Florian HockmannDec 17, 2022
Ted Underwood

People say that #Mastodon ⭐️ s are purely to express appreciation, but that’s not quite true! The search function will do full-text search across posts you’ve favourited, so ⭐️s also create a searchable archive.

EDIT 12/18: alas, as many comments have pointed out, this only works if your instance mods enable the feature, and it's computationally expensive so some don't

Dec 16, 2022 at 2:26pmWeb
Show threadMiaDec 16, 2022
@TedUnderwood today I learned! That's super-useful, thanks for sharing
Show threadDeyan GinevDec 16, 2022
@TedUnderwood checks out.
Show threadDan AnconaDec 16, 2022
@TedUnderwood oh. That’s actually quite clever. Thanks!
Show threadAmy H.Dec 16, 2022
@TedUnderwood That's awesome! Learned something new today!
Show threadPhoebeDec 16, 2022
@TedUnderwood ooh very neat!
Show threadJames WoglomDec 16, 2022
@TedUnderwood weirdly enough I can't seem to get this to work in the mastodon android client
Show threadTed UnderwoodDec 16, 2022
@jwoglom Other replies suggest this may only work if your instance admin has enabled ElasticSearch.
Show threadJames WoglomDec 17, 2022
@TedUnderwood ah, that makes sense.
Show threadℹ️❤️🖥 aka Compy-chanDec 16, 2022
@TedUnderwood doesn’t seem to work on my end. Tried both Toot! and my instance’s web client ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Show threadwakest likes your bugs ⁂Dec 17, 2022
@ilovecomputers @TedUnderwood its up to the instance admin to enable search
Show threadAlisonW ♿🏳️‍🌈♾️Dec 16, 2022
@TedUnderwood
Depends on the instance, not all have a search function.
Show threadJonathan Kamens 86 47Dec 16, 2022
@TedUnderwood not sure but I think this is only true if your instance has it enabled. It uses ElasticSearch which is a bit of a resource hog so not all instances enable it.
Show threadAnthony SoraceDec 16, 2022
@jik @TedUnderwood Yes, exactly right. I do wish it were more commonly turned on.
Show threadMagess Dec 16, 2022
@alis is this a server setting thing?
Show threadviqDec 16, 2022
@TedUnderwood
There are also bookmarks. Which I think don't show up for the author? But allow you to come back to them later.
Show threadelizabeth veldonDec 16, 2022
@TedUnderwood oh, that's useful to know.
Show threadMark GardnerDec 16, 2022
@TedUnderwood Search also works for #Mastodon bookmarks, so you can add to your archive without necessarily signaling anybody
Show threadSharon MachlisDec 16, 2022

@TedUnderwood Thanks for the tip!

Information on favorites being full-text searchable is right in the search documentation if I had bothered to read it.

I believe you can see if your Mastodon instance has enabled full-text searching of your own posts & favorites by clicking in the search box in the Web interface and reading what's there.
This is what I see on #fosstodon #FediTips #ReadTheDocs

Show threadJeremy GoochDec 16, 2022
@TedUnderwood Giving that one a not-entirely-ironic ⭐ ...
Show threadNixieDec 16, 2022
@TedUnderwood Also, unlike the birdshite, starred you can go check starred posts by you, making it way easier to show them to someone else because you have the history of them. "Oh, I saw something cool, but can't find it in the timeline since it was yesterday" no more.
Show threadPat, le cycloDec 16, 2022
@TedUnderwood thanks for the tip, that's nice, because I find the search feature quite primitive for now. Is there any way to full text search in my own toots only ?
Show threadRuthanneDec 16, 2022
@TedUnderwood okay, that’s remarkable
Show threadGreg Harvey 🌍Dec 16, 2022
@TedUnderwood This is one of the reasons I am trying really hard not to 'over ⭐' ... it's *not* a 'like' ... it's a bookmark. 😃
Show threadMichał "rysiek" Woźniak · 🇺🇦Dec 16, 2022
@TedUnderwood nice, had no idea!
Show threadNed YeungDec 16, 2022
@TedUnderwood I noted that when I first started using Mastodon. I saw the star and noticed, "Hey, this isn't a like... this is a favorite!" Big difference.
Show thread(((Jann Gobble)))🏳️‍🌈Dec 16, 2022

@TedUnderwood *on instances that have enabled that feature.

MANY instances have not because of load.

Show threadStefan Midjich ꙮ҄Dec 16, 2022
@TedUnderwood the more you favorite, the longer it takes to build the search index. because it searches through all favorites, regardless of how much substance is in the post you favorited. so I try to not use it to show appreciation but rather only to add posts with substance to the search index.
Show threadTed UnderwoodDec 16, 2022
@stemid <appreciation>, in that case!
Show threadDoc Edward Morbius ⭕​Dec 16, 2022

@TedUnderwood When did this happen?

(I've been here since 2016 and have long lamented lack of lurch, erm, search.)

#AllAlliterationAintAvailableAsAdvertised

Show threadDoc Edward Morbius ⭕​Dec 16, 2022

@TedUnderwood OK, apparently not yet activated on toot.cat.

/me waves frantically at @woozle ...

Show threadWoozle HypertwinDec 16, 2022
@dredmorbius I've put in an inquiry with our local (and very small) herd of admin cats.
Show threadDoc Edward Morbius ⭕​Dec 16, 2022
@woozle Blessed are you and the admin cats.
Show threadMark Derricutt (talios)Dec 16, 2022
@TedUnderwood I thought search was limited to hashtags - bit maybe FTS for user names? Will have to research more
Show threadPeter Drake HAS MOVEDDec 17, 2022
@TedUnderwood This doesn't seem to be true, at least on my instance. I favorited your toot and searched for archive and it didn't come up. Bookmarking didn't do it either.
Show threadTed UnderwoodDec 17, 2022
@peterdrake Yeah, some responses to this are observing that it only works on instances that have enabled ElasticSearch. Qoto may not; it could be expensive with long posts.
Show threadPauline von HellermannDec 17, 2022
@TedUnderwood oh that’s so good to know, I hadn’t realised! I find search by hashtag only really difficult
Show threadEhudDec 17, 2022

@TedUnderwood that’s, like, the most important, mastodon tip! Thanks for sharing.

Why doesn’t it do bookmarks as well?

Show thread@pineywoozle ‘s #3WordNoteDec 17, 2022
@TedUnderwood Thats actually very cool. Thanks for the info. #Stars #Mastodon
Show threadSolarbird Dec 17, 2022
@TedUnderwood If (and only if) that's been enabled on your instance by your administrators. And it's a meaningful resource hit so often it is not.
Show threadKevDec 17, 2022
@TedUnderwood holy shit that's actually huge for me. I had no idea this was a thing. Thanks
Show threadALDec 17, 2022
@TedUnderwood I did not know that. Thanks. #mastodon is just full of surprises and more evidence of how well designed it is for the #individual.
Show threadtom4okstateDec 17, 2022
@TedUnderwood yo that's badass. I didn't realize that but happy to know it now.
Show threadRoelf Renkema  Dec 17, 2022

@TedUnderwood

I have seen you posting that a few times now but I would like to know how?

Any link to where this feature is described?

@vosje62

Show threadTed UnderwoodDec 17, 2022
@roelfrenkema @vosje62 I’ve since learned that it only works if your instance mods have enabled Elastic Search.
Show threadRoelf Renkema  Dec 17, 2022

@TedUnderwood

Ah that's what I suspected. Thanks for clarifying.

@vosje62

Show threaddiorama ١٣١٢ (hänet/demm/ihn)Dec 17, 2022
@TedUnderwood that is a "collateral effect" one might replicate for bookmarks in mastodon >= 4.0
however, the main effect is that stars improve visibility in the "explore" twitter-like more-bug-than-feature section
Show threadJesseDec 17, 2022
@TedUnderwood holy cow!
Show threadjanepothecaryDec 17, 2022
@TedUnderwood Thanks that’s really useful to know!
Show threadBatManitouDec 17, 2022
@TedUnderwood Good to know - thanks!
Show threadDan BurzoDec 17, 2022
@TedUnderwood Is this an instance-specific setting? Doesn't seem to be the case for me...
Show threadTed UnderwoodDec 17, 2022
@db Yes, as some people have noted in comments, this only works if your mods enable ElasticSearch.
Show threadDan BurzoDec 17, 2022
@TedUnderwood Ah, I didn't realize there were more comments, they seem to not have been fetched along with the retoot...
Show threadKatherine ☘️Dec 17, 2022
@TedUnderwood I ⭐'ed this for appreciation AND to create an archive for later :)
Show threadDonncha Ó CaoimhDec 17, 2022
@TedUnderwood that hast to be enabled on the server. I get the warning, "Searching posts by their content is not enabled on this Mastodon server."
Show threadTim ChambersDec 17, 2022
@TedUnderwood Good point. Had not occured to me that this was so but yes.
Show threadTed UnderwoodDec 17, 2022
@tchambers It only works on some instances; ElasticSearch has to be enabled.
Show threadBarb MacLean 🇨🇦Dec 17, 2022
@TedUnderwood Aha I was wondering how that works, thank you ⭐️
Show threadJosiah MannionDec 17, 2022
@TedUnderwood Oh that helps! Explains a bit that was confusing me. Thank you!
Show threadBenj Soule🫂💙HumanityFirst🌅Dec 18, 2022
@TedUnderwood Whaaaa...
Show threadDaniel TurnerDec 18, 2022
@TedUnderwood I been trying to figure out the protocol. I did a brief phase of boosting and favoring, being clueless and habitual FB boomer, I need a angry face icon, at the very least.