FAQ

How is the caret ^ used?

Currently the caret is used by the microblogging app TentStatus to mention people. To mention someone on the same server as you, just write their username: ^daniel. To mention someone on a different server, use their full entity URL: ^https://daniel.tent.is.

At the protocol level, there's nothing magic about carets -- mentions are stored as metadata along with the text of the post. When you write a post, TentStatus finds carets in your text and turns them into real mention metadata. Other apps are free to use other symbols, like @.

See the Mentions section of this page for details about mention metadata.

As the Tent ecosystem matures, standards will evolve for how to mention people in Status posts. There has been discussion on the mailing list about this.

It is expected that future apps will let you use your friends' real names and convert these into Tent entities in the mention metadata.

When I mention someone, what happens?

No matter what, people who are mentioned in a post will receive a notification with a complete copy of the post.

The privacy settings on that post do not matter for this action to take place. Mentions are a notification feature, not a permission control.

I just followed someone. Why aren't their posts in my timeline?

When you follow someone, you get their new posts from that point on, but you don't get old posts from before you started following. Likewise, if you unfollow someone, their posts from while you followed them stay in your timeline, but you won't get any new ones.

Actually your server stores the entire post, and yes you do have the ability to delete them individually. tent-status doesn't currently support this.

If someone's server goes offline, will I lose their posts forever?

For every post that has ever been in your timeline, your server doesn't just hold a link to it, it also holds the content. If that person's server disappears for whatever reason, you will still see their posts.

How can existing sites make use of the Tent protocol?

Tent can be used just as a sign-in system, for full data-storage, or anywhere in between.

Does the Site Feed show posts from all Tent users?

Since Tent is decentralized, there are many Tent servers. Each of those Tent servers can provide a Site Feed that will show all posts from all people hosted on that server. In this way, a Tent server will have a feeling of community.

Many of your friends and acquaintances will be on their own servers. In order to see their posts, you must FOLLOW them. Once you follow them, you will receive copies of the public posts they create.