As far as I understand, most (all?) fediverse #ActivityPub software does not use the Client-to-server protocol from the specs (https://www.w3.org/TR/activitypub/#client-to-server-interactions) but rather use custom APIs instead.
Any fediverse devs able to explain why? Is there a technical reason/limitation, or is it more about other considerations?
I'm looking for information here rather than speculation, thanks.
@hugh the activitypub C2S protocol is way more generic and way more powerful than what mastodon’s API supports. it is easier for eugen to just write and maintain his own API than to implement all the checks and constraints he would want on the C2S protocol, and then you would still run into the problem of C2S clients expecting mastodon to be capable of things he doesn’t want it to be able to do. the activitypub vision is for servers to work like email servers that distribute messages authored by clients, and the clients have most of the power in choosing what those messages look like. on mastodon, in contrast, the format and meaning of the messages is mostly decided by the server, and clients can do very little (just fill out the boxes)
