Replace the cache-busting query param on avatars

[pfrazee]

I created a new profile and followed a lot of people. Things stopped making progress, but not because of the CPU or network load -- it looked like the page's network request queue had gotten jammed up very badly by avatar image requests.

We currently have a ?cache=${Date.now()} on avatar images to make sure you always get the latest avatar. That causes each avatar request to be treated as a separate request, and that's why the network queue got clogged.

We'll need to replace the cache-buster with something a little smarter. It should only be needed after you update your profile pic.

[fsteff]

Probably some sort of "xy changed profile pic" post - could be visible for users (like at fb) or invisible (recognized as metadata).
As far as I understood how fritter works this sounds like a rather small change.

But probably in general a system similar as used for ActivityStream would be useful
https://www.w3.org/TR/activitystreams-core/#activities
A "change profile pic" activity would then cause to re-load the picture

[taravancil]

We've been talking to one of the authors of ActivityPub and ActivityStream about this.We're very seriously considering that vocabulary for the sake of compatibility and standardization. Mastodon uses ActivityPub now!