Scott MatterElectronic mail is so confusing. Why do I need to choose a provider and how do I even decide? And once I have an address, how do I find my friends’ addresses and send them letters? Will I only be able to send letters to people using the same provider?
Vilhelm Rothe@scottmatter I just learned that even if someone uses a particular hashtag, I can only see their toot, if someone from my instance follows that person, otherwise it will never appear to me. That at least makes the choice of instance more important, even if it's relatively painfree to move instance.
lazysupper 🍂🍁 salguod, man@vilhelmr @scottmatter I see hashtags from all over the fediverse when I click on them. You only see toots on your instance?
pillarist@lazysupper @vilhelmr @scottmatter I believe hashtags work the same way all posts work: it's contingent on what your local server knows about, which is determined by the union of accounts followed by the local instance's population, and then if there are any relays being added in.
"Also, it only shows posts that are visible to your server anyway, it is not pulling posts in purely on the basis of the hashtag."
https://fedi.tips/how-to-use-mastodon-and-the-fediverse-advanced-tips/#FollowingHashtags
@pillarist Ah, I see. Thanks!
(That's a great faq. Somebody shared it a few days ago and I've passed it on many times since.)
(That's a great faq. Somebody shared it a few days ago and I've passed it on many times since.)
Steve Yelvington@pillarist @lazysupper @vilhelmr @scottmatter
This tells me that a group bot is a more effective way of building a focused community discussion than a hashtag.
@steve @lazysupper @vilhelmr @scottmatter I think...maybe? Mostly yes? Some of the group bots I have seen come with a lot of "reply-all" posts, as well as outright spam that may disincentivize followers. For communities that prefer more anonymity, group bots have large lists in ways that individual subscriptions to hashtags don't?
John Danskin@pillarist
If you care about hashtags, big servers are better than little ones.
@lazysupper @vilhelmr @scottmatter
If you care about hashtags, big servers are better than little ones.
@lazysupper @vilhelmr @scottmatter
Laure-Katrine@pillarist @lazysupper @vilhelmr @scottmatter I think of it like how gossip spreads… If Mrs. H. hadn’t leaned over the garden wall…..
lamp@pillarist @lazysupper @vilhelmr @scottmatter Yeah you'll only see posts from people that are followed by one or more members on your server, or from servers that share a relay.
Sometimes you might see follow bots trying to follow everyone they can find so they can see as much of the fediverse as possible. But this annoys some people and they get blocked
@lamp @pillarist @vilhelmr @scottmatter I wondered when I saw a bot boost my (rather mundane) post. That must be what it was it was doing!