Eniko (moved ➡ gamedev.place)

To the people complaining that there aren't enough artists here: are you following any art hashtags? Actually, same question to people who say mastodon doesn't have enough of whatever! Just follow some hashtags! Trust me if you do soon enough your feed will be absolutely drowning in your interest unless it's super niche

And then you can follow people who pop up on there, and maybe even eventually unfollow the hashtag

Jul 3, 2023 at 2:25pmWeb
Show threadRonflaixJul 3, 2023

@eniko Do you happen to know where I could see which hashtags I'm following? On the default mastodon instance software I can easily find my following and lists but not the followed hashtags. Or I'm blind, I don't know, bleh.

EDIT : nevermind, I have to go to my profile page and then the "followed hashtags" in the kebab menu next to the "edit profile" option

Show threadEniko (moved ➡ gamedev.place)Jul 3, 2023
@Ronflaix I actually don't know 🤔 I can boost this for you and maybe get you an answer that way, if you like?
Show threadRonflaixJul 3, 2023
@eniko It's alright, I edited my toot once I found out where to do that, my bad, but thanks for the offer!
Show threadMeow.tar.gz  Jul 3, 2023
@eniko A lot of people new to the #fediverse simply don't know the importance of hashtags. I try to tell newbies that, in the beginning, hashtags build your feed. Eventually, you get connected with other like-minded individuals or individuals that share content that you seek. Following hashtags and using them will be what gets you noticed.
Show threadMeow.tar.gz  Jul 3, 2023
@eniko I even had to remind myself of the importance of hashtags when I first started my own instance back in January. I was initially confused as to why my feed was so empty. I remembered that I had to not only import my followers but also start following hashtags more closely. It's easier to get started for someone new to join an existing server with an already comprehensive feed.
Show threadHecco the DolphinJul 3, 2023
@eniko Also, if you're worried that other artists aren't seeing your posts, use more hashtags! Hashtags are good here! There's no algorithms, no gods, only admins and hashtags.
Show threadJoJul 3, 2023
@eniko my problem right now is not that there isn't any art, but that the specific artists I followed on other sites are not on mastodon... 🥲
Also the galleries and venues that I followed to learn about event dates are not on here either, so as nice as mastodon is, it just does not do the thing I want it to do for the moment...
Show threadOblomovJul 3, 2023
@eniko there's one piece of information I would like to add: people who are on smaller, more peripheral servers may find following hashtags unsatisfactory. In these cases, it might be useful to 'prime' your lists using the tag timelines from larger servers, which you can peek at using mastovue, for example:
http://mastovue.glitch.me/#/mastodon.social/federated/art
or
http://mastovue.glitch.me/#/vis.social/federated/art
or whatever
MastoVue | Mastodon Timeline Viewer

Show threadOfficially Tara 🕷️  🌹Jul 3, 2023
@oblomov @eniko this is very interesting, thank you for sharing! i've been worried about this too, as i also posted about following tags recently (i agree that it really helped flesh out content and discover folks with interests that werent super prominent in the local feed)
Show threadJohn CuttingJul 3, 2023
@eniko
Following hashtags has been the best feature on mastodon. I love it
Show threadBill, organizer of stuffJul 3, 2023
@eniko I would definitely recommend scrolling through the feed on mastodon.art and following folks there!
Show threadJaco GJul 3, 2023
@eniko The admin of dot art is sitting next to me, I will let her know that there are no artists on here.
Show threadEniko (moved ➡ gamedev.place)Jul 3, 2023
@jaco I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news 😔🙏
Show threadKinky KoboldsJul 3, 2023
@eniko As a corollary to this: Please, if you're posting art, USE hashtags so people can find your art!
Show threadtarper24Jul 3, 2023
@eniko
Taking this a step further, if you think you're not seeing all the posts a hashtag has to offer, you can follow tags from fedi.buzz (https://relay.fedi.buzz/) to get posts from across the wider Fediverse!
#FediBuzz Relay

The buzzing ActivityPub relay service

Show threadZILtoid1991Jul 3, 2023
@eniko There's also a few people, that complain corporations are not here, however I've seen quite a few ones, all by accident.
Show thread🏳️‍🌈 HeroRareheart 🏳️‍⚧️Jul 3, 2023
@eniko as much as it helps I find lots of stuff just isn't tagged.
Show threadI am the CarlJul 3, 2023

@eniko I've found a lot of them are hanging out on rkgk.moe. At least, the eastern styled ones are.

Finding them can be difficult. I found them by looking up hashtags of of #touhou. Why that one? Because that franchise holds the world record for most fan art.

Still, not bad for my 3rd day of Mastedon.

Show threadDan PriceJul 3, 2023

@eniko Following hashtags is great advice for anyone new to Mastodon, you're essentially building your own algorithm that way.

For art in particular, I can also recommend following @Curator as they post a pretty constant feed of artists from that instance.

Show threadMastodon•ART 🎨 CuratorJul 3, 2023
@flexplate @eniko From all instances! :D
Show threadDan PriceJul 3, 2023
@Curator @eniko I stand corrected!
Show threadKinky KoboldsJul 3, 2023
@eniko Also: *please* use hashtags if you're posting artwork!
Show threadSteven BodzinJul 3, 2023

@eniko that's not a helpful take. If your interest is, like, the entire country of Chile, you will find almost nothing tagged #Chile. The problem with following hashtags is you only find posts that use that hashtag, and most people don't use hashtags in their posts.

We need full text search, yesterday.

Show threadNeonJul 3, 2023
@guacamayan Hi there! I believe this post specifically came out from people talking about not finding art on here, and for some topics (e.g., art), this is actually a very helpful tip as people do actually hashtag these posts. For topics that do not get tagged very much, you might be better off following specific users. Full text search is supported on Calckey/Misskey/Pleroma/Akkoma, and I remember seeing mentions about it to be implemented in Mastodon soonish so perhaps you will be able to search for "Chile" soon on your instance @eniko
Show threadSteven BodzinJul 3, 2023
@geraineon @eniko thanks, I appreciate it! I hope it happens. I have found plenty of interesting stuff on Mastodon but there is a tradition of obscurity by design around here that makes it far less useful than it could be as a professional tool for finding new contacts and facts. My point wasn't to kvetch, but to encourage boosters to admit this system's weaknesses and to mention that there are things still being worked on