<![CDATA[On moving an actor's content.]]>On moving an actor's content.

1/

One of the things that comes up on the Fediverse from time to time — is the ability for people to move their accounts.

For example, someone started off at:

＠joeblow＠example.com

But, now wants to "move" to:

＠misterx＠host.example

There is a mechanism to do that.

That mechanism moves their followers, their followees, BUT —

It does NOT move their content over!

That is a problem. Could we address this‽

...

]]>https://bb.devnull.land/topic/bc8bd4af-a0ae-40d5-869c-77a3af281893/on-moving-an-actor-s-content.RSS for NodeSun, 17 May 2026 14:27:18 GMTSat, 16 May 2026 15:25:24 GMT60<![CDATA[Reply to On moving an actor's content. on Sun, 17 May 2026 02:38:56 GMT]]>Although I could be mistaken, I think the way Hubzilla accomplishes Nomadic Identity and Cloned Accounts is outside of ActivityPub.

Forte does this using ActivityPub only (and FEP-ef61).

The technical details are way beyond me, but it does seem to work.]]>https://bb.devnull.land/post/https://forum.statler.ws/item/f4cd98d9-e097-4c62-85ed-258efc00272dhttps://bb.devnull.land/post/https://forum.statler.ws/item/f4cd98d9-e097-4c62-85ed-258efc00272dSun, 17 May 2026 02:38:56 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to On moving an actor's content. on Sun, 17 May 2026 02:34:45 GMT]]>@christopher

Yes, I think so.

]]>https://bb.devnull.land/post/https://mastodon.social/users/reiver/statuses/116587579640079363https://bb.devnull.land/post/https://mastodon.social/users/reiver/statuses/116587579640079363Sun, 17 May 2026 02:34:45 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to On moving an actor's content. on Sun, 17 May 2026 02:32:50 GMT]]>@reiver ⊼ (Charles) :batman: Is the Mitra project working on Nomadic Identity on ActivityPub?

#^mitra

Image/photo

Federated social network
]]>https://bb.devnull.land/post/https://my.talesofmy.life/item/a8826ddb-8765-4e83-a688-8762a3aca2f5https://bb.devnull.land/post/https://my.talesofmy.life/item/a8826ddb-8765-4e83-a688-8762a3aca2f5Sun, 17 May 2026 02:32:50 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to On moving an actor's content. on Sun, 17 May 2026 02:31:35 GMT]]>@christopher

I think a lot of people do.

]]>https://bb.devnull.land/post/https://mastodon.social/users/reiver/statuses/116587567240401178https://bb.devnull.land/post/https://mastodon.social/users/reiver/statuses/116587567240401178Sun, 17 May 2026 02:31:35 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to On moving an actor's content. on Sun, 17 May 2026 02:29:55 GMT]]>@evan

Some others mentioned it (LOLA), too 🙂

I haven't fully read its specification yet. So, I don't have an opinion of it yet.

]]>https://bb.devnull.land/post/https://mastodon.social/users/reiver/statuses/116587560666848758https://bb.devnull.land/post/https://mastodon.social/users/reiver/statuses/116587560666848758Sun, 17 May 2026 02:29:55 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to On moving an actor's content. on Sun, 17 May 2026 02:28:59 GMT]]>@reiver ⊼ (Charles) :batman: Ah. Gothchya. When I think about the fediverse, I think outside just ActivityPub.]]>https://bb.devnull.land/post/https://my.talesofmy.life/item/9740f32c-3f01-404d-a83f-dc58501b359fhttps://bb.devnull.land/post/https://my.talesofmy.life/item/9740f32c-3f01-404d-a83f-dc58501b359fSun, 17 May 2026 02:28:59 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to On moving an actor's content. on Sun, 17 May 2026 02:23:35 GMT]]>@reiver have you seen LOLA?

https://swicg.github.io/activitypub-data-portability/lola

]]>https://bb.devnull.land/post/https://cosocial.ca/users/evan/statuses/116587535756111417https://bb.devnull.land/post/https://cosocial.ca/users/evan/statuses/116587535756111417Sun, 17 May 2026 02:23:35 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to On moving an actor's content. on Sun, 17 May 2026 02:19:02 GMT]]>@christopher

This thread I wrote was about trying to do this using ActivityPub.

Although I could be mistaken, I think the way Hubzilla accomplishes Nomadic Identity and Cloned Accounts is outside of ActivityPub.

]]>https://bb.devnull.land/post/https://mastodon.social/users/reiver/statuses/116587517852677351https://bb.devnull.land/post/https://mastodon.social/users/reiver/statuses/116587517852677351Sun, 17 May 2026 02:19:02 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to On moving an actor's content. on Sun, 17 May 2026 00:23:48 GMT]]>@reiver ⊼ (Charles) :batman: Doesn't Hubzilla already address this? Nomadic Identity and Cloned Accounts. It's been around for a while.]]>https://bb.devnull.land/post/https://my.talesofmy.life/item/c84c8747-e265-4b6d-bdf5-3b4dcc443496https://bb.devnull.land/post/https://my.talesofmy.life/item/c84c8747-e265-4b6d-bdf5-3b4dcc443496Sun, 17 May 2026 00:23:48 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to On moving an actor's content. on Sat, 16 May 2026 23:07:01 GMT]]>@benpate
@julian @reiver
Last I recall the biggest incompatibilities with LORA and this FEP are just naming. And iirc biggest differences was just who was in charge of the migration, source or target, among other differences that flow from that like pushing forward signed objects and etc.

]]>https://bb.devnull.land/post/https://neuromatch.social/users/jonny/statuses/116586762858163953https://bb.devnull.land/post/https://neuromatch.social/users/jonny/statuses/116586762858163953Sat, 16 May 2026 23:07:01 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to On moving an actor's content. on Sat, 16 May 2026 23:06:15 GMT]]>Fantastic. Thank you! I'll give it another read 🙂

@jonny @julian @reiver

]]>https://bb.devnull.land/post/https://mastodon.social/users/benpate/statuses/116586759827475278https://bb.devnull.land/post/https://mastodon.social/users/benpate/statuses/116586759827475278Sat, 16 May 2026 23:06:15 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to On moving an actor's content. on Sat, 16 May 2026 23:05:33 GMT]]>@benpate
@julian @reiver
Oh ya that's just in the FEPs
https://fediverse.codeberg.page/fep/fep/1580/

]]>https://bb.devnull.land/post/https://neuromatch.social/users/jonny/statuses/116586757047370909https://bb.devnull.land/post/https://neuromatch.social/users/jonny/statuses/116586757047370909Sat, 16 May 2026 23:05:33 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to On moving an actor's content. on Sat, 16 May 2026 22:43:05 GMT]]>@jonny @julian @reiver

Yeah, I hear that. Everything seems extra busy right now. You published a spec (or working document, or whatever the kids are calling them these days)

Can you share a link to that?

]]>https://bb.devnull.land/post/https://mastodon.social/users/benpate/statuses/116586668707665486https://bb.devnull.land/post/https://mastodon.social/users/benpate/statuses/116586668707665486Sat, 16 May 2026 22:43:05 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to On moving an actor's content. on Sat, 16 May 2026 22:39:30 GMT]]>@benpate
@julian @reiver
Haven't had any time to implement, many things going on between day job and secondary unpaid jobs

]]>https://bb.devnull.land/post/https://neuromatch.social/users/jonny/statuses/116586654631237472https://bb.devnull.land/post/https://neuromatch.social/users/jonny/statuses/116586654631237472Sat, 16 May 2026 22:39:30 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to On moving an actor's content. on Sat, 16 May 2026 18:43:08 GMT]]>Do you have a link to Johnnys latest work? I remember talking about it before, but it’s been a while.

@julian @reiver @jonny

]]>https://bb.devnull.land/post/https://mastodon.social/users/benpate/statuses/116585725191222059https://bb.devnull.land/post/https://mastodon.social/users/benpate/statuses/116585725191222059Sat, 16 May 2026 18:43:08 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to On moving an actor's content. on Sat, 16 May 2026 18:25:53 GMT]]>Oh, this is something I could contribute to. @reiver@mastodon.social, you should talk to @jonny@neuromatch.social ... I haven't looked into his FEP draft nor LOLA in-depth, but my first impression is that Jonny's approach is a lot more... approachable for devs.

]]>https://bb.devnull.land/post/https://activitypub.space/post/1894https://bb.devnull.land/post/https://activitypub.space/post/1894Sat, 16 May 2026 18:25:53 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to On moving an actor's content. on Sat, 16 May 2026 17:51:43 GMT]]>One last thing: Check out this video walkthrough of LOLA on Emissary: https://clip.place/w/joEazgBP38z81WsZZQNd1r

...Along with my post about how it implements LOLA, and where we are waiting for the spec process: https://emissary.dev/developers-migration

@julian @reiver @Bonfire

]]>https://bb.devnull.land/post/https://mastodon.social/users/benpate/statuses/116585523031406296https://bb.devnull.land/post/https://mastodon.social/users/benpate/statuses/116585523031406296Sat, 16 May 2026 17:51:43 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to On moving an actor's content. on Sat, 16 May 2026 17:49:25 GMT]]>Thanks Julian!

Yes, `Move` is the correct option here. I believe Mastodon uses this as a way to announce that an account has moved to another server - though I don't think it does a lot to actually transfer the account DATA to the new server.

The LOLA spec is pretty good, and I'm happy to walk through it with you if you'd like. It handles the sending a `Move` to all of your followers, along with getting your data to the new server (and all of the complexity there)

@julian @reiver @Bonfire

]]>https://bb.devnull.land/post/https://mastodon.social/users/benpate/statuses/116585513992292691https://bb.devnull.land/post/https://mastodon.social/users/benpate/statuses/116585513992292691Sat, 16 May 2026 17:49:25 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to On moving an actor's content. on Sat, 16 May 2026 17:43:41 GMT]]>@reiver Before inventing something new, my recommendation would be to check if the needs are met by LOLA (https://swicg.github.io/activitypub-data-portability/lola) or FEP-1580 (https://fediverse.codeberg.page/fep/fep/1580/).

FEP-1580 has no public implementations AFAIK. LOLA is implemented by Emissary (@benpate) and I forget who else, @Bonfire?

]]>https://bb.devnull.land/post/https://fietkau.social/users/julian/statuses/116585491431893040https://bb.devnull.land/post/https://fietkau.social/users/julian/statuses/116585491431893040Sat, 16 May 2026 17:43:41 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to On moving an actor's content. on Sat, 16 May 2026 16:04:23 GMT]]>@reiver I was considering a similar logic for one of my projects: https://todo.sr.ht/~mariusor/go-activitypub/366

]]>https://bb.devnull.land/post/https://metalhead.club/users/mariusor/statuses/116585100962120249https://bb.devnull.land/post/https://metalhead.club/users/mariusor/statuses/116585100962120249Sat, 16 May 2026 16:04:23 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to On moving an actor's content. on Sat, 16 May 2026 15:45:57 GMT]]>On moving an actor's content.

4/

Or, instead of using the ActivityPub 'Update' activity —

Couldn't we use the ActivityPub 'Move' activity.

https://www.w3.org/TR/activitystreams-vocabulary/#dfn-move

With the "origin" and "target" fields.

Where "origin" contains the old ID URL, and "target" contains the new ID URL.

.

]]>https://bb.devnull.land/post/https://mastodon.social/users/reiver/statuses/116585028477094733https://bb.devnull.land/post/https://mastodon.social/users/reiver/statuses/116585028477094733Sat, 16 May 2026 15:45:57 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to On moving an actor's content. on Sat, 16 May 2026 15:40:23 GMT]]>@reiver > ... from time to time ...
I think almost everyone is longing for portable identity/ ability to move everything, but just gave up nagging, because it is not happening. 🤷‍♂️

]]>https://bb.devnull.land/post/https://mastodon.social/users/po3mah/statuses/116585006618050200https://bb.devnull.land/post/https://mastodon.social/users/po3mah/statuses/116585006618050200Sat, 16 May 2026 15:40:23 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to On moving an actor's content. on Sat, 16 May 2026 15:37:20 GMT]]>On moving an actor's content.

3/

There a many different conventions we could come up with to allow an ActvityPub 'Update' activity to be used to change an object's "id" field.

We (the Fediverse developer community) just need to pick one that everyone is willing to implement.

For example, perhaps the "origin", "result", or "target" field should be used:

https://www.w3.org/TR/activitystreams-vocabulary/#dfn-origin

https://www.w3.org/TR/activitystreams-vocabulary/#dfn-result

https://www.w3.org/TR/activitystreams-vocabulary/#dfn-target

Or —

...

]]>https://bb.devnull.land/post/https://mastodon.social/users/reiver/statuses/116584994600554911https://bb.devnull.land/post/https://mastodon.social/users/reiver/statuses/116584994600554911Sat, 16 May 2026 15:37:20 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to On moving an actor's content. on Sat, 16 May 2026 15:27:56 GMT]]>On moving an actor's content.

2/

Could an ActivityPub 'Update' activity be used to move objects from one server to another server?

Could an 'Update' activity be used to change an object's "id" field?

After all, the "id" is used to identity what is being changed. It is the targeting mechanism.

How can you provide the old "id" to target the (old) object you want to change the "id" of, while also providing a new "id"?

https://www.w3.org/TR/activitypub/#update-activity-inbox

...

]]>https://bb.devnull.land/post/https://mastodon.social/users/reiver/statuses/116584957613686214https://bb.devnull.land/post/https://mastodon.social/users/reiver/statuses/116584957613686214Sat, 16 May 2026 15:27:56 GMT