Eugen RochkoSep 3, 2023
The fragmentation among friends that follows Twitter’s collapse is exactly the kind of problem that Mastodon and the social web solves for. Imagine that you don’t have to pick and choose which new platform to adopt, or make and maintain a million accounts—because you can follow anyone regardless of which platform they’re on. That’s our reality.
Show threadOsfast 
@Gargron well... I would love an easy an accessible way to find friends and contacts on mastodon. Having to share links with everyone it a bit of a hastle. If I could just find people based on email or phone number would make loads easier
Sep 3, 2023 at 2:31pmWeb
Show threadRandahl FinkSep 7, 2023

@osfast
No. That is not a good idea.

Searching for people using private data is a security risk, because someone could create a server were those search queries were abused to build a database of private contact information.

@Gargron

Show threadOsfast Sep 7, 2023

@randahl YOu certainly have a valid argument. but just saying no is easy.
How would you propose it should be done.

@Gargron

Show threadRandahl FinkSep 7, 2023

@osfast Mastodon users need to fill out their profiles thoroughly. Implementation of search is in progress, and once it gets final, I bet you will be able to find “Ursula Jensen in Berlin” or “Steve journalist BBC” or “entrepreneur robotics Jackson”

@Gargron

Show threadOsfast Sep 7, 2023

@randahl
Thats far from userfriendly for most people. it activly requires action on both ends.
Pick any person of the street they will already have enough trouble gasping the concept of the fediverse. having them joining it would be a big step in and on it self. Having a hard time finding familiar friends will only drive them away even more.
good user onboarding is so so important for getting them to stick around

@Gargron

Show threadRandahl FinkSep 7, 2023
@osfast I completely agree, usability is the key to success for Mastodon.