6d ago

Lemmy Mastadon (automated crossposting?) interaction issue.

I am a mod/curator at !tycoon@lemmy.world. We cover tycoon game (Project Highrise, Transport Fever) etc.

I also have a Mastodon account:

https://mstdn.games/@Landgraab_Industries

I typically only post releases or major stuff (not demos, or smaller early access titles) on the Mastodon account. I also add screenshots and tags for visibility/UX.

Today I clicked on the #tycoon hashtag on Mastodon and to my surprise it turns out my posts on !tycoon@lemmy.world are being automatically propagated on Mastodon:

When I started !tycoon@lemmy.world, I was actually considering creating an automated Mastodon account, but it turned out to be more difficult than I anticipated (or I don't know what I am doing).

I am curious how this automated propagation got enabled. It wasn't there a week ago. Is this tied to my mstdn.games Mastodon instance? What's going on here?

I am also not sure I like the current automated propagation method because:

It links only to the Lemmy URL, it doesn't include the post URL (e.g. steam/gog page) which is IMO more important.
Does not include a screenshot of the game (critical for micro-blogging IMO).
Does not include additional tags.

Is there a way to "control" the parameters of this automatic propagation on Mastodon? E.g. by manually adding a "Thumbnail URL" on the Lemmy side, adding an additional post URL and hashtags in the Lemmy body post?

At this point, it almost looks like I am spamming the #tycoon tag. I would much prefer if there was a way to propagate my Lemmy posts on Mastodon using my manual Mastodon template (e.g. https://mstdn.games/@Landgraab_Industries/114221630323024773).

17 comments

@AgentKaryo@lemmy.world Someone on this Mastodon instance started to follow the tycoon lemmy community, that's why the posts of that community started to federate to that Mastodon instance.
Afaik there is no way to modify the appearance of Lemmy posts on other services.
- I see. I had a suspicion that this was somehow tied to my specific instance on Mastodon.
  Correct me if I am wrong, but theoretically the Lemmy (Agent Karyo) posts could have already been federated on larger Mastodon instances, but I didn't see them because someone on mstdn.games needed to have first followed !tycoon@lemmy.world for me to see them on my mstdn.games feed?
  And Lemmy content on Mastodon always follows the community = hashtag model?
  The lack of ability to customize the appearance of Lemmy posts on Mastodon is really annoying. The default method is not suitable for micro-blogging.
  I guess I will just continue doing what I did before and wait till there is a better system of managing Lemmy <> Mastodon interactions.
  
  lemmy.world recently updated from version 0.19.3 to 0.19.10. This change - for Lemmy communities to federate out posts with the community name as a hashtag - was introduced in 0.19.4, so that might be the other reason why this has only just become an issue for you.
  
  Lemmy posts that are federated to Mastodon appear there with the community name as a hashtag. You can view your Lemmy profile from your Mastodon instance and see what got federated to that instance and how it appears there.
  
  The Mastodon <> Lemmy problem has two sides. Lemmy devs are very busy and it's hard to know where should particular change be fixed. Should mastodon implement better group and page support or Lemmy more customization.
- Someone on this Mastodon instance started to follow the tycoon lemmy community
  Fascinating info. I'd noticed that posts from the lemmy community !cyberpunk@lemmy.zip were showing up on Mastodon. For example: https://mastodon.social/@Hammerjack@lemmy.zip/114286540525130294
  But how do I follow a lemmy community from mastodon? I tried a couple things but nothing worked. Thanks for any additoinal info.
  
  https://mastodon.social/@aobprepub@bookwormstory.social
  This is my community. I just put the direct link https://bookwormstory.social/c/aobprepub into the search bar and follow.

I think it's worth trying putting the link in the post body. Mastodon might generate a preview image with it.
Another option would be creating the posts on mastodon, and mentioning the lemmy community. The KDE community uses this method for their announcements. Example: https://lemmy.world/post/27768851
- Yes, the ay they do it at KDE is the most seamless imteraction currently possible between lemmy and mastodon
- Sorry, I didn't quiet get that.
  The manual Mastodon posts already include a link to the Lemmy post URL.
  What would adding a @tycoon@lemmy.world to Mastodon posts do on the Lemmy side?
  Or maybe I am not getting something?
  
  mentioning a Lemmy community on Mastodon causes the Mastodon post to appear as a new Lemmy thread on that community AFAIK

17 comments