Feature Request

Description / Use Case

Hi Automattic team,

I’d like to suggest a feature enhancement for Gravatar hovercards in the context of federated replies via ActivityPub in WordPress.

Use case:
When a federated reply is posted to a WordPress comment thread (for example, a reply coming from a Mastodon user via ActivityPub), and the Mastodon account’s handle (e.g., @[email protected]) is registered in Gravatar, it would be great if WordPress could display a Gravatar Hovercard when hovering over that reply’s actor handle.

Why this matters:

• This would unify the identity experience across WordPress, Gravatar, and Fediverse services.
• Adds richer identity verification and social context for federated comments.
• Supports communities bridging open protocols like ActivityPub with the broader Automattic ecosystem.

Technical notes:
Currently, Gravatar hovercards are based on email hash lookups. This feature would require either:

• Enabling Gravatar to associate and query profiles by Fediverse handle (@[email protected]), or
• Providing a mapping mechanism within WordPress ActivityPub plugin or WordPress comment system to resolve handles to corresponding Gravatar profiles.

Expected behavior:
When a federated reply appears in WordPress comments:

• If the actor’s Fediverse handle is associated with a Gravatar account
• Show the Gravatar hovercard (avatar, bio, verified Fediverse handle, etc.) when hovering over the handle

This would be a valuable addition for integrating decentralized social accounts with WordPress-powered sites.

Thanks for considering this!

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Proposed Solution

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Additional Information

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