FediStation

Description

FediStation turns every article on your blog into a node of the Open Social Web. No accounts required for your readers to use the panel — just click and share to the Fediverse network of their choice.

Features

• Side panel with one-click sharing to Mastodon, Bluesky, Flipboard, Threads, and Lemmy
• Instance-aware sharing for Mastodon and Lemmy (visitor picks their home instance)
• Live FediFind search bar (optional) — visitors search Mastodon, Bluesky, and Flipboard from your site
• Channel Boost (requires free FediBoard account) — push articles to topic-specific Fediverse channels: Travel, Food, Lifestyle, Wellness, Culture, Science
• FediFind Discoveries (optional, free) — submit articles to the open-web index at fedifind.com
• Per-post override — show or hide the panel on individual posts via metabox
• No tracking, no third-party analytics, no Google Fonts on the frontend — your readers’ privacy is respected by default
• Light and dark mode admin UI

Why this matters

The web is consolidating into a handful of closed platforms. FediStation gives WordPress publishers — still the backbone of the open web at ~40% of all sites — a simple bridge to send their content into the Fediverse, where readers and conversations live on user-owned servers and federated protocols.

Requirements

• WordPress 6.0+
• PHP 8.0+
• A free FediBoard account (optional — only required for Channel Boost)
• A free FediFind account (optional — only required for Discoveries submission)

External services

This plugin connects to a small number of external services. They are all operated by FediBoard (the plugin’s author) and are only contacted under the conditions described below. No service is contacted on every page view, and no visitor data is sent without an explicit user action.

FediBoard Channel Boost API (api.fediboard.com)

Used for the FediBoard “Channel Boost” feature, which submits an article to FediBoard topic channels for cross-posting to the Fediverse. Contacted only when an administrator:

• Clicks the Boost Now button in the panel — sends the article URL, title, description, featured image URL, optional caption and hashtags, plus the administrator’s FediBoard licence key.
• Opens the FediBoard quota indicator — sends the licence key to read the remaining monthly boost count.
• Opens the FediStation settings page when a FediBoard account is linked — sends the licence key to read the current account status and tier.

No data is sent from the frontend or for non-administrator visitors.

Terms & Privacy: https://fediboard.com/legal#fedistation

FediBoard Panel Banner (fediboard.com)

When an administrator opens the FediStation side panel on a post, the panel fetches a small JSON configuration file (/wp-top-banner-section.json) from fediboard.com to display a rotating notice in the panel header (e.g. links to FediBoard, Ko-fi support). Only the JSON file is fetched — no data is sent, and no cookies are set. The fetch occurs once per panel open.

Terms & Privacy: https://fediboard.com/legal#fedistation

FediStation Anonymous Usage Stats (api.fediboard.com)

FediStation sends a very small number of anonymous, aggregate pings to api.fediboard.com so we can understand which features are useful and prioritise development. Each ping contains only:

• A randomly generated install UUID (no PII, no IP, no URL, no post title, no domain name).
• The plugin version.
• The event name (e.g. install, boost_submitted, fedifind_submitted).

These pings are fire-and-forget and never delay a page response. To disable all anonymous stats, add this filter to your theme’s functions.php or a site-specific plugin:

add_filter( 'fedistation_stats_enabled', '__return_false' );

Terms & Privacy: https://fediboard.com/legal#fedistation

FediFind Discoveries (fedifind.com)

FediFind is the FediBoard-operated open-web discovery index. The plugin contacts fedifind.com only when an administrator takes one of the following actions:

• Submits an article to FediFind Discoveries — sends the article URL, title and hashtags, along with the administrator’s FediFind licence key.
• Registers or validates a FediFind account from the FediStation settings page — sends the administrator’s email address and the validation code returned by FediFind.
• Loads the panel preview card or boost form — calls FediFind’s OG-fetch endpoint (/api/og-fetch) with the article URL so that the article’s image, title and description can be displayed in a unified way across all FediBoard tools.

No data is sent for non-administrator visitors.

Terms & Privacy: https://fediboard.com/legal#fedifind

Privacy

FediStation is designed to respect your readers’ privacy by default.

• No frontend Google Fonts — the side panel uses your visitors’ system font stack.
• No tracking pixels, analytics, or third-party scripts loaded on the frontend.
• Outbound HTTP calls only occur when an explicit action is taken (share, boost, search, FediFind submission).
• Linked FediBoard and FediFind accounts are stored as WordPress options and removed on plugin uninstall.

Anonymous usage analytics

To help us understand which features are useful and prioritize development, FediStation sends a small number of anonymous, aggregate pings to api.fediboard.com. These pings include:

• A random UUIDv4 site identifier (generated once on plugin activation, never tied to your domain, email, or any personal info)
• The event type: install, share click, search submit, boost, or FediFind submission
• For share clicks only: which network (Bluesky, Mastodon, Flipboard, Threads, or Lemmy)

That’s it. No visitor data, no IP, no page URLs, no search queries, no post titles are ever sent. Pings are fire-and-forget so they never slow down your site.

If you’d prefer to disable analytics entirely, you can do so via WordPress filter:

add_filter( 'fedistation_stats_enabled', '__return_false' );

(This filter will be honored from version 1.1 onwards.)