Simon WillisonDec 22, 2022

My least favourite sharp edge of Mastodon is the fact that when you view someone else's post you only see replies to it that are known to your server - so there's actually a good chance there will be replies that are completely invisible to you, especially if you run your own instance

I'd love it if tapping a post kicked off a request back to the original server that fetched the current reply count and provided a "view all replies" button if there were replies not yet visible to me

Show threadSimon WillisonDec 22, 2022

My hunch here is that very few people see even aware of this Mastodon feature

So, a poll: prior to reading this thread, did you know that Mastodon by default will only show you public replies to a post if those replies have already been fetched into your server somehow?

(This only affects you when you view a post that originated on a server other than your home server - if the original post author is on the same server as you then you'll see all of the replies)

Yes I knew about that
24%
No, I didn't know about that
70%
I don't understand the question
6%
Poll ended at .
Show threadAria  ​Dec 22, 2022

@simon I had assumed that replies would inherit the "reach" of the original post by default... Hmm...

*edit: typo

Show threadmaegulDec 23, 2022
@AriaGrace yes! I think this is the normal intuition, where many have the intuition of a forum or threaded structure. But it seems the core idea here is it’s all about who you follow.
Show threadchriszanfDec 23, 2022
@maegul @AriaGrace Here's a great flow chart that shows the visibility of a toot on which timeline it will appear dependent on if it's on a local and federated instance & if you follow someone who interacted with it.
Show threadGareth SimpsonDec 23, 2022
@chriszanf @maegul @AriaGrace
Thank you for sharing this.
The diagram is enlightening and makes logical sense.
It also has kind of depressing implications for people following hashtags. Got to hope the people on your server share all your niche interests.
Show threadmaegul

@xurble
Agree about hashtags. Inline with the comments around 21/22 Dec in this GitHub issue, I suspect there's some real room to grow for #Mastodon in providing a clean and powerful filtering and viewing system to users.
https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon/issues/20715

Like with this conversation about replies, I think there's some hunger to turn Mastodon into a wonderful content feed manager that will require connections or aggregating concepts beyond the social "x follows y" graph.

Add hashtag to list · Issue #20715 · mastodon/mastodon

Pitch As of 4.0 one can follow a hashtag so that it appears in one's home timeline. I suggest that one also be able to add a hashtag to a list, which would allow people to curate list composed of d...

GitHub
Dec 23, 2022 at 10:17amWeb
Show threadmaegulDec 23, 2022
@xurble Inline with this, a vague idea sticking around in my head is whether #Mastodon (however viable) could benefit from the idea of a "board", which would essentially be a thread or chat room like a #reddit post. But it would be owned, moderated and controlled by the creator, like a mini instance within an instance, and could have a fixed duration of write openness and even read openness and of course configurable accessibility by user/instance etc, with instance based rules too