Abandoned AmericaJan 3, 2023

It's strange to me that people are so focused on quote toots (which would be nice but I don't have particularly strong feelings about) when, in my opinion, what Mastodon desperately needs is a functional search bar. There is no better way to find out what is going on with a given topic.

Yeah, I know about hashtags, and I really don't think they are a suitable replacement.

Show threadAbandoned AmericaJan 3, 2023
I'd like to add here that the majority of concerns I have heard about implementing searches could be easily addressed by making them something you choose whether to be a part of or not at an individual or instance level. I get that they're not for everyone but removing the option for others bc you personally don't want it (and yet could opt in or out) is not a great look imo
Show threadAbandoned AmericaJan 3, 2023
At the very least allow instances to choose whether they are searchable or not and give people the option to join them if that's what they want 🤷🏻‍♂️
Show threadKarin!Jan 3, 2023

@AbandonedAmerica you may already know this, but searching is a much harder problem to solve. You can install a special search apparatus on an instance - it's a whole other application (ElasticSearch) that's pretty resource intensive. the functionality is still pretty limited, not sure if that's because of the resource requirements

I have a feeling this is a problem that will be solved by third party vendors, not instances

Show threadKarin!Jan 3, 2023

@AbandonedAmerica so, like there might be an ad supported site that you can go to search across many instances. or there might be a service you can pay for (monthly or per search?) that would provide full text indexing and searching.

I think many people would get pretty mad, but I don't think they can really DO anything about such services?

Show threadAbandoned AmericaJan 3, 2023
@nirak I feel like the lack of official implementation of the feature actually encourages unethical implementation of workarounds that don't respect whether or not people want to be a part of them, whereas an official solution could
Show threadKarin!Jan 3, 2023
@AbandonedAmerica the problem as I see it (being someone who hosts a small instance) is if it was built in AND required as part of the "stack" (the list of software required to run an instance) people who want to host their own instances might be shut out due to cost. More processing power = more $$$. I kind of like the third party idea but someone has to actually do it first :/
Show threadAbandoned America
@nirak I appreciate your perspective on this. The cost aspect is something I hadn't really considered and am not curious about
Jan 3, 2023 at 5:14pmMastodon for Android