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-Friendship in Friendika can take on a great many different meanings. But let's keep it simple, you want to be friends with somebody. How do you do it?
+Friendship in Friendica can sometimes take on different meaning.
+But let's keep it simple; you want to be friends with somebody.
+How do you do it?
-The first thing you can do is look at the Directory for somebody you would like to connect with. Visit their profile. Just beneath their profile picture will be the word 'Connect' (we're assuming this is an English language profile).
+The Directories
+---
+Friendica has two different kinds of "address book".
+The directory of the Friendica server you are registered on and a global directory to which your and other Friendica servers submit account information.
-Click that. It will take you to a "Connect" form.
+The first thing you can do is look at the **Directory**.
+The directory is split up into two parts.
+If you click the directory button, you will be presented with a list of all members (who chose to be listed) on your server.
-This is going to ask you for your Identity Address. This is necessary so that this person's website can find yours.
+You'll also see a link to a **Global Directory**.
+There are several global directories across the globe that regularly exchange information with each other.
+The specific global directory that you see usually depends on where your server is located.
+If you click through to the global directory, you will be presented with a list of everybody who choses to be listed across all instances of Friendica.
+You will also see a "Show Community Forums" link, which will direct you to Groups, Forums and Fanpages.
+You connect to people, groups and forums in the same way, except groups and forums will automatically accept your introduction request, whereas a human will approve you manually.
-What do you put in the box?
+Connect to other Friendica users
+---
-If your Friendika site is called "demo.friendika.com" and your username/nickname on that site is "bob", you would put in "bob@demo.friendika.com".
+Visit their profile.
+Just beneath their profile picture will be the word 'Connect' (we're assuming this is an English language profile).
+Click that 'Connect' button and it will take you to a 'Connect' form.
-Notice this looks just like an email address. It was meant to be that way. It's easy for people to remember.
+The form is going to ask you for your Identity Address.
+This is necessary so that this person's website can find yours.
-You *could* also put in the URL of your profile page, such as "http://demo.friendika.com/profile/bob".
+If your Friendica site is called "demo.friendica.com" and your username/nickname on that site is "bob", you would enter "bob@demo.friendica.com" in this form.
-The email-style address is certainly easier.
+Notice this looks just like an email address.
+It's meant to be that way.
+It's easy for people to remember.
-When you've submitted the connection page, it will take you back to your own site where you must then login (if necessary) and verify the connection request on *your* site. Once you've done this, the two websites can communicate with each other to complete the process (after your new friend has approved the request).
+You *could* also put in the URL of your "home" page, such as "http://demo.friendica.com/profile/bob" instead of the email-style address.
-If you already know somebody's Identity Address, you can enter it in the "connect" box on your "Contacts" page. This will take you through a similar process.
+When you've submitted the connection page, it will take you back to your own site where you must then login (if necessary) and verify the connection request on *your* site.
+Once you've done this, the two websites can communicate with each other to complete the process (after your new friend has approved the request).
-You can also use your Identity Address or other people's Identity Addresses to become friends across networks. The list of possible networks is growing all the time. If you know (for instance) "bob" on identi.ca (a Status.Net site) you could put bob@identi.ca into your Contact page and become friends across networks. (Or you can put in the URL to Bob's identi.ca page if you wish). You can also be "partial" friends with somebody on Google Buzz by putting in their gmail address. Google Buzz does not yet support all the protocols we need for direct messaging, but you should be able to follow status updates from within Friendika.
+If you already know somebody's Identity Address, you can enter it in the "connect" box on your "Contacts" page.
+This will take you through a similar process.
-This works from other networks as well. If a friend of yours has an identi.ca account, they can become friends with you by putting your Friendika Identity Address into their identi.ca subscription dialog box.
-If this happens you will receive a notification. You will need to approve this before the friendship is complete.
+Connect to users of alternate networks
+---
+### Across the Federation and Fediverse
+You can also use your Identity Address or other people's Identity Addresses to become friends across the so-called Federation/Fediverse of open source social media.
+Currently, Friendica supports connections with people on diaspora*, Red, Hubzilla, GNU Social, StatusNet, Mastodon, Pleroma, socialhome, and ganggo platforms.
-Some networks allow people to send you messages without being friends and without your approval. Friendika does not allow this by default, as it would open a gateway for spam. So when you've approved a friend request from one of these networks, look at your contact page for that person (this will be displayed as soon as you approve the relationship). They might be marked as an "Ignored" contact.
+If you know (for instance) "alice" on gnusocial.net (a GNU Social site) you could put alice@gnusocial.net into your Contact page and become friends across networks.
+Likewise you can put in the URL to Alice's gnusocial.net page, if you wish.
+Note: Some versions of GNU Social software may require the full URL to your profile and may not work with the identity address.
-This means they can see some of your posts (your public posts), but they aren't permitted to send you anything. You can "Un-ignore" them if you desire to allow them to contact you directly and to have their status updates appear in your Network feed.
+People on these networks can also initiate contact with you, if they know your contact details.
-When you receive a friendship notification from another Friendika member, you will have the option of allowing them as a "fan" or as a "friend". If they are a fan, they can see what you have to say, including private communications that you send to them, but not vice versa. As a friend, you can both communicate with each other.
+### Other social media
+If you server provides this functionality, you can also connect with people one
+Twitter or important feeds from Tumblr, Wordpress, and many more.
-Once you have become friends, if you find the person constantly sends you spam or worthless information, you can "Ignore" them - without breaking off the friendship or even alerting them to the fact that you aren't interested in anything they are saying. In many ways they are like a "fan" - but they don't know this. They think they are a friend.
+To connect, enter their contact details in the "connect" box on your "Contacts" page.
-You can also "block" a person. This completely blocks communications with that person. They may still be able to see your public posts, as can anybody in the world, but they cannot communicate with you directly in any way. They will know or be able to discover that they have been blocked but there's nothing they can do about it.
+### Email
+If you have supplied your mailbox connection information on your Settings page, you can enter the email address of anybody that has sent you a message recently and have their email messages show up in your social stream.
+You can also reply to them from within Friendica.
-You can also delete a friend no matter what the friendship status - which complete removes everything relating to that person from your website.
+Create an email contact with for example Alice on Gmail, enter her email in following format "mailto:alice@gmail.no".
+In order to avoid abuse or spam, you must have an email from Alice with the correct email address in your email inbox.
-
-
+Subscribing to mailing lists is done in the same way, but without the use of the "mailto:" prefix.
+To subscribe to a mailing list, enter the email in following example format "mailing-list@list-server.net".
+### Syndication feeds
+You can "follow" almost anybody or any website that produces a syndication feed (RSS/Atom,etc.).
+If we can find an information stream and a name to attach to the contact, we'll try to connect with them.
+
+Notification
+---
+When somebody requests friendship you will receive a notification.
+You will usually need to approve this before the friendship is complete.
+
+Approval
+---
+Some networks allow people to send you messages without being friends and without your approval.
+Friendica does not allow this by default, as it would open a gateway for spam.
+
+Unilateral or bilateral friendships
+---
+When you receive a friendship notification from another Friendica member, you will have the option of allowing them as a "Follower" or as a "Friend".
+If they are a follower, they can see what you have to say, including private communications that you send to them, but not vice versa.
+As a friend, you can both communicate with each other.
+
+diaspora* uses a different terminology, and you are given the option of allowing them to "share with you", or being full friends.
+
+Ignoring, blocking and deleting contacts
+---
+Once you have become friends, if you find the person constantly sends you spam or worthless information, you can "Ignore" them - without breaking off the friendship or even alerting them to the fact that you aren't interested in anything they are saying.
+In many ways they are like a "follower" - but they don't know this.
+They think they are a friend.
+
+You can also "block" a person.
+This completely blocks communications with that person.
+They may still be able to see your public posts, as can anybody in the world, but they cannot communicate with you directly.
+
+You can also delete a friend no matter what the friendship status - which completely removes everything relating to that person from your website.