Skip to main content
A user controls a private account. Their actor is the stable public identity used across independently operated applications. A public profile describes that actor. Applications receive bounded authorization grants; they do not own the actor, audience or network records. The pairwise OAuth subject is distinct from the canonical actor returned by /api/session. A following feed is a computed view, while a post is a canonical contribution. Availability may change through deletion, blocks or moderation. A tombstone preserves a reference without preserving a removed body. See lifecycle and safety before caching or displaying network content.

​
Vocabulary

User: A person who controls a SharedGraph account and chooses applications through which to participate. Avoid: Actor or account when referring to the person Account: The private security and lifecycle identity through which a user controls their SharedGraph presence. Avoid: Public profile, application membership Actor: The stable public identity to which posts and social relationships are attributed. Avoid: Account, application-specific user Public profile: The network-wide public description of an actor, distinct from the actor’s identity. Avoid: Account, credentials Application: An independently operated product registered to interact with SharedGraph under a particular operator’s responsibility. Avoid: Actor, network, installation Client: The software through which an application reads or interacts with SharedGraph. Avoid: Application when referring only to one installation or software component Application operator: The party accountable for a registered application: named at registration and addressed by admission, suspension and lifecycle obligations. Avoid: Developer when referring to accountability, user Developer: A person who builds or maintains a client for an application; may or may not be its operator. Avoid: Application operator when referring to who is accountable, user Authorization grant: A user’s bounded permission for a particular application to exercise specified capabilities for a particular actor. Avoid: Login, application registration Post: A canonical public contribution authored by one actor; a reply is also a post. Avoid: App-owned content, feed item when referring to the underlying contribution Reply: A post that refers to one parent post within a conversation. Avoid: Private message, app-local comment when referring to the shared conversation Thread: The conversation formed by a root post and its replies. Avoid: App-owned discussion Follow: A directed network-wide subscription by one actor to another actor’s public activity. Avoid: Friendship, app membership Like: An actor’s network-wide positive reaction to a particular post. Avoid: Private bookmark, arbitrary app reaction Following feed: A computed view of eligible root posts from actors a person follows, together with that person’s own root posts. Avoid: Personal database, recommended feed Notification: A private inbox item that informs a recipient of a qualifying network interaction. Avoid: Public post, app-generated marketing message Public: The audience designation for social records available beyond the originating application’s membership and the author’s followers, subject to network availability rules. Avoid: App-only, unlisted, confidential Network block: A user-controlled restriction on interaction and presentation between their actor and another actor across SharedGraph applications. Avoid: Local hide, confidentiality guarantee Local hide: An application’s suppression of an actor or content within that application’s experience. Avoid: Network block, network removal Report: A confidential request to investigate an actor, post, or application against the rules of the receiving moderation authority. Avoid: Moderation action, public accusation Moderation action: A decision by an authorized moderator that changes the availability or permitted behavior of a target within that moderator’s authority. Avoid: User edit, report, local preference Moderation event: The record of a moderation decision or a change to its effect. Avoid: Report, public notification Originating application: The application through which a canonical contribution was first accepted by SharedGraph. Avoid: Content owner, permanent controller Tombstone: A minimal indication that a formerly addressable object is unavailable, preserving references without reproducing the removed content. Avoid: Archived post, recoverable copy App-specific data: Data whose meaning and lifecycle belong to an application’s product rather than the shared social contract. Avoid: Network extension when interoperability has not been established