Integrating ActivityPub Visibility with WordPress Core

[Jiwoon-Kim]

#2287

Overview:
Integrate ActivityPub post visibility settings with WordPress core logic. This can be somewhat complex and may take time to implement.

WordPress Status-and-Visibility Mapping

WordPress	Description
Draft	Not ready for publication.
Pending	Waiting for review before publishing.
Private	Only admins and editors can view.
Scheduled	Automatically publish at the selected date/time.
Published	Visible to everyone.
Password Protected	Only users with the password can view.
Sticky	Pin post to top of blog (only for built-in post type).

Notes:

• Sticky Post only applies to built-in post type; CPTs require a custom Actor Page to implement pinning.
• For bulk edit, quick edit, etc., visibility should respect core WordPress rules first.

---

ActivityPub Visibility Options

Level	Description
Public	Federated; visible in Fediverse.
Quiet Public	Federated quietly (not shown in public timelines).
Do not Federate	Post stays local; soft deletion if needed.
Followers Only	Only visible to followers (for CPTs).
Specific People (Direct)	Only mentioned users see.
Local Only	Visible on local instance only.

Additional Options:

• “Who can quote this post?” — Anyone / Followers only / Just me
• Blog Actor: supports Sticky Post
• Person Actor: requires custom Actor Page for pinning CPTs

---

Soft Deletion (FEP-4f05)

WordPress has a Trash system, so soft deletion is recommended when federating posts.

WP Action	ActivityPub Action	Outcome
Move post to Trash	Send Delete Activity & update object to Tombstone	Original URL responds 200 + Tombstone content
Permanently Delete	Send Delete Activity	Original URL responds 404 or 410

Key Notes:

• Once a post is federated, do not federate is irreversible.
• To delete and republish, create a duplicate with “do not federate” enabled; this gives one chance to federate and one chance to delete the corresponding Fediverse object.
• Misskey’s delete-and-edit behavior can be emulated in WordPress by deleting the original post and publishing a new copy with a new ID, noting that comments and interactions will be lost.

---

Sticky Post Integration

Rules by Actor Type:

1. Blog Profile Actor: Use WordPress built-in Sticky Post feature; map to ActivityPub Announce or Pin-to-Profile actions.

2. User Profile Actor (Person):

   • Author Page only displays built-in post type; for CPTs, a dedicated Actor Page must be implemented.
   • Introduce custom metadata for CPT pinning, mapped to Pin to Profile activity.

---

Do Not Federate / Visibility Warnings

• Irreversibility: Once federated, a post cannot be unfederated. Users should be clearly warned when enabling federation.
• Misskey-style Delete-and-Edit: When changing a post’s ID/slug, delete the original (send Delete Activity) and publish a new copy.
• All existing interactions and comments will be lost during this process.

Actor Opt-out Idea: Similar to posts, Actors can implement federation opt-out by deleting the existing Actor and creating a new one with a new ID. This approach sacrifices existing data but provides a clean, irreversible opt-out.

---

Integration Principles

1. Core WP visibility is authoritative:

   • Example: a post set to Private in WordPress cannot be overridden to Public in ActivityPub; the maximum allowed is Followers Only.

2. ActivityPub plugin visibility options (Public, Quiet Public, Do Not Federate) act as overrides/refinements for how a post is exposed to the Fediverse within the constraints of core visibility.

[Jiwoon-Kim]

Here’s the English translation of your original content as faithfully as possible:

---

Integrating ActivityPub Visibility Settings with WordPress Core Logic

This may be somewhat complex, so implementation could take some time.

Status and Visibility

Published (local)

Published (federated)

• Public
• Quiet public
• Local Only
• Do not federate (Soft Deletion)

CPT?

• Followers
• Specific People (Direct)
• Do not federate (Soft Deletion)

Private

• Local Only

• Do not federate (Soft Deletion)

• [] blog: Sticky Post

• [] actor page: Pin to Profile

Who can quote this post?

• anyone, followers only, just me

---

References:

• https://wordpress.com/support/post-and-page-visibility/
• https://make.wordpress.org/design/2021/09/16/document-status-and-visibility/
• https://wordpress.org/documentation/article/sticky-posts-classic-editor/
• https://wordpress.org/documentation/article/content-visibility-block-editor/

Currently the functionality to hide your entire blog from public view, or to restrict it to certain users, is not part of the core WordPress product. There are possible plans to introduce this functionality into a later version.

---

Quick Edit / Post Editing

Quick Edit:

• Status: Published, Pending, Draft
• Password or Private

Post Edit – Status and Visibility:

• Draft: Not ready to publish.
• Pending: Waiting for review before publishing.
• Private: Visible only to site admins and editors.
• Scheduled: Automatically publishes on the chosen date.
• Published: Visible to everyone.
• Password protected: Visible only to those with the password.
• Sticky: Pins this post to the top of the blog.

Note: Sticky Post is only available for the built-in post type post and not for custom post types.

---

ActivityPub for WordPress

Fediverse / Content Warning

Visibility

• Public
• Quiet public
• Do not federate

This adjusts the visibility of a post in the Fediverse, but note that it won’t affect how the post appears on the blog.

Who can quote this post?

• anyone, followers only, just me

---

Mastodon Privacy Reference:
https://docs.joinmastodon.org/user/posting/#privacy

Level	Public timelines	Permalink	Profile view	Home feeds
Public	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Quiet Public	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
Followers	No	Logged in on the same site	In-app or logged in	Yes
Specific People	No	Logged in and mentioned	In-app or logged in	No

To effectively publish private (followers-only) posts, you must lock your account—otherwise, anyone could follow you to view older posts.

---

Misskey Note Visibility Reference:
https://misskey-hub.net/en/docs/for-users/features/note/#visibility

Public	Home	Followers	Direct
LTL/STL/GTL of Followers	✔	✔	✔
LTL/STL/GTL of Others	✔

Local Only

• If you enable this option, your note won’t be federated to remote instances.
• https://misskey-hub.net/en/docs/for-users/features/note/#pin-to-profile

---

FEP-4f05: Soft Deletion

https://codeberg.org/fediverse/fep/src/branch/main/fep/4f05/fep-4f05.md

Soft Deletion

• When an object is soft deleted, its ActivityPub representation MUST be updated to Tombstone. Servers SHOULD continue responding to requests with a 200-level response; the object remains in place.
• A Delete activity SHOULD be published to propagate the soft deletion to other servers.

Hard Deletion

• When an object is hard deleted, it MUST no longer have an ActivityPub representation. Servers MUST respond with a 400-level response. 404 Not Found is acceptable, 410 Gone is preferred.
• A Delete activity MUST be published to propagate the hard deletion to other servers.

---

Additional Ideas

• Sticky Posts are valid only for blog profile actors.
• If a person actor is active, the author page should support sticky posts, but the author page only shows built-in post types. To pin custom post types to a user profile, a dedicated Actor Page is required.
• WordPress has Trash, so implementing Soft Deletion is recommended.

Federation Irreversibility:

• The “do not federate” setting cannot be undone once a post has been federated.
• Sending a Delete activity prevents the post from ever being federated again. All actions are irreversible.
• To delete and republish, create a duplicate with “do not federate” enabled. This allows one chance to federate and one chance to delete the corresponding Fediverse object.

Misskey-style Delete-and-Edit:

• For WordPress, this could be implemented by deleting the original post and publishing a duplicate as a new post with a new ID. Existing comments and interactions will be lost.
• This method could also apply to actors; threads.net may use a similar approach for federation opt-out.

---

Integration Principles

• WordPress core visibility settings act as the highest-level restriction.

  • Example: a post set to Private in core cannot be overridden to Public in ActivityPub; the maximum is Followers Only.

• Existing ActivityPub plugin settings (Public, Quiet public, Do not federate) provide detailed overrides within the core visibility constraints.

---

2. Core Feature Handling and Technical Implementation

A. Post Deletion (Soft Deletion)

• WordPress Trash feature exists, so Soft Deletion is recommended (FEP-4f05 compliant).

WP Action	ActivityPub Action	Result
Move to Trash (Soft Delete)	Send Delete activity & update object to Tombstone	Original URL responds 200 with Tombstone content
Permanently Delete (Hard Delete)	Send Delete activity	Original URL responds 410 Gone or 404 Not Found

B. Sticky Post Integration Logic

• Sticky Post works only for built-in post types, so behavior varies by Actor type:

1. Blog Profile Actor: Use standard Sticky Post, federate via Announce or Pin to Profile.

2. Person Actor:

   • Author Page only shows built-in post types, so pinning CPTs requires a dedicated Actor Page.
   • Introduce “Pin to Actor Page” metadata and map to Pin to Profile.

C. Irreversibility and Edit Handling

• Federated posts cannot be unfederated; warn users clearly.
• Delete-and-Edit workflow: user deletes original post (Delete Activity) and republishes a duplicate with a new ID. Existing comments and interactions are lost.

Actor Opt-out: Like posts, an Actor can implement federation opt-out by deleting the existing Actor and creating a new one with a new ID, ensuring a clean, irreversible exit.

---

If you want, I can also make a diagram version of this translation, showing WordPress status → ActivityPub visibility → Fediverse behavior—it would be easier to read for developers.

Do you want me to create that diagram?