Announcement

Full text search is now live on many instances running version v4.2.0 !!!

It is "opt-in", meaning you need to check the "Include public post in search results" box to enable your posts to be searchable: Click Preferences (on right near bottom [gear icon]) >>> Click Public Profile (on left near top [person icon]) >>> Click Privacy and reach box (near top [lock icon]) >>> Under Search (scroll down middle of page)

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#search

@mastodonmigration Making it opt-in pretty much guarantees a low uptake. Probably by design.

@lauren It's a bit disingenuous to call it "by design" as if it's meant to have low intake. If you followed the issue @Gargron's first instinct was to enable it by default, but they talked him to use opt-in. So it definitely was not "by design".

I don't mind it being opt-in, Mastodon is a pretty small network and new users will come.

I do wonder how other servers deal with it, like Threads. It would be painful if their content is not searchable because of the new option they don't use.

@Ciantic @Gargron The design is how it's implemented, not the "might have beens". It doesn't matter how it came to be opt-in, the bottom line is that it IS opt-in and that IS the design.

@lauren Yes, I might have misunderstood your sentiment. But what I meant it's not designed to have "low intake", it's a consequence of it being opt-in.

I would wager it has pretty high intake once Mastodon 4.2 is prevalent enough.

@Ciantic Opt in on any feature introduced into an existing structure is almost always relatively low uptake without other incentives, with occasional exceptions. Given the antipathy toward search that has long been a hallmark of Mastodon philosophy, I have yet to see evidence that this case would be any different.

@lauren @Ciantic I agree.

I think providing choice — also a Mastodon hallmark — is good, but this being opt-in instead of opt-out will almost certainly greatly curtail the usefulness of the feature in practice.

And that’s on top of the already deleterious fact that it will only search posts that your instance already knows about.

@jeff @lauren @Ciantic You can either go for safety/privacy first or for convenience first. You can't have both.

The rest is just an onboarding problem to make people aware of the new privacy & reach tab on the profile settings. If the software shouldn't provide that, admins could do it by announcing, like I have done here: https://ailbhean.co-shaoghal.net/@gunchleoc/110954728924598317

GunChleoc :verified_gaelic: (@[email protected])

Ceanglachain: 1 dealbh Tha sinn air tionndadh 4.2.0-beta2 a-nis :mastodon: Tadhailibh air na roghainnean prìobhaideachd agaibh on a tha roghainnean ùra ann. Tha mi fhathast a' feuchainn ri gluasad gu frithealaiche eile, mar sin dheth bithibh 'n dùil gum bidh am làrach sìos a-rithist. #rianachd

An t-Ailbhean