@Angle also past association from birdsite, hashtags attract people looking for that word, but also non-hashtagged words can be searched, which meant I would have to be very very careful *not* to spell certain hot button words correctly or I could face unwanted abusive attention.
@Mycroft @Angle Non-hashtagged word cannot be searched at least on this instance I am on. :( I checked, because I don't like to use them, but if I want others to find it I use them. I also met people who ask me if I write about a topic, to use hashtag for it, so they could find them.
@Angle @evenorbert Yes, I am very glad for this level of control, even if the current state of Mastodon does not necessitate its use. I like being in control of whether or not I can make a post discoverable based on certain keywords, instead of the system forcing that decision for me.