Should Mastodon users be able to create threads on Lemmy?
Should Mastodon users be able to create threads on Lemmy?
There have been some requests to make it possible for Mastodon users to create threads on Lemmy. At the moment this is not possible because Mastodon cant set the title field which is mandatory in Lemmy. The same problem affects other projects like Pleroma or Friendica (where title is optional).
It is unlikely that Mastodon would make any change in this regard, so a workaround in Lemmy would be necessary. I implemented such a workaround which makes the title optional when receiving a federated post, and uses the first line of the content instead. This workaround could also be made configurable per instance or per community.
But to be honest I am not sure the workaround is a good idea in general, as it could result in bad titles, and generally more low-quality posts. Thats why I want to know what the community thinks about it.
I'm personally not in favor of Mastodon posts, since the format (and therefore type of discussion that occurs there) is different than on Lemmy. That being said, my understanding is that many people would disagree with me, and I'm generally in favor of having options as opposed to not having options.
Yes
Closer interoperability would likely be a net positive. Since there is an impedance mismatch here, taking the first sentence seems like a reasonable way to address it. As others mentioned, users can intentionally write the first sentence as a title when posting. Since the workaround would be configurable per instance/community I don't think low quality titles are too much of a concern.