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The Fediverse is a network of thousands of independent social media servers of many different kinds.

The most popular kind is Mastodon, but it wasn't the first and isn't the only one. Some of the accounts you interact with are on other server types, e.g. @Iancylkowski is on Pixelfed and @theatticdwellers is on PeerTube. There are many Fediverse server types:

➡️ fedi.tips/what-other-kinds-of-

Whichever type you're signed up on, they connect together to form a social network called the Fediverse.

Vincent Biret

@feditips I was wondering whether there's a trick to use the different services but with a single identity? I don't want to have a set of credentials for each service. Maybe with decentralized identity?

@vincentbiret

Your account is tied to the server you signed up on. You can't use it to sign in on another server, even if it was the same type of server.

@feditips that's the impression I had. It just feels strange to have multiple sets of credentials for the FEDIverse when identity federation has existed for over a decade. And now we even have decentralized identities removing the need for a central service.

@vincentbiret

Could you give some examples of identity federation which don't involve centralised services or blockchain?

@feditips without centralized services or blockchain I'm not aware of federated identity solutions out there. I guess you could technically do it with certificates but that ultimately relies on an authority, CRL, etc...

@feditips @vincentbiret
That was the whole point of the original OpenID back in 2005 (notably NOT OpenID Connect).

Supposedly the current alternative is IndieAuth but I haven't looked into that one yet.

@TomatoKigu @feditips first time I hear about it but I'll have to check it out!