How to search the Fediverse?

V6277, 11 months ago

Oh, this is interesting. If a fediverse compatible software gets search right, it's gonna get a lot of users. Otherwise, we either have to change the way we search things or search engines might have to change the way they show results.

I don't think it would be too hard to change the query though. Instead of adding "Reddit" at the end of your search query, you can add "kbin", "Lemmy", or whatever instance you want to see search results from.

Hellsadvocate, 11 months ago

There is this https://www.fediversesearch.com/ and this https://fediverse.observer/list

onlyforthisair, 11 months ago

It's Lemmy specific now, but if https://lemmyverse.net/ adds a search feature, I think it'd work well since the instance finding and community finding features work well.

fastfinge, 11 months ago

The thing I'm finding is that when I search for something where the fediverse has an answer, Google gives me the exact same answer like 20 different times on different instances. I wish Google would just list the original.

Jax, 11 months ago

I believe Google can do this already, but it requires each Lemmy instance to tell Google that it's not the "canonical" version, and which site is. I believe it's possible for Lemmy and kbin to provide that information already, but in my quick check I don't see them doing that yet. Will probably need to be a feature request.
Ref: https://developers.google.com/search/docs/crawling-indexing/consolidate-duplicate-urls

CheshireSnake, 11 months ago (edited 11 months ago)

You can use your instance's search feature. You can search by posts, comments, communities, etc. You have the option to limit the search to specific instances or instances you're federated with. I haven't had a need to search for something niche yet so I can't vouch for how accurate/relevant the results are, but a quick test shows me it works (tried searching for "diablo 4" and "bootloop" via comments).

You also have the option to search by instance via google (eg: "how to xxx site:lemmy.world"). I don't think it's possible to search that way for the whole fediverse, though.

Trance, 11 months ago

Would this work, say, if one instance were to defederate from the instance you're registered on?

CheshireSnake, 11 months ago

That's a great question. I honestly don't know. I can't check rn because my instance hasn't blocked any yet (on mobile so I'm pretty limited atm). I'll try to check later, but I'm guessing it's a "no."

saplyng, 11 months ago

I suppose it could be worth it to have a datahoarder/archival instance for posterity. It crawls and federates with everything, denies deletion requests, and gets used just for searching/indexing the rest of the fediverse

Trance, 11 months ago

It would be nice if there were a way to search fediverse-wide. Being able to type a question + reddit into a search engine is such a good troubleshooting tool.

LollerCorleone, 11 months ago

No it won't. You will have to go to that federate directly and make your search.

livus, 11 months ago

Sounds like your instance's search feature is more advanced than kbin's is currently.

KnittingTrekker, 11 months ago

Wondering the same thing...