Miguel de Icaza ᯅ🍉Dec 16, 2022
@filippo searching my old posts is a good chunk of my searches. I like this. Thanks for the info!
Show threadmekka okereke 

@Migueldeicaza @filippo

A good portion of my Twitter usage was searching my old posts too.

Me: *Says something that is the logical and inevitable outcome of systemic racism in the US.*

Stranger: You're wrong! That won't happen, because racism isn't as bad as you think!

Me: OK. I don't argue with y'all. I say what I say, then I collect my receipts later.

Time passes... racist thing happens.

Me: 🔮🧙🏿‍♂️ #Blackstradamus is undefeated! [link to old tweet]

Dec 16, 2022 at 1:59pmWeb
Show threadGen X-WingDec 16, 2022

@mekkaokereke @Migueldeicaza @filippo A lot of people should instead think “racism is worse than what *I* am experiencing”.

As far as search goes, if it’s your own feed, I’m assuming one could pull the data down via activity feed and throw it into a local database.

Yes, 100% not what a normal user would do. But it proves the concept.

But what I’m curious of is what people use search for (since I don’t), except finding their own toots.

Show threadmekka okereke Dec 16, 2022

@breadbin @Migueldeicaza @filippo

Great question! Here's a concrete example, also involving racism:

Several Black tech folks with large followings including me, received harassment and death threats within our 1st few weeks of being on Mastodon.

Without looking at my pinned posts, try and find any evidence of our experiences around this topic.

On Twitter, you could just search. On here, that information is almost completely undiscoverable.

Show threadmekka okereke Dec 16, 2022

@breadbin @Migueldeicaza @filippo There are tons of reports of Black folk having bad experiences with racism on Mastodon.cloud. Instances like Hachyderm.io are much better.

But a search for "mastodon.cloud racism" returns practically nothing for most people on Mastodon.

Ironically, a search for "Mastodon.cloud racism" on Twitter, does find my result.

Show threadGen X-WingDec 16, 2022

@mekkaokereke @Migueldeicaza @filippo Ah, I see. Seems like a doubled edged sword. On the one hand we want to expose (I’m lucky to have had zero such experiences, and I know why) so everyone can see. I don’t think we should chastise someone saying they haven’t seen it, but rather as you say expose it.

But the other edge is, that also means you can target people to do those very things to the first place:( Which is awful.

It’s a difficult problem:(

Show threadGen X-WingDec 16, 2022

@mekkaokereke @Migueldeicaza @filippo To be honest I have no solution at all that fulfills all requirements.

(On a purely technical level I always wonder, when a feature is requested, if there’s a deeper reason and if there’s a different solution around.)

And, holy fuck, death threats, that’s beyond abhorrent. Not that I’m surprised, I’m just as angry each time