:

• Type SHOULD be Note
• Content should combine the name (as bold text) and summary
• MUST NOT include a link to the HTML representation
• MUST NOT include navigation or affordance elements
• Metadata from the Article (attributedTo, published, updated, tag) can be repeated; consumers fall back to the Article's properties if absent
• The Article's image may be included as attachment in the preview
• The preview MAY have its own id
• The consumer (not the preview) is responsible for displaying a link to the full article content

Community debate: trwnh raised concerns that preview "muddies the waters" by treating separate objects as unified. The mechanism remains in the FEP but its long-term acceptance is not certain.

4. Complete Example — Minimal Article

{
  "@context": "https://www.w3.org/ns/activitystreams",
  "type": "Article",
  "id": "https://example.com/2024/11/07/my-post.jsonld",
  "name": "My Blog Post Title",
  "url": "https://example.com/2024/11/07/my-post.html",
  "attributedTo": "https://example.com/users/alice",
  "summary": "<p>A brief teaser about the post content.</p>",
  "content": "<p>First paragraph of the full article.</p><p>Second paragraph with more detail.</p>",
  "published": "2024-11-07T12:00:00Z"
}

5. Complete Example — Article with External Content Only

An Article can omit content and link to external HTML instead:

{
  "@context": "https://www.w3.org/ns/activitystreams",
  "type": "Article",
  "id": "https://example.com/2024/11/07/external.jsonld",
  "name": "My External Article",
  "url": "https://example.com/2024/11/07/external.html",
  "attributedTo": "https://example.com/users/alice",
  "summary": "<p>A brief description of the article available at the URL.</p>",
  "published": "2024-11-07T12:00:00Z"
}

6. RSS 2.0 Property Mapping

FEP-b2b8 explicitly draws parallels to RSS 2.0 for publishers familiar with syndication:

7. How Consumers Should Display Articles

FEP-b2b8 includes UI guidance for stream-oriented interfaces:

Standard display (with image)

Show: author avatar + name, name as headline, image as hero/thumbnail, summary as teaser text, published date, link to url for full reading.

Without image

Same as above, minus the image. The summary gets more visual prominence.

Without title

If name is absent, show the summary or beginning of content directly, similar to how a Note would appear but with a link to the full content.

Sensitive content

If sensitive is true, obscure the article behind a content warning. Show dcterms:subject or tag names or name to help the user decide whether to proceed.

With preview

If the consumer does not natively support Article, display the preview Note instead. The consumer is responsible for adding a link to the full article.

Fallback for consumers that only display short text

Show name, summary, and a link to url so users can read the full content in a browser.

8. Interoperability Matrix

Publishing platforms (send Article type)

Consuming platforms (display Article type)

9. The Note vs. Article History

Understanding why FEP-b2b8 exists requires knowing the history:

2017: Mastodon treated Note and Article identically, stripping most HTML from both. When this was raised, Mastodon changed Article to display only as a title + link. This created a fundamental disincentive to use Article.

2019–2023 (SocialHub discussions): Years of debate over what distinguishes Note from Article. Proposals included:

• Length-based (short vs. multi-paragraph)
• Formality-based (informal message vs. publication)
• Title-based (articles have name, notes don't — IndieWeb approach)
• Formatting-based (notes have minimal markup, articles have rich layout)

No spec-level resolution was reached.

2024: The Social Web Foundation identified long-form text as a priority. Evan Prodromou convened implementer workshops with WordPress, WriteFreely, Ghost, and others. FEP-b2b8 was submitted November 7, 2024.

2025: Threads announced Article support. Bonfire adopted FEP-b2b8. WriteFreely worked on implementation. Community debates continued around the preview mechanism and whether types should be semantic or length-based.

10. Known Issues and Pitfalls

• Mastodon's degraded display is the #1 practical problem. Articles appear as just a title and link in Mastodon's UI, losing boosts, replies, and in-app engagement. This is why many publishers historically sent Note.
• GoToSocial summary-as-CW: GoToSocial interprets summary as a content warning, not a teaser. Articles with summaries will display behind a CW gate, which is not what the publisher intended.
• NodeBB engagement drop: When NodeBB switched from Note to Article for longer posts, engagement dropped because the truncated summary was less compelling than the full Note.
• No <h1> in content: The allowed HTML subset starts at <h2>. The article title belongs in name, not in the HTML content.
• No <table> in content: Tables are not in the allowed element set. Content with tabular data must use alternative markup or be simplified.
• preview debate: trwnh and others question whether preview is the right mechanism, arguing it creates ambiguity about which object properties are authoritative.
• summary length is guidance, not a hard limit: "about 500 characters" is a recommendation. NodeBB made it configurable per instance. Some implementations may use longer summaries.

11. Scope Limitations

FEP-b2b8 explicitly does NOT cover:

• Book-length or longer text
• Specific media types beyond text with embedded media
• Client-to-server (C2S) article creation workflows
• Full-text search or discovery mechanisms