jakelondon
Jorge Caballero, MDMastodon is the best social network for breaking news from trusted sources. I wish the Mastodon Core project would prioritize features such as global search that would make it easier to discover boots-on-the-ground reporters and OSINT (and no, hashtags don't work so spare me the proselytizing)
Elizabeth Alcinoe@DataDrivenMD Me, too.
mattg@DataDrivenMD global search for Mastodon isn't a "feature", it's operational infrastructure. Where would global search be hosted? Who would pay for that infrastructure?
as:Public Search@mattg @DataDrivenMD It's a lot lighter weight than you might imagine. We're doing it with a single postgres database, but you can use sqlite as well.
Mad Sci ∴Likewise. search only finding your own posts is broken to most people
Manitcor>hashtags don't work so spare me the proselytizing
Thank you, they haven't worked for ages and they are a cope for poor search engines anyway.
The Steel Rat@DataDrivenMD But it is difficult to find users that post breaking legitimate news links
John Dark@thesteelrat @DataDrivenMD I have had good luck finding breaking news at journa.host. And you can search by tag on that instance.
skry@thesteelrat @DataDrivenMD The best tip I’ve found for following journalists: https://mastodon.social/@skry/110646546949221054
You can also pick and choose of course.
MrRant@skry @thesteelrat @DataDrivenMD I’ve done this with some I know of. But it isn’t the most efficient way. Maybe if there was a way to find folks that doesn’t rely on a google doc.
@mrrant @thesteelrat @DataDrivenMD I don’t understand what’s inefficient about automated following of hundreds of verified journalists at once with a CSV upload, but reading the local timeline on journa.host is the other good suggestion in this thread. https://journa.host/public/local
Search is coming, but it can’t be more efficient than either of those methods. There’s also https://news.feedseer.com/ for checking trends and https://mastodon.social/explore
Raineer 
🦆@DataDrivenMD @lisamelton making good search decentralized is a genuinely difficult problem.
Does my ~100 user instance have to catalog the whole fediverse? Does every single-user instance need to? To be effective it essentially needs to be centralized, and that brings us back to the original problem which created mastodon so many years ago.
@DataDrivenMD and now that I stated that, you can see where hashtags come in. It certainly is not perfect, but a self-labeling of critical search terms by the author is sure easier than every instance full-text-indexing every toot from every other instance
Frazell Thomas@raineer @DataDrivenMD @lisamelton It certainly is a challenging problem and one that I feel is naturally monopolistic. It would take some centralization to, at least, coordinate indexing and searching across the entire Fediverse. That said, it is a problem that needs to be iterated on and solved.
Discoverability is the biggest challenge the Fediverse currently faces for new users. I think search can done without undermining core principles.
ScottMGS@DataDrivenMD I'm not completely sure how that works technically but I'm pretty sure that my little single-user Mastodon server would choke on all the requests and I think my excess data charges would go through the roof. Those costs need to be covered by those using the total text search service. I could absolutely see the larger instances supporting that feature but I'm not sure it would federate well.
@DataDrivenMD Maybe it could be done via RSS or something? Again, nowhere near my wheelhouse.
bubbajet@DataDrivenMD Nailed it. Hashtags don’t work, particularly without agreed-upon terms, or a a list of predefined tags.
Those that like them, and those that say it’s not possible to do search without hashtags, I get it. You like them, they work for you. I’m a nerd, too!
But for the general public, they’re not usable. Mastodon can figure it out and grow, or forever be leapfrogged by social media that does implement search. That’s not a threat, or derogatory in any way. It’s *just how it is.*
Kuba Suder • @mackuba.eu on 🦋@DataDrivenMD watch out, you will probably be labelled a tech bro who doesn't understand consent and wants to ruin everything... 🙄
Antifa Warlord@mackuba @DataDrivenMD mastodon.art defederation incoming 😂
william.maggoshow do I know this article is actually from ProPublica? because it's on their website. how do I know this social media post is actually from them? cause the account is on the propublica.social server. someday. and yes, search. imagine all journalist website software having the fediverse built in, so all their articles are automatically part of our network. that's something big social cannot do. I too wish the Core team would prioritize journalism. the rest will follow.
@wjmaggos @DataDrivenMD exactly this, add simple digital signatures with content hashes and you even eliminate the "instance in the middle" problem.
johnbessa@manitcor @wjmaggos @DataDrivenMD
Don't mean to rain on your parade, but the best journalism today is video.
The best access, turnaround and searchability is:
Tiktok
Why Modi outlawed it in his struggle agaist Sikh culture - And Trump attempted to in his struggle against the US.
Trump example from Portland OR:
https://beta.wikiversity.org/wiki/User:John_Bessa/List_of_Portand_Oregon_Protest_video_sources#List_of_PORTLAND_OR_PROTEST_VIDEO_SOURCES
@johnbessa @wjmaggos @DataDrivenMD as AI becomes more capable, video will have the same problem.
it already does if any well equipped actor wants to get into video editing.
Art Nouveau Appreciator@DataDrivenMD @Find_Jeffness why don’t hashtags work? Seems like their opt-in nature makes it perfect for “hey everyone I want this traffic to be discovered”, just like it is on Twitter.
Jeffery Harvey, DEL, CEM@Jetengineweasel @DataDrivenMD
I've had some success searching hashtags as a means of finding folks. I haven't found them to be nearly as dynamic as within Twitter, but there is some functionality there.
I've had some success searching hashtags as a means of finding folks. I haven't found them to be nearly as dynamic as within Twitter, but there is some functionality there.