June 05, 2024

HPR4133: Mastodon as a way to comment to HPR episodes

21 minutes

Mastodon as a way

to comment to HPR episodes

Prompted by Knightwise

I should be easier for listeners to discuss shows.

There have been several times I have intended to leave a comment on

a show, but I forget by the time I get back to my PC

Mastodon is made for community interaction.

If you are active on mastodon, replying to a mastodon post is

probably easier than the HPR comment form.

HPR Bot

HPR has a mastodon bot that makes a post when a new show is

released

The Bot's post and replies can be used as a comment system for

HPR

https://botsin.space/@hpr

Easy

Methods to including Mastodon on a static page

Each post has an embed link, but it does not include replies.

JavaScript can be used to display the post and replies

Example

https://carlschwan.eu/2020/12/29/adding-comments-to-your-static-blog-with-mastodon/

Carl Schwan - KDE developer

Neither of these is ideal

Mastodon API

Mastodon has an API that can be used to pull a list of status

updates.

The comments can be pulled from the API and added to the static

site.

Proof of concept

HPR site using RSS feeds as the data source

https://gitlab.com/norrist/hprfeed2db

Full episode feed

Comments feed.

HPR Episodes 3637 and 3654

https://hpr.norrist.xyz/episodes/HPR3637.html

https://hpr.norrist.xyz/episodes/HPR3654.html

Add a new step to pull in the HPR Bot post replies as comments.

As a demo https://hpr.norrist.xyz will have mastodon comments on

recent episode pages.

get_mastodon_comments.py

load_comments_from_bot()

look for status updates regex

"New Episode: hpr(\d+) :: "

get_thread_comments()

builds list of descendants - aka comments

update_db()

loops through list of comments

extracts - author, content, , pubdate, ...

inserts into sqlite database along with data from full episode and

comment feeds.

HTML template displays mastodon comments underneath the comments

from the comment RSS feed.

Mastodon Comment Moderation

I didn't implement any moderation, but there are a few possible ways

to do so

Maintain a list of approved contributors. When an

unapproved commenter posts

notify the admin that there are comments by a new commenter

skip adding any comments to the database until the commenter is

added to the approve list

Maintain a list of approved comments

comments have unique id

Add approved comment ID to a database

Only display approved comments.

Going Forward

Even without including mastodon comments on the HPR Page

Increase awareness of HPR on Mastodon

Follow the HPR bot on mastodon.

Tag yourself when one of your shows is posted by the HPR.

Add your mastodon account to your HPR profile / show notes.

Comment on the HPR bots mastodon post.

Links

My mastodon account - https://noc.social/@norrist

Python to get mastodon comments -

https://gitlab.com/norrist/hprfeed2db/-/blob/main/get_mastdon_comments.py

Example page with Mastodon Comments -

https://hpr.norrist.xyz/episodes/HPR4126.html

This page may not have any mastodon comments depending on when you

check the page.

Check a more recent page if there are no mastodon comments.

...more

View all episodes

By Hacker Public Radio

4.2

3434 ratings

June 05, 2024

HPR4133: Mastodon as a way to comment to HPR episodes

21 minutes

Mastodon as a way

to comment to HPR episodes

Prompted by Knightwise

I should be easier for listeners to discuss shows.

There have been several times I have intended to leave a comment on

a show, but I forget by the time I get back to my PC

Mastodon is made for community interaction.

If you are active on mastodon, replying to a mastodon post is

probably easier than the HPR comment form.

HPR Bot

HPR has a mastodon bot that makes a post when a new show is

released

The Bot's post and replies can be used as a comment system for

HPR

https://botsin.space/@hpr

Easy

Methods to including Mastodon on a static page

Each post has an embed link, but it does not include replies.

JavaScript can be used to display the post and replies

Example

https://carlschwan.eu/2020/12/29/adding-comments-to-your-static-blog-with-mastodon/

Carl Schwan - KDE developer

Neither of these is ideal

Mastodon API

Mastodon has an API that can be used to pull a list of status

updates.

The comments can be pulled from the API and added to the static

site.

Proof of concept

HPR site using RSS feeds as the data source

https://gitlab.com/norrist/hprfeed2db

Full episode feed

Comments feed.

HPR Episodes 3637 and 3654

https://hpr.norrist.xyz/episodes/HPR3637.html

https://hpr.norrist.xyz/episodes/HPR3654.html

Add a new step to pull in the HPR Bot post replies as comments.

As a demo https://hpr.norrist.xyz will have mastodon comments on

recent episode pages.

get_mastodon_comments.py

load_comments_from_bot()

look for status updates regex

"New Episode: hpr(\d+) :: "

get_thread_comments()

builds list of descendants - aka comments

update_db()

loops through list of comments

extracts - author, content, , pubdate, ...

inserts into sqlite database along with data from full episode and

comment feeds.

HTML template displays mastodon comments underneath the comments

from the comment RSS feed.

Mastodon Comment Moderation

I didn't implement any moderation, but there are a few possible ways

to do so

Maintain a list of approved contributors. When an

unapproved commenter posts

notify the admin that there are comments by a new commenter

skip adding any comments to the database until the commenter is

added to the approve list

Maintain a list of approved comments

comments have unique id

Add approved comment ID to a database

Only display approved comments.

Going Forward

Even without including mastodon comments on the HPR Page

Increase awareness of HPR on Mastodon

Follow the HPR bot on mastodon.

Tag yourself when one of your shows is posted by the HPR.

Add your mastodon account to your HPR profile / show notes.

Comment on the HPR bots mastodon post.

Links

My mastodon account - https://noc.social/@norrist

Python to get mastodon comments -

https://gitlab.com/norrist/hprfeed2db/-/blob/main/get_mastdon_comments.py

Example page with Mastodon Comments -

https://hpr.norrist.xyz/episodes/HPR4126.html

This page may not have any mastodon comments depending on when you

check the page.

Check a more recent page if there are no mastodon comments.

...more

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HPR4133: Mastodon as a way to comment to HPR episodes

HPR4133: Mastodon as a way to comment to HPR episodes

More shows like Hacker Public Radio

The Changelog: Software Development, Open Source

Defensive Security Podcast - Malware, Hacking, Cyber Security & Infosec

LINUX Unplugged

SANS Internet Stormcenter Daily Cyber Security Podcast (Stormcast)

Curious Cases

The Strong Towns Podcast

Late Night Linux

Darknet Diaries

Cybersecurity Today

CISO Series Podcast

TechCrunch Daily Crunch

Strict Scrutiny

2.5 Admins

Cyber Security Headlines

What the Hack?