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   Steve Bate (steve@social.technoetic.com)'s status on Thursday, 12-Feb-2026 20:57:24 JST Steve Bate

   I'm curious what other devs think about this. If an actor posts an C2S #ActivityPub Create/Note to the outbox, what would you think if the object created by the server was a different type (e.g., Article)?

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     Evan Prodromou (evan@cosocial.ca)'s status on Thursday, 12-Feb-2026 20:57:20 JST Evan Prodromou

     in reply to

     @steve I could also see if the server is checking the content type of the payload, and changing it on the fly. For example, a Create/Image with an MP4 movie as the payload, and it changes it to a Video. In the case you're explaining, maybe the Note has many paragraphs, and the server changes it to an Article to match the expectations for that type.

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     Evan Prodromou (evan@cosocial.ca)'s status on Thursday, 12-Feb-2026 20:57:22 JST Evan Prodromou

     in reply to

     @steve This is really interesting.

     I see a few cases. One is an ActivityPub API façade for an existing CMS, like Drupal or WordPress. The underlying system only stores Articles, so it tries to fit any input into that format. It might also take a Create/Image and return an Article with an embedded image, say.

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     Evan Prodromou (evan@cosocial.ca)'s status on Thursday, 12-Feb-2026 21:02:44 JST Evan Prodromou

     in reply to

     @steve In a way, the server is the most responsible for the object long-term -- it stores and serves the data, assigns it an id, provides security, and so on. It also maintains a long-term relationship with the user, including the user's preferences.

     But the client is closer to the user, in the moment, and may more accurately represent the user's immediate needs and wants.

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     Evan Prodromou (evan@cosocial.ca)'s status on Thursday, 12-Feb-2026 21:02:45 JST Evan Prodromou

     in reply to

     @steve Finally, just an opinionated server developer -- "there's no difference, everything should be an Article."

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     Evan Prodromou (evan@cosocial.ca)'s status on Thursday, 12-Feb-2026 21:04:02 JST Evan Prodromou

     in reply to

     @steve I'd say, don't do this if you don't have to.