Also probably fixes #124 and #185 (I have tested none of the mentioned AP servers in either of those issue) and addresses some of the concerns in #197

thanks Tom! I'll be home for like three days the middle of next week between back-to-back trips and will try to give this a look during that time.

FYI, I pulled this branch into my server's copy of the code, and now I'm able to federate both ways with GoToSocial, Snac, and Bridgy Fed (including full federation with Bluesky across the bridge), none of which worked before. (Also Akkoma, but I don't remember if that one worked before.)

Correction: It mostly works. With Postmarks following a GoToSocial user, the GTS user's posts show up as by @undefined@gts-server-name on the Network page. But it is following, and comments by GTS users display correctly on individual bookmark pages.

this also fixed the issue I was having here #201

It would be really nice if this pull request was accepted. Without it, it doesn't seem to be possible to follow the account from Fediverse (at least not Mastodon and Friendica).

@ckolderup any plans to revisit the open PRs here / can any of us help with maintenance?

Hey-- things have been rough lately, but I know I'm overdue here. I'll try to carve out some time today or tomorrow to take a look at this and the handful of other open PRs. Thanks everyone for the nudge.