@JonnyT @chartier There are a ton of researchers and journalists who need the ability to do full searches. They will continue to stay off Mastodon as long as it doesn't exist. Sounds like several people in this discussion prefer Mastodon to stay small and allow users to post to only a small number of people they know or trust. That's perfectly understandable. But those people really shouldn't be perplexed or angry about Masodon's low user base.
@dangoodin @JonnyT *need -> would like to
Great, then maybe there can be infrastructure eventually to allow that, and most definitely some kind of opt-in mechanism for people who want to participate.
They don't have a right to anyone's data. This is one of the fundamental values people just accepted because, hey, capitalist hellscape and nothing matters anymore.