Noëlle the 8-Bit🏳️🌈🎄 is a user on elekk.xyz. You can follow them or interact with them if you have an account anywhere in the fediverse.
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Noëlle the 8-Bit🏳️🌈🎄
@noelle
Toots not being searchable was actively requested as an anti-harassment tool.
Full-text search allows bad actors to search on words representing viewpoints they don't like (for example, "Quran" or "abortion") and attack the people using them.
I mention this to provide context, not as a defense of the idea.
@noelle I know you arent defending it, but while it might be an anti harassment tool its also an isolating one that keeps people from finding things they are interested in. Its very hard to find people here. Again, not saying this is in any way your fault.
@noelle unless search would federate across instances, or search not respecting instance bans, I question the usefulness of this approach?
@a_breakin_glass Once again, I'm not defending it.
That’s the only reason that makes sense to me. The data is more or less public, bad actors can and will use tools for search.
GS has a search, the meme ostatus server I’m using has a search, heck even Tootdon (the app) has a search.
It’s a pretty good feature, btw. I use it almost daily.
@a_breakin_glass @noelle There even was an instance that had full-text search for a couple weeks when I was new here, but it got shut down and the source code was not released.
@a_breakin_glass @USBloveDog @noelle there might have been a reason for that...
@noelle I didn't know this, it makes sense, thanks
@noelle Yeah but I should be able to search *my own* toots
@masklayer @noelle this is literally the only search functionality i want
@bug
@masklayer @noelle
There is an open github issue for that where you can go give a thumbs up to indicate that you want the feature ☺️ see https://mstdn.io/users/deutrino/statuses/99378282368643679
@noelle Sorry, I'm not up to speed on this. Has Masto gotten full-text search (against it), or just full-text search of yourself (agnostic)? Are hashtags searchable (all for it)?
@cute_weeds @noelle hashtags have always been searchable
@cute_weeds Masto does not have full-text search except on the instances that have separately implemented it. Hashtags should be searchable.
@noelle Oh, that's interesting. Where did this discussion happen?
@JordiGH IIRC, in Github issue discussions and possibly on https://discourse.joinmastodon.org/ .
@noelle @maunzikation makes sense considering what has happened on Tumblr since full text search was added, if you want your toot/post to be found then it's easy to tag with the keywords
@jbond @wolfie @noelle @maunzikation a lot of social networks allow you to choose to have your profile hidden from search engines, I know Tumblr does, not sure about Mastodon
@maunzikation @wolfie @jbond @noelle ah good good!
What's interesting with your argument, @noelle, is that one can reverse it and get the same result for the opposite side: full-text search would provide a way to build collective memory and boost what requires visibility...
You can keep feeling like an alien on this planet, or you can stand your ground.
@how I BEG you to read the last sentence of my post.
@noelle I did, that's why I replied. Wasn't it a call for comments?
@noelle I was literally just digging into the status of search on Mastodon yesterday and collected links to the top 2 github issues here: https://mstdn.io/users/deutrino/statuses/99378282368643679 #mastodev
@noelle My client allows me to create “custom feeds”, which seem to work a lot like a text search.
@noelle Interesting - I had not thought about this from that angle.
@noelle
Technically it should be possible to base the #search function on a set of criterias and features.
E.g.:
- exempting from search results toots from people that are #blocking you
- limiting the availability of the search function on #contexts such as how many times (more than - a configurable - "n") you previously have been blocked by others on the basis of your earlier toots that have one or more of the hashtags you are #searching for or #filtering on...
@noelle There is no objective way to manage that sort of prior filtering; it just adds complexity and reduces the usefulness of the tool, by trying to guess all the possible vectors of "harrassment" - an entirely subjective concept.
It's far simpler to encourage users to block whomever they don't want to see.
it's not a bug it's a feature
@noelle I like this. I think it makes sense, it could be an option for each toot, like privacy. I'm not sure it's possible though, as search is conducted by the user's instance, and you can't force it to respect this.
@noelle on Twitter, this is enough of a problem that it extends to terms like "islamophobia" or "brexit"