Every account and post on the Fediverse has an “original page” on the server that the account or post is hosted on. The original page shows the latest and most complete version of a profile or post. They’re called original pages because they are the origin of posts and profiles that are federated to other servers.
How do I find a profile or post’s original page?
If you’re using your server’s website or web app:
- Log in through your server’s website or the web app
- Go to a profile or post and click on ⋯ or ︙
- Select Open original page, which will open the original page in a new browser tab
If you’re using a mobile app:
- Log in through your app
- Go to the profile or post and click on ⋯
- Select Open in Browser (if that option isn’t available, select Share, then select the option for opening it in a web browser)
Once the page is open, the original page’s web address will be visible in the browser’s address bar at the top.
How to copy original page links for posts more quickly
You can also copy original page links for posts without actually opening them in the browser.
If you’re using the website or web app:
- Go to the post
- Click ⋯ on the post
- Click Copy link to status, this will copy a link to the original page onto your device’s clipboard so you can paste it elsewhere
If you’re using a mobile app:
- Go to the post
- Click ⋯ on the post
- Click Share, then select Copy, this will copy a link to the original page onto your device’s clipboard so you can paste it elsewhere.
What’s the point of original pages?
The main reason for looking at the original page is to see the latest and most complete version. However, you can also use original pages to do many useful things, with some examples given below.
Checking if a blank profile really is blank
If no one on your server has interacted with a profile before, it may appear blank. You can open the profile’s original page to check if it really is blank.
Browsing a profile’s followers and follows lists
Sometimes a profile’s follows and followers may not be visible to your server, or it may be incomplete. If you go to the original page and click on the follows and follower lists there, you will see their complete versions. (However, note that some people deliberately keep their follows and followers lists hidden for privacy reasons.)
Using original page addresses to interact with posts and profiles
If there’s a profile or post that you can’t find by searching on your server, but it does show up in results on search engines such as Duckduckgo, Google etc, you can use these pages to force your server to notice people and posts it hadn’t noticed before, including pages from other types of Fediverse server. Just copy and paste the page’s web address into the search box on Mastodon, and it will make that post or profile appear within your own server where you will be able to interact with it directly.
Not just Mastodon, there are original pages on all kinds of Fediverse servers
Original pages aren’t just on Mastodon, they work with any Fediverse server type. For example if you know the web address of a PeerTube video or Pixelfed photo, you can paste it into the search box on Mastodon and the video or photo will appear within Mastodon. You will then be able to interact with it as if it was a Mastodon post.
The process of copying and pasting web addresses works in a very similar way to account addresses.
Sharing Fediverse content with people outside the Fediverse
Original pages are really useful if you want to share a profile or post with people outside the Fediverse, as you don’t have to be logged in to see them. Just give people the original page’s web address and it will open in any browser, they don’t have to log in or be a member.
Why doesn’t Mastodon just show original pages everywhere, instead of sometimes showing incomplete ones?
Click here for more discussion about this, including why it happens and what might be done about it.