Gregory's ServerThere’s one aspect of Bluesky that beats the pants off of Mastodon, and it could be something that might stop Mastodon’s momentum in its tracks.
Bluesky has full text search.
This is not a small thing.
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50 comments
@atomicpoet I'm not advocating for discourse but if people reading this (legitimate and needed) thread plan to opt for Bluesky, _please don't_, for your own well-being, and your followers'. This won't end well.  @atomicpoet And it's excellent, as usual! (I really mean it!) But there are people ITT considering joining the closed beta and I don't think they're going to like it  @shlee I mean, full text search already exists on almost every Fediverse server software except vanilla Mastodon. @atomicpoet The sins of the past are due to resolved once and for all. @atomicpoet It's just in the discord #elasticsearch channel... @shlee @atomicpoet is it weird that the more popular appeal Mastodon has, the more Gargron can’t see why he made the decisions he made a few years back?  @geordie @shlee @atomicpoet or perhaps he's just exhausted at all the post-Musk arrivals bitching they can't do full-text search and reposts. @trib @geordie @atomicpoet This conversation is coming sooner than later. The goal is to build permission into the system.. full text search, with per toot opt-out. @shlee Per toot opt-out already exists. Just use the Unlisted visibility setting. @atomicpoet that not meaning what I think it means is half of the problem. I have no idea what that actually means. @shlee It unlists your posts from Mastodon search. @atomicpoet I just use it when I don't want something showing up in the federated timeline tho  @geordie @shlee @atomicpoet Things often die when they get popular because people abandon the aspects that made it popular in the first place. And make it do email instead. @daedalus @geordie @atomicpoet I’d rather they just turn everything into tumblr instead. @shlee @daedalus @geordie @atomicpoet you just want the porn relics? 😜 @geordie @shlee @atomicpoet I admit I don't understand the implications here (full text search), but it seems it would be wise to document carefully design decisions (or at least declare them in a public space), hopefully with pro-social, pro-user wellbeing reasons (for example, I think algorithmic feeds are dangerous because they can bias your views in ways you did not choose simply to create engagement). @atomicpoet So does #Akkoma. You can choose between different engines, e.g. ElasticSearch, and it works just fine.
@atomicpoet is it because there is only ONE instance at the moment? When there are more AT protocol implementation instances - hope this still works. @rom Don’t think so. Full text search works on other Fediverse server software. This isn’t something that’s all that technically hard to implement.  @atomicpoet Is the lack of full text search on Mastodon on purpose or due to tech limitations? @atomicpoet@mastodon.social @muiiio@mst.muiiio.com the follower list of a remote user only shows users on the instance where you're active in  @atomicpoet #InVancouver. Problem solved. If no hash, rooter doesn’t care for their stuff to be searchable. @mori That doesn't solve the problem at all. I care enough to be searchable (see my profile) and I refuse to use more than one hashtag in any one post. Most people want full text search. It's probably the number one complaint about Mastodon, and a major reason so many people don't adopt it. @atomicpoet Maybe an ability to opt out of full text search then. I like knowing that if I don’t put in any hashtags that my posts stay small time. That’s a feature for me and I assume other on here. I understand the benefits of full text search, and there are valid uses for it. But also like that haters can’t easily hunt down and insert themselves into random convos very easily. @mori You can already set your posts to not be indexed in search. Just use the unlisted visibility option that opts you out of search. See screenshot. Apparently, I can't use Bluesky on a desktop web browser yet. With Mastodon, I can. So that's one win in Mastodon's favour. CORRECTION: You can use Bluesky through a web browser via their staging site. However, staging sites generally aren't meant to be permanent. You probably shouldn't do it that way. @atomicpoet Yes you can. Their web site were already in development. Just try their staging site: https://staging.bsky.app, it’s the same env as your iOS app. 😄   @atomicpoet in mastodon’s favour is also the fact that’s it’s NOT owned by or related to Jack Dorsey. That’s a huge win. I’d rather have strange UI/UX related things to deal with, even the bloody dream team of reply guys to the eternity, as long as it stays this way.  @atomicpoet which mastodon client do you use? I run pleroma and use it over the web interface but I would try out a richer experience. I run linux.
 @atomicpoet only one instance though? How will text search work if there are thousands? Just search the local one? @pre I imagine the same way it works on the Fediverse. See also: https://mastodon.social/@atomicpoet/110190597023547930 @atomicpoet Patches were submitted for full text search and then the PRs were deleted. I'm working on submission v2... (and running full text search on universeodon.com)  @atomicpoet the question is whether BlueSky is still a single siloed site. Full search on that is trivial. I know he's talked about a federated protocol (but hey a new one he controls!) But are they there yet?  |
@atomicpoet https://social.coop/@Oceane/110190274765286422