Mastodawn

Is your Mastodon timeline too empty or too full? Are you seeing stuff you don't want to, and missing stuff you do want to see? Is your timeline overwhelmed by someone who shares too many posts?

These and lots more timeline problems are solved in the "How to customise your Mastodon timeline" guide:

➡️ https://fedi.tips/does-mastodon-and-the-fediverse-use-algorithms-does-it-start-pushing-stuff-at-me-based-on-my-interactions

#FediTips #Mastodon

Does Mastodon and the Fediverse use algorithms? How do I customise what’s in my timeline if there’s no algorithm? | Fedi.Tips – An Unofficial Guide to Mastodon and the Fediverse

An unofficial guide to using Mastodon and the Fediverse

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klu9 Feb 1

@FediTips

I'd like to be able to follow hashtags without seeing posts in languages I don't understand that also use those hashtags.

#Mastodon language settings don't help with that & after having a timeline 30-35% in languages I don't know, I've ended up muting hundreds (maybe thousands now) of accounts.

In fact, I've started looking at my alt account's timeline (exquisite.social) first because Mastodon's lack of hashtag migration means my timeline there is only people I follow, & only afterwards going to my original account (ohai.social) that includes followed hashtag posts.

Are you sure you've selected the option to filter languages, rather than just setting your own interface language? (More info at https://fedi.tips/setting-your-language-preferences-on-mastodon-and-filtering-out-posts-in-other-languages )

The language filter should help at least somewhat, but by definition you won't notice the posts it is successfully hiding.

There is also an automatic language detector, and it tells people when they've got the wrong post language setting, but it's not reliable for short posts so that's why it doesn't override the person's setting.

Setting your language preferences on Mastodon, filtering out posts in other languages, filtering search results by language | Fedi.Tips – An Unofficial Guide to Mastodon and the Fediverse

An unofficial guide to using Mastodon and the Fediverse

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klu9 Feb 1

@FediTips

Yes, I've set the "Filter" languages, not just "Interface" language.
(Preferences > Other > Public Timelines > Filter languages)

And many of the posts in undesired languages (in my case, 95% German) have been quite long, hundreds of characters.

I wonder if following a hashtag trumps/bypasses the language filter.

#Mastodon #MastodonHelp

The language filter acts on the language the post is set to rather than the language it's actually written in. People posting in multiple languages may have their default language set to English, which the filter won't catch no matter what language the post is written in.

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Fedi.Tips Feb 1

@AdrianRiskin @klu9

Yup, this is the problem, people are using the wrong settings on their posts.

There is an automatic language detector but it isn't reliable enough on short posts to have it override the user. It does suggest to them when it thinks they've got it wrong though.

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sotolf

@FediTips @AdrianRiskin @klu9 Yeah, this is basically because the way that most of the clients are made, mine for example doesn't even let me set the language for a post, for something like tusky it's a hassle, so I usually don't bother, I'm not going through the effort just for making the americans more coddled in not having to deal with more than their language existing.

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Fedi.Tips Feb 2

@sotolf @AdrianRiskin @klu9

I realise most people probably don't know this, but just in case someone reading this does want to make sure they have the right language setting, they can set their default posting language through the website and this should carry through to the clients.

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sotolf Feb 2

@FediTips @AdrianRiskin @klu9

Yeah, mine is English, as that is what I write 90% of the time, I also speak German and Norwegian, and will post in these from time to time, I keep getting people complaining that I didn't bother changing the language to the appropriate one.