> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.sharedgraph.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Concepts and vocabulary

> The shared model of accounts, actors, applications and social records.

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](/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


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