Moved fqa into docs.

docs/fqa.md

@@ -0,0 +1,203 @@
+# Pleroma Frequently Questioned Answers
+
+
+## What is Pleroma?
+
+Pleroma is an implementation of
+[ActivityPub](https://www.w3.org/tr/activitypub), providing a simple and usable
+homeserver for interactions with the
+[fediverse](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fediverse).  Pleroma has rich support
+for different types of ActivityStreams objects, and this flexibility, coupled
+with a low resource footprint, makes it a system suitable for a variety of
+usecases.
+
+For most people, though, it's just a place to shitpost.
+
+
+### Pleroma is not Mastodon
+
+It's true, Pleroma is not Mastodon.
+
+And if you come to the project expecting it to work the same way as Mastodon,
+you might find yourself getting frustrated when something seems "broken" or
+"missing".  Usually this is just because the feature you're looking for has
+been implemented in a different way.  It may take some getting used to, but if
+you're open to viewing Pleroma as a system in its own right, and not just as a
+"Mastodon clone", you may find that there's some logic to all this nonsense.
+
+Despite these differences, Pleroma developers have chosen to support the
+majority of the Mastodon 2.6 API and some of the upcoming 2.7 APIs as well.
+This allows us to leverage the existing rich mobile app ecosystem, which
+includes things like [Tusky](https://tuskyapp.github.io/) and
+[Mastalab](https://mastalab.app/).  In addition, for the convenience of new
+users (or those who simply prefer it), the Mastodon Web Client is available
+bundled alongside the default front end. You can find it at
+`<website-name.tld>/web` (in the same place where Mastodon puts it).
+
+
+### Pleroma is not GNU Social
+
+While Pleroma doesn't aim to copy Mastodon, it's also not a GNU Social clone.  At
+present, the GNU Social API *is* supported via an emulation layer.  However,
+this API has been deprecated and will eventually be removed, once all
+clients have been ported to either the Mastodon or ActivityPub C2S APIs.
+
+Some confusion over the relationship between Pleroma and GNU Social also comes
+from a historical relationship between the two, as the first Pleroma FE client
+prototypes communicated with GNU Social as a backend.  This was done to avoid a
+chicken-and-egg situation, where a nice backend server is no fun to write if it
+doesn't have a frontend, but a frontend can't connect to anyone without a
+backend.
+
+Because GNU Social development has since stagnated, and because scripts exist
+for migrating GNU Social servers over to Pleroma, many GNU Social instances
+have decided to switch.
+
+
+### Someone told me Pleroma was developed by Nazis!
+
+![Go away.](data/go-away.jpg)
+
+Pleroma is not developed by nazis.  In fact, the Pleroma development team has
+widely been recognized as being one of the most diverse and LGBT-inclusive in
+FOSS today.
+
+An unfortunate side effect of making accessible technologies is that anyone at
+all can use them. Even people with unpopular political views.
+
+
+### So if it's not nazis, what is the Pleroma community in a nutshell?
+
+We provide a short infomercial, encoded as a ROM for the  Super Nintendo
+Entertainment System, which we hope will answer that question for you clearly
+and succinctly.
+
+To view it:
+
+1. download [this file](data/badapple.sfc)
+2. flash it to a Super Everdrive developer cartridge
+3. insert it into an NTSC Super Nintendo Entertainment System
+4. plug an SNES RGB cable (by [@amic@nulled.red](https://nulled.red/@amic)) into your television, and
+5. turn the NTSC Super Nintendo Entertainment System on.
+
+You will quickly find out everything you need to know.
+
+(Note: If your Super Everdrive is a clone, or if you don't happen to be  in the
+habit of collecting decades-old game consoles, it's also possible to use an
+emulator like [RetroArch](https://www.retroarch.com/) or
+[higan](https://byuu.org/emulation/higan/) instead)
+
+
+## Why should I use Pleroma?
+
+Because you can install it on a Raspberry Pi and host an instance over your
+mom's DSL connection.
+
+Because the message filtering tools actually work.
+
+Because post deletions are actually somewhat deniable.
+
+Because you think [Lain](https://blog.soykaf.com/) is a bretty cool guy
+(girl?).
+
+Because you like having to learn how to admin PostgreSQL in order to fix your
+instance without losing all its data.
+
+Because you want to make friends.
+
+If you're still not convinced then check out this [informative blog post about
+it](https://blog.soykaf.com/post/what-is-pleroma/)!
+
+Whatever your reasons, just give it a try!  And may your memes remain forever
+dank (^_^).
+
+
+## Why did you call it "Pleroma"?
+
+There's quite a lot to unpack here, so we'll stick with the shortened version.
+
+In his writings, Carl Jung uses the term Pleroma to refer to the concept of
+"nothing and everything."  We've taken this as being a pre-cognisant reference
+to Pleroma's design: it's only backend server, and so is nothing on its own.
+To make any use of it, you also need to have a client (like [Pleroma
+FE](https://git.pleroma.social/pleroma/pleroma-fe), which is usually included).
+
+Alone, Pleroma is powerless.  But in context it's the vital piece that holds
+the network together.
+
+Behind this (maybe self-aggrandising) Jungian reference is another
+(self-aggrandising) reference to Gnosticism.  For Gnostics, Pleroma is defined
+as "the totality of divine powers."  How this reflects on our views toward the
+fediverse at large is completely open to interpretation.
+
+### How do you spell "Pleroma"?
+*** this section is non-normative ***
+
+Recurring joke which probably comes from misspells of pleroma,
+for example: plemora.
+
+The current ways to write theses is:
+- in regex form: ``/(pleb|[bp][lrm])([aeo][lrm]){3}[lrm]?/i``
+- in shell brace-expansion form: ``{pleb,{b,p}{{l,r,m},}{a,e,o}}{l,r,m}{a,e,o}{l,r,m}{a,e,o}{l,r,m,}``
+
+
+## Administrative Concerns
+
+### How can I find out who runs a Pleroma instance?
+
+You can retrieve a full list of instance staff by requesting the instance's
+[NodeInfo](https://nodeinfo.diaspora.software/), which can be usually found
+somewhere like `/nodeinfo/2.0.json`.
+
+You can also search through NodeInfo data that've been collected by crawlers
+such as [fediverse.network](https://fediverse.network/), and this is probably
+the easier option for most people.  In fact, since we've plugged
+fediverse.network here, it's likely they'll add a staff listing feature based
+on the NodeInfo data they already collect (hint hint).
+
+And if all else fails, Pleroma will also be getting an `/about` page very soon,
+where instances can show all this information and more.
+
+
+### How do I find a list of configuration options for Pleroma?
+
+You can view the documentation for config options
+[here](https://git.pleroma.social/pleroma/pleroma/blob/develop/docs/config.md).
+
+
+### How do I block an instance?
+
+Instance blocking is one of the primary functions delegated to MRF (the Message
+Rewrite Facility).  MRF is a modular system which decides how incoming and
+outgoing posts should be filtered, changed, or otherwise processed.  It allows
+a lot of flexibility, but can be a little complicated at first.
+
+How to use the built in MRF modules to perform common tasks is a topic covered
+in the [Pleroma wiki][mrf].
+
+   [mrf]: https://git.pleroma.social/pleroma/pleroma/wikis/Message%20rewrite%20facility%20configuration%20(how%20to%20block%20instances)
+
+
+### How do I federate with the "Dark Web"?
+
+![Dark web](data/dark-web.jpg)
+
+(pictured: a super scary Dark Web hackerman)
+
+Federation with Tor .onion nodes and I2P .i2p nodes is fully supported.
+
+A tutorial on how to configure Pleroma to federate with them (through built-in
+SOCKS proxies) is available in the [Pleroma wiki][dark-web].
+
+   [dark-web]: https://git.pleroma.social/pleroma/pleroma/wikis/I2p%20federation
+
+
+### An instance I blocked is still getting messages from my instance!
+
+This problem is, unfortunately, due to a security flaw in ActivityPub's design.
+At present, ActivityPub's object fetching is completely unauthenticated,
+meaning that blocks can't be enforced because your instance has no idea who it
+is who's actually fetching the objects.
+
+Various solutions have been suggested, and this might be one of the few (out of
+*many*) ActivityPub leaks to actually get plugged, so please stay tuned.