Kevin P. Fleming

Is there anyone out there willing to accept payment for building a new feature in Mastodon?

In particular I want to enable server-side filtering of boosts where the boosted post is already available in the timeline (whether it has been viewed or not). From what I can guess, the feature just needs to check to see if the poster of the boosted post is being followed by the user and if so, suppress the boost.

If you're interested in creating a patch for this and preparing it for submission upstream (I'd handle pushing it forward but would apply it on my own server in the meantime), please get in touch.

#Mastodon #MastodonDevelopers #MastodonDevelopment

Mar 6 at 11:57pmWeb
Show threadJeff AtwoodMar 6
@kevin I seconded a feature on the Signal forums and it got built. Which were running Discourse. Ask @mellifluousbox
Show thread🌴 Seph 💭 👾Mar 7
@kevin Which timeline? I want that feature for #Wafrn 's global timeline since I love it over here on #Friendica
Show threadKevin P. FlemingMar 7
@vextaur The personal timeline for a user, at least that's how I would use it since it would be based on a following list.
Show threadPaul GanssleMar 7

@kevin Wouldn't it also need to check to see if anyone the user is following had boosted it as well?

Another edge case to consider: what if it was posted before you started following someone but boosted afterwards? Still filter or let it through?

Do you also want to suppress boosts from old content, like if it is from a week ago? A year ago?

Show threadPaul GanssleMar 7

@kevin Also what about the reverse where the user posted something, you unfollow, then someone boosts it into your TL again. Seems like you definitely want to filter in that case.

Not that I have the time or skills to implement such a thing, I just have a true passionate for user requirements 😛

Show threadKevin P. FlemingMar 7

@pganssle

1. If someone the user is following had boosted it, that's why it would appear in the user's timeline in the first place. The filter I'm suggesting would be applied after the primary selection process for content to appear in the timeline.

2. I'd still want to filter it.

3. Yes, I don't care how old the content is, although I could see how it would be useful for the filter to have a time limit.

Show threadLukyanMar 7

@kevin Is this how the "Group boosts in timelines" setting works? The server remembers timeline positions of posts and does not insert another boost if it was recent enough.

It is controlled by the REBLOG_FALLOFF constant set to 40 which is vastly inadequate for my much busier timeline. I have it patched to 400 which somewhat works (one boost per several hours if the post is really popular).

Show threadKevin P. FlemingMar 7

@lukyan I don't think it's quite the same thing, although it is related.

Honestly, my primary use case is people who boost their own posts 8-24 hours after the original post "for people in other timezones." This is just noise for people following them, and in fact the increased noise contributes to the perceived need to resurface the post "for people in other timezones".

Show threadLukyanMar 7
@kevin I see that this would be useful and is different than the present feature.
Show threadSpeed demon 🇪🇺 🇳🇴🇺🇦🇵🇸Mar 7
@kevin Neat feature-idea, but I'd want a cut-off time. If the post is, say, an hour back, I'd still want to see it. For a maybe-unworkable extra twist, any toot that I had seen, no matter how long ago, would still be suppressed.
Show threadRaphael LullisMar 7
@kevin does It have to be Mastodon, or would you be willing to switch to a service that provided the Mastodon API?
Show threadKevin P. FlemingMar 7
@raphael It's not strictly necessary, but if it was done in a different platform I'd have to migrate my self-hosted instance and that's a significant effort.
Show threadRaphael LullisMar 8
@kevin if you are running a single-user instance, then I'd guess the effort of migrating would be lower than the effort of getting a change like this merged to Mastodon.