Jupiter Rowland

2023-04-19 22:17:05

How to find (streams) instances

Since #Streams isn't listed on any Fediverse website and probably never will, it's hard to find instances of it. But it isn't impossible.

There are two ways to do that. One is by finding a (streams) instance. Yeah, okay, that was a bad one. Try streams.hubzilla.social or Rumbly.

The other one, the one with learning wheels, is by finding an instance of one of the post-Hubzilla, pre-(streams) #Zotlabs projects because the-federation.info lists or used to list them. It still lists Zap.

Go to that instance. If it's (streams), you've technically found an instance. But where's the fun in stopping, no matter how inviting Rumbly appears? Let's find more. Let's go instance-hunting. If you've started on an instance of a Zotlabs project, you'll need to do that anyway because you aren't on a (streams) instance yet.

Next step: Click on the burger menu to the right on the navigation bar. (streams) has a menu entry named "Communities", the Zotlabs products had (or still have) "Sites". It's the same: It's where all Fediverse instances which have connected to this one are listed.

So there could be a (streams) instance or three somewhere, right? Yes. It's the more likely, the bigger the instance is.

The sidebar on the left lists projects; (streams) calls them "community types". You'll find lots of familiar names there. If you scroll down, chances are very good that there's "Streams". Bingo.

Now wait a second. Let me tell you a secret: Most (streams) instances don't identify as such. streams.hubzilla.social only barely does so, Rumbly doesn't at all. And those that do are usually personal instances with closed registration.

So let's go back to the list of projects/community types. The next part of the trick is to look at all those that don't sound like valid Fediverse projects. If you open them, and something with the ActivityPub logo shows up, you're extremely likely to not have found a (streams) instances (unless some prankster has used that same logo to identify their instance). If not, it might be a (streams) instance.

It's also worth looking at the old Zotlabs project names: Redmatrix, Osada, Zap, Misty/Mistpark2020, Roadhouse. All five can be upgraded straight to (streams). This has actually been done with some instances, and sometimes, the original branding/the last branding was kept in place.

Once you've reached this point, (streams) instances can be identified in various ways.

• Does it mention (streams) in its description, maybe even link to the code repository? Then it's very likely to be (streams).
• If not, does it have a date as its version, e.g. 23.04.18? Again, it's very likely to be (streams).
• Still unsure? Then visit it. If it has the same colour scheme as my Hubzilla channel, it's very likely to be (streams). The colours on my channel are a blatant ripo-, um, homage to (streams).
• The litmus test is the burger menu. If there's a Communities entry, it is (streams). If you find a description of the Zot API under Help, yup, it's (streams).

Before you join, go back to the Sites/Communities list where you came from and check the version. If it's a few months old already, chances are that there isn't much administration going on on this instance. If it's only a few hours old, don't worry, (streams) isn't so bleeding-edge that it's likely to blow up in your face.

Besides, remember that (streams) supports nomadic identity. If you're a cowa-, um, concerned about the resilience of your channel, you can always go nomadic on another instance or two.

If you've found a not-too-small-not-too-inactive (streams) instance, you can of course use it as your next base to go instance-hunting.

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