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Only architecture astronauts care about the fediverse, and by extension how search works on Mastodon. Normal people just wanted a Twitter clone when Twitter sta
by thom 4y ago
Only architecture astronauts care about the fediverse, and by extension how search works on Mastodon. Normal people just wanted a Twitter clone when Twitter started to feel icky or doomed. It doesn’t speak to the platform’s long term growth if basic functionality like this is controversial, especially if it leads to fragmentation. There’s obviously some value to conservatism here - I suspect for most people, Twitter was feature complete years ago and didn’t need more doodads. But search was certainly a core part of that.
- NoboruWataya 4y agoMastodon isn't a public company or a VC-funded startup. It doesn't need perpetual user growth, nor, I suspect, do many of its current users or developers particularly want that. At most it just needs a critical mass of people who are interested in what it has to offer so that it doesn't die as a project/community. I don't use Mastodon (or Twitter) but it seems to me like Mastodon was never really intended to be a pure Twitter clone, and what "normal people" want in this regard isn't really relevant. What's the point in trying to emulate a platform that feels icky and doomed, anyway?
- thom 4y agoI don't use Twitter or Mastodon either, I'm happy spewing my terrible opinions here. But for those that remain, you're absolutely right it needs that critical mass of high quality content (for myriad definitions of quality), positive interactions, and reach. I'm just saying that from a purely utilitarian point of view, the sum total of disappointment will be higher for users if Mastodon's momentum disappears, compared to that of people who have ideological objections to Mastodon having a functional search engine. If nobody cares about that, well, then welcome to the fediverse I guess.