Eugen Rochko (@Gargron@mastodon.social)
Föderation EN Do 20.06.2024 18:41:46
@brianstorms @ricmac Which functionality is lacking? Can you give an example of a search query and how the results differed from your expectations?
Brian Dear (@brianstorms@mastodon.social)
Föderation EN Do 20.06.2024 19:16:18
Oh, anything? Everything? Like, for example, I see something in the fast-moving river, and ten minutes later I think, I shoulda clicked on that link, and I try to search for it but no, it be gone, gone, gone, down the river and over the digital waterfall.
Search is always the single most consistent, most predictable, disappointment in Mastodon. In fact its lack may be the only disappointment in the overall Mastodon experience since I joined in 2017.
I wish it were not so.
Eugen Rochko (@Gargron@mastodon.social)
Föderation EN Do 20.06.2024 19:26:23
@brianstorms @ricmac Not having enough search results for a specific query is not the same thing as there not being a search function, which exists since 2023.
Brian Dear (@brianstorms@mastodon.social)
Föderation EN Do 20.06.2024 19:32:15
As a user I don't care how search functionality is implemented on the back end. I search, and as a user I get nothing, or very little. All I get is the confidence that Mastodon didn't find what I *know* is out there. And that's because of the policy decisions that were built right into the design and architecture, right into the DNA of Mastodon, decisions which essentially guarantee a disappointing search experience for users, regardless of how beautiful the code is.
(Medien: 1)
Richard MacManus (@ricmac@mastodon.social)
Föderation EN Do 20.06.2024 19:41:29
@brianstorms @Gargron Mastodon does have search (including non-hashtag), but users have to opt into it. And yes that is by design. There are pros and cons to that, and relatively few people have opted in so far. But there is a valid reason why that decision was made.
Eugen Rochko (@Gargron@mastodon.social)
Föderation EN Do 20.06.2024 19:42:32
@ricmac @brianstorms 154k people have opted-in to search. That's fewer than the 878k that have opted in to being featured in discovery algorithms, but I think it's not as few as some people might think.
Mike Macgirvin 🖥️ (@mikedev@fediversity.site)
Föderation · Do 20.06.2024 22:51:21
Eugen Rochko (@Gargron@mastodon.social)
Föderation EN Do 20.06.2024 19:41:34
@brianstorms @ricmac Search on Mastodon is opt-in because that's how the community wanted it. If certain authors are missing in your results, I suggest approaching them and asking to consider opting-in. I happily use search to find stuff every day.
Brian Dear (@brianstorms@mastodon.social)
Föderation EN Do 20.06.2024 20:36:16
Let’s stipulate that all these facts are accurate.
But I’d postulate that by making search opt-in, search is pretty useless.
Also it has hurt discoverability, and to compensate, put awkward burdens on individual users who stuff their toots with character-count-wasting hashtags in an effort to boost discoverability.
And I’d argue the Network Effect, so crucial to helping social neworks grow and thrive, has been weakened on Mastodon in large part by the search policy.
Brian Dear (@brianstorms@mastodon.social)
Föderation EN Do 20.06.2024 19:22:23
Put another way:
If I search, I want to search *MASTODON* as in the whole damn thing. Across all instances. With sorting ability--relevance, by date/time, etc.
If there are "blocked" or "hidden" results, I wanna see a count of them as in "Here are 1834 matching results, including 920 redacted results" with an explanation as to why they're redacted, as in, by individual user choice, or by instance policy.
This place needs TRANSPARENCY.