Brian KrohneJul 29, 2023
I've been pondering the posts by @kissane and @siderea about 'not finding your people' #OnHere and am wondering if sentiments toward fediverse-wide #FullTextSearch have shifted at all. I know this has been implemented several times, and then been graciously shut down by developers who listened to community feedback.
#Mastodon #Fulltext #Search
From US - want opt-out fulltext search
37.3%
From US - DO NOT want opt-out fulltext search
13.6%
From Europe - want opt-out fulltext search
33.1%
From Europe - DO NOT want opt-out fulltext search
16.1%
Poll ended at .
Show threadScottMGSJul 29, 2023

@krohne @kissane @siderea I think this needs to be *opt-in* at the server level by having the server register with an external service. I'm sure I don't understand the technical details but I think my single-user Mastodon instance data limits would be swamped just by the external *requests* for full-text searches.

Also, this can't just be a Mastodon thing. It would have to be a modification to the ActivityPub standard, right?

Show threadBrian Krohne
Perhaps we have an instance admin-level option that says "No one on my server can opt-in to search." I know there are people who would want that.
The type of fediverse-wide search I am thinking of would not query every server every time there was a search - there would have to be a central index. Because of the way activitypub promulgates toots between instances, the indexer wouldn't necessarily have to connect to every instance either.
Jul 29, 2023 at 4:33pmWeb
Show threadScottMGSJul 29, 2023

@krohne Yeah, it probably would require a centralized index but that would somehow need to take into account which servers are federated and which are not. Doing a full text search and being presented with harmful posts (racist, anti-trans, pro-nazi, etc.) from Truth Social or Gab or whatever isn't going to fly. As well, having people from defederated instances reach posts through a central repository is also going to be problematic.

Centralization itself may be anathema to federation.

Show threadScottMGSJul 29, 2023
@krohne This may require stepping back and assessing the use cases for search and addressing them individually. What are all the reasons that people want full search. Assess each case for technical feasibility as well as benefit and harm reduction within the federation paradigm,
Show threadBrian KrohneJul 29, 2023

Surfacing unsavory content has been an issue with some of the fedi search implementations that have come and gone. We would want to see any search using the standard @oliphant blocklists at a minimum.

As for having people from blocked instances (or just anyone on the internet) being able to find your posts, that is a legitmate tradeoff. I would hope being able to block search at the post/user/instance level would help with this.

Show threadBrian KrohneJul 29, 2023
Once we had some proper standards for this, I don't think there would be just one search provider, rather I would expect there would be different options that instance admins could connect to.