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Mastodon 4.2 released, with (opt-in) search, and UX improvements (blog.joinmastodon.org)
submitted 2 years ago by andypiper@lemmy.world to c/fediverse@lemmy.world
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Lots of small improvements across the user experience, and opt-in search, make this an important release.

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[-] woelkchen@lemmy.world 32 points 2 years ago

opt-in search

This is what I don't understand: When people mark a post as public and discoverable, meaning Google and Bing and such can already find and index it, why would one need to opt-in to making it available via Mastodon search? Isn't that what Unlisted is already for?

[-] stad@m.stad.social 11 points 2 years ago

@woelkchen @andypiper Consider it a compromise, given how many people were dead set against *any* search.

[-] woelkchen@lemmy.world 8 points 2 years ago

Consider it a compromise, given how many people were dead set against any search.

But public posts are already searchable because they are public. That's what all public posts on the internet are. They are visible to Google and Bing. Defaulting to not make public posts searchable from within Mastodon just drives people to proprietary search engines.

[-] stad@m.stad.social 5 points 2 years ago

@woelkchen I didn't say it was logical, but that doesn't stop a lot of people from objecting.

And I agree it just drives people elsewhere.

[-] SorteKanin@feddit.dk 8 points 2 years ago

I'm not on Mastodon, why were people against search?

[-] stad@m.stad.social 7 points 2 years ago

@SorteKanin Some people object to any feature they have seen be abused on Twitter, whether or not it also has legitimate uses. And as it turns out almost any feature *can* be used to harass. If you want to just have your own little space, search allows bad guys to find you. It of course allows good guys to find you too. Some still do not think that's a worthwhile tradeoff (I don't agree, and I think it's futile, and I support search, btw.)

[-] woelkchen@lemmy.world 4 points 2 years ago

I’m not on Mastodon, why were people against search?

Probably because they are illiterate about very basic concepts on the internet.

[-] ElectroVagrant@lemmy.world 2 points 2 years ago

It's been awhile since I made a new account on a Mastodon instance, but is search engine indexing enabled by default? If it isn't, then that would probably be part of why this is being made opt-in for Mastodon search, as there's been a vocal portion of folks on Mastodon opposed to search across the board.

Even if search engine indexing was enabled by default, y'know those vocal folks probably disable it ASAP and would be making a fuss if this update went & enabled Mastodon search by default. Which, well, why post publicly at all if the concern's related to privacy or not being bothered by internet randos, but 🤷‍♀️

[-] woelkchen@lemmy.world 3 points 2 years ago

as there’s been a vocal portion of folks on Mastodon opposed to search across the board.

Well, those can tag their posts as Unlisted.

[-] wabalabadubdub@sh.itjust.works 2 points 2 years ago

Is it opt-out for performance reasons? If it was opt-in, maybe large instances will crumble.

Anyway, this is a wild guess.

[-] asdfasdfasdf@lemmy.world 2 points 2 years ago

This is opting in to Mastodon's search, not third party search engines.

[-] woelkchen@lemmy.world 15 points 2 years ago

This is opting in to Mastodon’s search, not third party search engines.

Yes, that's what I wrote. And my question is what the point is when all public posts are indexed by Google anyway.

[-] andypiper@lemmy.world 9 points 2 years ago

There's also a really nice deep dive into the updates here.

[-] flamingmongoose 7 points 2 years ago

This looks like a really nice release, loads of polish

[-] russjr08@outpost.zeuslink.net 6 points 2 years ago

Looks great! I'm running the upgrade on my instance right now.

For anyone else who is updating, be sure to take a look at the updated dependencies in the upgrade notes.

[-] mojo@lemm.ee 4 points 2 years ago

Hopefully search isn't straight up broken and non functional anymore.

[-] MossBear@lemmy.world 3 points 2 years ago

I love Mastadon. :D

[-] anthoniix@lemmy.world 3 points 2 years ago

It really needs to be opt-out, but this is a good start.

[-] andypiper@lemmy.world 7 points 2 years ago

I think forcing all posts to be opted-in to the search, and depending on users to opt-out, would be far more controversial? Either way, the user does get to control this within the platform.

[-] woelkchen@lemmy.world 5 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

I think forcing all posts to be opted-in to the search, and depending on users to opt-out, would be far more controversial?

Not all. The option is just about public ones anyway. Unlisted and private posts are not searchable. That's why Unlisted and Private options for writing posts exist. Restricting search for PUBLIC posts makes no sense at all.

this post was submitted on 21 Sep 2023
252 points (100.0% liked)

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