New Gemlog Feature - Comments

Posted on Friday July 2, 2021

Hey Gemini users!

Today I took some time to update the scripts that power this gemlog. As I've mentioned in the past, this server is running on my MoonGem software, so all the dynamic stuff is generated per-request via Lua scripts. In an effort to exercise the codebase a little and see if I can't find any bugs, I thought it would be fun to add a comments system to my Gemlog. I also thought it would be fun to have a socialization aspect on my gemlog. So here it is.

Note that the comments feature requires the use of a client certificate. A portion of the fingerprint for the certificate you used will be shown before your chosen "alias" on each of your comments, providing a form of immutable identification independent of nicknames.

You can delete comments you've made so long as your client presents the same certificate used to create them. It therefore follows that if you delete or lose a certificate that was used to create a comment, you can no longer delete that comment. Shoot me an e-mail if that's an issue and I'll manually delete it myself.

At the bottom of each post in the feed you'll see a link "Leave a comment". Clicking that link will direct you to a page where you can verify your alias.

Useful info:

Client certificates are required to use the comments feature on this gemlog

Comments are rate-limited to 1 every two hours per post per client

Comments are limited in length to 900 characters so that they'll fit in the URL's input slot

You can delete any comment you've made, assuming you possess the certificate used to create it

Aliases are nicknames that are shown on each of your comments

Aliases are associated with your client cert, rather than with each comment; so updating your alias applies retroactively to other comments you've made

Aliases are limited to being at most 32 characters in length (beyond that they will be truncated)

In case you want to inspect any of the code on this capsule, it's all mirrored here

Thanks for reading! Please help me test out this system :)

- panda-roux -

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[2021-07-02 23:54:46] (1a739) panda-roux:

> henlo world

[2021-07-03 06:49:36] (f2f2a) an outsider:

> Testing newline handling.

[2021-07-03 07:43:35] (d8842) panda-roux:

> Thanks! I think I got the sanitization working now :)

[2021-07-04 21:16:54] (d8842) panda-roux:

> Changed the max character limit again; 900 characters should be enough to ensure that input will fit within the valid URL buffer length

[2021-07-17 18:56:33] (0da44) Supernova:

> This comment feature is something I have been looking for. I like gemlogs but feel they are somewhat disconnected and mastodon-like without real interaction. We are a unique community and need to connect with each other more. I think the pubs are great, but having to use https to post replies seems like cheating :-)

[2021-07-17 21:26:43] (d8842) panda-roux:

> re: Supernova I'm glad to hear it! I agree, and I think your comparison to Mastodon is spot-on. There's so much we could gain from having a more tangible means of connecting with people in our community. Take care!