@meganmariehart @wulfric no, hashtags are also screaming into the void but with categorisation (see one of my other replies)

@Sevapopov @ketmorco @farbel @meganmariehart only if the bot (or someone on its instance) follows you, otherwise it cannot even know of the existence of the post. (See other reply, I need to zzz again, too much allergy for longer discussion)

@foobarsoft @meganmariehart that is very sensible.

I have others whom I follow who, frankly, do hashtag abuse. And inline is bad for screenreaders (and even sighted people).

@Sevapopov @ketmorco @farbel @meganmariehart only if the bot (or someone on its instance) follows you, otherwise it cannot even know of the existence of the post. (See other reply, I need to zzz again, too much allergy for longer discussion)

@ketmorco @farbel @meganmariehart @Sevapopov hashtags do not broadcast anything though, they serve as a selection filter of your instance’s global feed.

Meaning, someone on your instance has to follow the poster or someone who boosted the post, otherwise your instance will not know it and has no (literally no) way to find it in a search.

Instances tend to also load thread context, and public posts when you click on a profile. So, by joining in on discussions under posts (both your own and others’) you begin to build the reach that is necessary for the hashtags to even begin to work. (They also don’t always work for unlisted posts.)

So, hashtags are much less important on the Fediverse than elsewhere, due to the lack of a central registry.

@GeePawHill super convenient for negative filtering though. Some super nice folks out here also post stuff I shouldn't look at. If it's tagged, my filter protects our friendship, and that's worth it to me.

@meganmariehart @metalbrawler

@iwein @GeePawHill @meganmariehart @metalbrawler I kind of wish for hashtags that aren't searchable, but usable for this purpose (I guess plain words would do, but that feels a little less directed). I do not *want* my posts to be findable by some hashtag, but this is a good use of them.

@h5e interesting use case yeah.

Maybe this works with content warning already, and we could theoretically simply use another tag symbol (if it's not recognized as a hashtag, it meets your desires)

For example &fediFunctions is very filterable to avoid post like this and it's not recognized as a hashtag. We do need to change habits for it, and that's hard.

And it can easily annoy or inconvenience people as well. Not sure what a screen reader does here, but I'm pretty sure it's not great.

@iwein yeah tbf I use cws extensively so it’s kind of a moot point

@mirabilos @Sevapopov @ketmorco @meganmariehart This sounds like an argument for being in a larger instance so you are more widely connected.

@mirabilos I try to avoid inline tags, I use them sometime when I run out of space, usually when I post about a show with a big cast.

@meganmariehart @ketmorco @farbel @Sevapopov only if you rely on only hashtags.

I’m on a solo instance (plus a few bots I run who do not follow anyone), and it works just fine. Took a few months initially to set up my feed, then I begun unfollowing, setting people to not display boosts, etc. to cultivate it, while adding new persons who look interesting all the time.

@mirabilos @Sevapopov @ketmorco @meganmariehart I notice that neither bot picked up my hashtags in the response. Is that becdause it was a response and not a post, or because everything is tied to the OP?

@mirabilos @ketmorco @farbel @meganmariehart @Sevapopov I guess this is why choice of instance matters. Problem is: intersectional interests. I'm on a Canadian instance. It's great for news - terrible for my profession, which is more global than local. But hunting for the right server for people with my professional interest feels daunting.

@farbel @ketmorco @deborahh @Sevapopov @meganmariehart somewhat. As I said, I run my solo instance and am doing just fine, connecting a lot with people from polymaths.social but also other instances, and my interests would be split across at least three major ones…

@mirabilos CAT!!

@mirabilos @meganmariehart @ketmorco @Sevapopov I don't rely on them, but I think they make my experience richer. To each their own.

@Sevapopov @ketmorco @farbel @meganmariehart only if the bot (or someone on its instance) follows you, otherwise it cannot even know of the existence of the post. (See other reply, I need to zzz again, too much allergy for longer discussion)

@mirabilos @ketmorco @farbel @meganmariehart Thank you for your explanations! It was interesting to know how things work for English Mastodon. In case of russian instance where I am, there are 2 bots who repost what is posted in russian or with cyrilic letters usage. So what I found for myself is following people that this bot boosts and and following people who are boosted by my followings. That is how I find English users, I follow what people boost. Maybe there are also other ways to explore new accounts, I saw there were tabs to look server's posts in mobile apps. Not sure how about FastSM.

@iron_bug To be fair, the #opera tag is more useful here than on other socials. It is a bit quiet, though …