WordPress.com Federation Experiment and Observation Report

[Jiwoon-Kim]

Quick summary

Summary of Bugs and Suggestions/Observations:

1. Federated Reply block rendering not implemented: The content of this block is not displayed in WordPress Reader.
2. Jetpack app crash: The Jetpack mobile app crashes when checking certain Fediverse-related notifications (such as follower notifications).
3. Exposure of comment HTML/CSS: When editing in the Jetpack app reader, WordPress comments are displayed with their HTML structure and CSS (including `` tags) intact. This can cause unnecessary code exposure and rendering issues (needs content sanitization or block handling).
4. https://mastodon.social/@kowporg.wordpress.com@kowporg.wordpress.com
   If you create the link in the comments, it will be converted to a profile embedded and the layout will be broken.

Steps to reproduce

@pfefferle I invited you as an administrator of the site, so you can take a look at it yourself.
https://kowporg.wordpress.com/2025/05/18/federation/
Here is the English translation of your document, "WordPress.com Federation Experiment and Observation Report + Bug Discovery and Suggestions," organized in the same order as the original:

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WordPress.com Federation Experiment and Observation Report

• Purpose of Report: To share the results of experiments and observations on WordPress.com's ActivityPub federation feature, report discovered bugs, and provide suggestions.
• Related GitHub Issue: https://github.com/Automattic/wordpress-activitypub/issues (Expected to be reported in this repository)
• Test Site: kowporg.wordpress.com (WordPress.com blog)
• Applied Theme: Twenty Twenty-Five
• Federation Activation: Activated via https://wordpress.com/marketing/connections/kowporg.wordpress.com

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1. Fediverse Profile Information (kowporg.wordpress.com)

• Mastodon: https://mastodon.social/@kowporg.wordpress.com@kowporg.wordpress.com
• Threads: https://www.threads.com/fediverse_profile/kowporg.wordpress.com@kowporg.wordpress.com
• Bluesky (via Bridgy): https://bsky.app/profile/kowporg.wordpress.com.kowporg.wordpress.com.ap.brid.gy
• Misskey: https://misskey.io/@kowporg.wordpress.com@kowporg.wordpress.com@kowporg.wordpress.com
• Misskey Federation Server Info: https://misskey.io/instance-info/kowporg.wordpress.com

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2. Experiment Post Details

• Post URL: https://kowporg.wordpress.com/2025/05/18/federation/
• Block Editor Content:
  • Federated Reply Block: Set to https://mastodon.social/@thaumiel999/114523039596851251
  • Paragraph Block (Mention): @thaumiel999@threads.net
  • Paragraph Block (Mention): @thaumiel999@misskey.io
  • Paragraph Block (Mention): @travel-in-busan.com@bsky.brid.gy
  • Paragraph Block (Mention): @thaumiel999@mastodon.social
• Displayed Content in Post Body:
  • embedded box: "embedded mastodon post"
  • Link-style text: @thaumiel999
  • Link-style text: @thaumiel999
  • Link-style text: @travel-in-busan.com
  • Link-style text: @thaumiel999

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3. WordPress Reader Observation Results

• Post URL in Reader: https://wordpress.com/reader/feeds/169602085/posts/5670667173
• Content Displayed in Reader:
  • Text: @thaumiel999@threads.net
  • Text: @thaumiel999@misskey.io
  • Text: @travel-in-busan.com@bsky.brid.gy
  • Text: @thaumiel999@mastodon.social
• Content Not Displayed in Reader:
  • The content of the "Federated Reply" block is not displayed.
• WordPress Reader Notifications:
  • Notification message: "👀 You are being watched from the fediverse! Jiwoon Kim 🇰🇷 and 3 users will see updates." (Displayed twice)
  • Confirmed number of Fediverse followers: 4
  • Follower list (based on Reader notifications):
    • 워드프레스 한국어 (Unofficial WordPress.org Korean account)
    • Avatar: Jiwoon Kim 🇰🇷 (misskey.io/@thaumiel999)
    • Avatar: Jiwoon Kim (threads.net/@thaumiel999)
    • Avatar: Jiwoon Kim (bsky.brid.gy/r/https://bsky.app/profile/travel-in-busan.com,https://travel-in-busan.com)
    • Avatar: 김지운 (mastodon.social/@thaumiel999)
• Bug Discovered:
  • When checking Fediverse follower notifications in the Jetpack mobile app, the app crashes.

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4. Mastodon Observation Results

• How the original post appears on Mastodon (as a reply):

  • URL: https://mastodon.social/@kowporg.wordpress.com@kowporg.wordpress.com/114525025072110951
  • Content:

    **Federation**
    [@thaumiel999](https://mastodon.social/@thaumiel999/114523039596851251 "https://mastodon.social/@thaumiel999/114523039596851251")
    [@thaumiel999](https://mastodon.social/@thaumiel999@threads.net "@thaumiel999@threads.net")
    [@thaumiel999](https://mastodon.social/@thaumiel999@misskey.io "@thaumiel999@misskey.io")
    [@travel-in-busan.com](https://mastodon.social/@travel-in-busan.com@bsky.brid.gy "@travel-in-busan.com@bsky.brid.gy")
    [@thaumiel999](https://mastodon.social/@thaumiel999 "@thaumiel999")
    

    (Mentions in the Federated Reply target and within paragraphs are displayed as linked mentions.)

• When replying to the WordPress post from Mastodon:

  • Reply URL (Mastodon): https://mastodon.social/@thaumiel999/114525055419875183
  • Reply content (on Mastodon): [@kowporg.wordpress.com](https://mastodon.social/@kowporg.wordpress.com@kowporg.wordpress.com "@kowporg.wordpress.com@kowporg.wordpress.com") reply
  • Unique WordPress comment URL for the reply: https://kowporg.wordpress.com/2025/05/18/federation/comment-page-1/#comment-4
  • Federation reply UI link within WordPress: Reply with federation https://mastodon.social/@thaumiel999/114525055419875183?replytocom=4#respond

• In the WordPress comment, the reply content to the Mastodon reply (profile link collection):

  • Unique WordPress comment URL: https://kowporg.wordpress.com/2025/05/18/federation/comment-page-1/#comment-5
  • Reply content:
    • https://www.threads.com/fediverse_profile/kowporg.wordpress.com@kowporg.wordpress.com
    • https://misskey.io/@kowporg.wordpress.com@kowporg.wordpress.com@kowporg.wordpress.com
    • https://mastodon.social/@kowporg.wordpress.com@kowporg.wordpress.com
    • https://bsky.app/profile/kowporg.wordpress.com.kowporg.wordpress.com.ap.brid.gy
    • https://misskey.io/instance-info/kowporg.wordpress.com

• How this reply (comment-5) appears on Mastodon:

  • URL: https://mastodon.social/@kowporg.wordpress.com@kowporg.wordpress.com/114526640346118881
  • Partial content:
    • [@thaumiel999](https://mastodon.social/@thaumiel999 "@thaumiel999") (appears as the mention target)
    • The above profile link list
    • https://www.threads.com/fediverse_profile/kowporg.wordpress.com@kowporg.wordpress.com
    • https://misskey.io/@kowporg.wordpress.com@kowporg.wordpress.com@kowporg.wordpress.com
    • https://mastodon.social/@kowporg.wordpress.com@kowporg.wordpress.com (this content is replaced below)
    • 워드프레스 한국어 (blog name)
    • [May 17, 2025, 7:38 am](https://kowporg.wordpress.com/?author=0 "https://kowporg.wordpress.com/?author=0")
    • https://bsky.app/profile/kowporg.wordpress.com.kowporg.wordpress.com.ap.brid.gy
    • https://misskey.io/instance-info/kowporg.wordpress.com

• How the comment appears in the Jetpack app reader's comment editor:

  • The comment being edited is displayed in the following HTML form. (Bug/Improvement Needed)

    https://www.threads.com/fediverse_profile/kowporg.wordpress.com@kowporg.wordpress.com
    https://misskey.io/@kowporg.wordpress.com@kowporg.wordpress.com@kowporg.wordpress.com
    
      
    
    
    
    
    
    워드프레스 한국어
    
     May 17, 2025, 7:38 am 
    
    /** * ActivityPub embed styles. */ .activitypub-embed { background: #fff; border: 1px solid #e6e6e6; border-radius: 12px; padding: 0; max-width: 100%; font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; } .activitypub-reply-block .activitypub-embed { margin: 1em 0; } .activitypub-embed-header { padding: 15px; display: flex; align-items: center; gap: 10px; } .activitypub-embed-header img { width: 48px; height: 48px; border-radius: 50%; } .activitypub-embed-header-text { flex-grow: 1; } .activitypub-embed-header-text h2 { color: #000; font-size: 15px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; } .activitypub-embed-header-text .ap-account { color: #687684; font-size: 14px; text-decoration: none; } .activitypub-embed-content { padding: 0 15px 15px; } .activitypub-embed-content .ap-title { font-size: 23px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0 0 10px; padding: 0; color: #000; } .activitypub-embed-content .ap-subtitle { font-size: 15px; color: #000; margin: 0 0 15px; } .activitypub-embed-content .ap-preview { border: 1px solid #e6e6e6; border-radius: 8px; overflow: hidden; } .activitypub-embed-content .ap-preview img { width: 100%; height: auto; display: block; } .activitypub-embed-content .ap-preview-text { padding: 15px; } .activitypub-embed-meta { padding: 15px; border-top: 1px solid #e6e6e6; color: #687684; font-size: 13px; display: flex; gap: 15px; } .activitypub-embed-meta .ap-stat { display: flex; align-items: center; gap: 5px; } @media only screen and (max-width: 399px) { .activitypub-embed-meta span.ap-stat { display: none !important; } } .activitypub-embed-meta a.ap-stat { color: inherit; text-decoration: none; } .activitypub-embed-meta strong { font-weight: 600; color: #000; } .activitypub-embed-meta .ap-stat-label { color: #687684; } 
    
    https://bsky.app/profile/kowporg.wordpress.com.kowporg.wordpress.com.ap.brid.gy
    https://misskey.io/instance-info/kowporg.wordpress.com

    (Note: The internal WordPress HTML structure, including the `` tag, is exposed as is. The original post information ("워드프레스 한국어", publication date) is included inside the div with the activitypub-embed class.)

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Summary of Bugs and Suggestions/Observations:

1. Federated Reply block rendering not implemented: The content of this block is not displayed in WordPress Reader.
2. Jetpack app crash: The Jetpack mobile app crashes when checking certain Fediverse-related notifications (such as follower notifications).
3. Exposure of comment HTML/CSS: When editing in the Jetpack app reader, WordPress comments are displayed with their HTML structure and CSS (including `` tags) intact. This can cause unnecessary code exposure and rendering issues (needs content sanitization or block handling).

That concludes the report. You may use this as a basis for creating a GitHub issue or for further discussion.

Citations:
[1] https://ppl-ai-file-upload.s3.amazonaws.com/web/direct-files/attachments/54364710/0ec82d9d-c2f4-44b9-a4a2-8ce17a386c0b/paste.txt

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Perplexity로부터의 답변: pplx.ai/share

Site owner impact

More than 60% of the total website/platform users

Severity

Moderate

What other impact(s) does this issue have?

No response

If a workaround is available, please outline it here.

No response

[Jiwoon-Kim]

And (although this seems to be an issue on the Misskey side), in the case of Misskey, mentions in the format @kowporg.wordpress.com@kowporg.wordpress.com do not work.

Mentions are split as follows:

• @kowporg@misskey.io
• .wordpress.com@kowporg.wordpress.com

Because of this splitting, normal interaction is not possible, and for comments to appear on WordPress, the mention must pass through a Mastodon note as an intermediary.

Additionally, due to Akismet spam filtering, sometimes notifications are not delivered, and in some cases, comments require approval every time instead of just the first time. This likely occurs because account information is not being stored properly for subscribers or similar user types[3][4].

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인용:
[1] paste.txt https://ppl-ai-file-upload.s3.amazonaws.com/web/direct-files/attachments/54364710/0ec82d9d-c2f4-44b9-a4a2-8ce17a386c0b/paste.txt
[2] Text formatting problem - WordPress.org https://wordpress.org/support/topic/text-formatting-problem/
[3] Akismet has detected a problem… | WordPress.com Forums https://wordpress.com/forums/topic/akismet-has-detected-a-problem-1/
[4] Mastodon replies not showing up as comments - WordPress.org https://wordpress.org/support/topic/mastodon-replies-not-showing-up-as-comments/
[5] Question: receive ActivityPub interactions back on my site https://wordpress.org/support/topic/question-receive-activitypub-interactions-back-on-my-site/
[6] Federation relays · Issue #7399 · mastodon/mastodon - GitHub mastodon/mastodon#7399
[7] Stuck in "Follow Requested" state · Issue #523 - GitHub #523
[8] How to Fix WordPress 'error establishing a database connection' https://serverpilot.io/docs/fix-wordpress-error-establishing-a-database-connection/
[9] How to Fix 'Comments Are Closed' in WordPress (Beginner's Guide) https://www.wpbeginner.com/wp-tutorials/how-to-fix-comments-are-closed-in-wordpress/
[10] Release Notes | Misskey Hub https://misskey-hub.net/en/docs/releases/
[11] Vulnerability Summary for the Week of May 5, 2025 - CYNET-CSIRT https://csirt.cynet.ac.cy/latest-alerts/bulletins/vulnerability-summary-for-the-week-of-may-5-2025/
[12] About the WordPress category - SocialHub https://socialhub.activitypub.rocks/t/about-the-wordpress-category/1235
[13] Miscellaneous WordPress Errors | The Ultimate Guide https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zt68ZkFrt7A
[14] bridgy-fed/templates/docs.html at main - GitHub https://github.com/snarfed/bridgy-fed/blob/main/templates/docs.html
[15] federation - IndieWeb https://indieweb.org/federation
[16] WordPress Error: There has been a critical error on your website. Please check your site admin email inbox for instructions https://stackoverflow.com/questions/64058140/wordpress-error-there-has-been-a-critical-error-on-your-website-please-check-y
[17] Vulnerability Summary for the Week of March 10, 2025 - CISA https://www.cisa.gov/news-events/bulletins/sb25-076
[18] The Fediverse is an opportunity learned societies can't ignore https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38511346
[19] Elementor Pro Forms Spam Filtering with Akismet #11401 - GitHub elementor/elementor#11401
[20] How to Filter Contact Form Spam With Akismet - WP Mail SMTP Pro https://wpmailsmtp.com/how-to-filter-contact-form-spam-with-akismet/
[21] Akismet Anti-spam: Spam Protection – WordPress plugin https://co.wordpress.org/plugins/akismet/
[22] How to Filter Contact Form Spam With Akismet - WPForms https://wpforms.com/how-to-filter-contact-form-spam-with-akismet/
[23] Completely bypass Akismet | WordPress.org https://wordpress.org/support/topic/completely-bypass-akismet/
[24] unable to approve comments | WordPress.com Forums https://wordpress.com/forums/topic/unable-to-approve-comments-2/
[25] Question about Akismet and blocking spam emails - Reddit https://www.reddit.com/r/Wordpress/comments/w2jsnl/question_about_akismet_and_blocking_spam_emails/
[26] Auto block ALL IP's indicated by Akismet? https://wordpress.stackexchange.com/questions/5867/auto-block-all-ips-indicated-by-akismet
[27] Is Akismet Marking Your Comment as Spam? Here is how to fix it https://www.shoutmeloud.com/akismet-marking-comments-as-spam-and-solution.html
[28] I'm inclined to think that Federation is a broken model : r/Mastodon https://www.reddit.com/r/Mastodon/comments/14rs6hd/im_inclined_to_think_that_federation_is_a_broken/
[29] Adding relays to your Mastodon instance - Dustin Rue https://dustinrue.com/2023/01/adding-relays-to-your-mastodon-instance/
[30] How to Fix WordPress Memory Exhausted Error | 14-Steps Solutions https://wpexperts.io/blog/fix-wordpress-memory-exhausted-error/
[31] Mastodon Relays Seem to be Eternally Stuck on "Waiting for relay's ... https://stackoverflow.com/questions/74878822/mastodon-relays-seem-to-be-eternally-stuck-on-waiting-for-relays-approval

[github-actions]

Support References

This comment is automatically generated. Please do not edit it.

• https://wordpress.com/forums/topic/akismet-has-detected-a-problem-1
• https://wordpress.com/forums/topic/unable-to-approve-comments-2

[pfefferle]

Hey @Jiwoon-Kim

thanks a lot for the detailed report, but it is really hard to work on the points you mentioned using this report, maybe we can split this into several small issues on the responsible repos!?!

[Jiwoon-Kim]

Hi @pfefferle,

Thanks a lot for your feedback on issue #1716 and for suggesting splitting the report into smaller, more focused issues. I appreciate the guidance!

To be honest, I was initially a bit unsure about the most appropriate repositories for some of these points, particularly distinguishing between Jetpack-specific issues and those related to the mobile app.

Here’s how I plan to proceed based on your suggestion:

1. Jetpack App Crash & Comment HTML/CSS Exposure:

   • The issues described as:
     • "Jetpack app crash: The Jetpack mobile app crashes when checking certain Fediverse-related notifications (such as follower notifications)."
     • "Exposure of comment HTML/CSS: When editing in the Jetpack app reader, WordPress comments are displayed with their HTML structure and CSS (including <style> tags) intact."
   • I will report these to the wordpress-mobile/WordPress-iOS repository: https://github.com/wordpress-mobile/WordPress-iOS

2. Federated Reply Block Not Rendering in WordPress Reader:

   • The issue described as: "Federated Reply block rendering not implemented: The content of this block is not displayed in WordPress Reader."
   • I plan to report this to the automattic/jetpack repository: https://github.com/automattic/jetpack
   • I'm still not entirely sure if the Jetpack repo is the definitive place for all WordPress Reader-related bugs, so I will also post about this specific issue on the WordPress.com forums (https://wordpress.com/forums/) for potentially broader input or direction to the correct channel.

I will make sure to link these new, specific issues back to the original report (#1716) for context and cross-referencing.

Thanks again for your help in getting these observations to the right teams!