I've been experimenting with Soapbox platform (based on Pleroma) for fediverse. I have my own server using a hosted service.
On a small server, hashtags seem to be pretty useless. I hoped to create a niche account, but without the ability to search for posts or follow a hashtag it's not useful.
I could get on a much larger server or simply use a different tool.
It has now been suggested to me that I would have the same problem interacting with hashtags on Mastodon, if I'm on a small server.
Is this true?
For all the concern going around about "big" servers, there seem to be some significant limitations to being on a small server (given lack of search feature).
My recommendation for newcomers is to start out on a large server, unless you really know what you are doing or unless you are intentionally joining a niche community.
@stpaultim so, I’m on a small (single user) mastodon server, and am very happy with how hashtags work, but that’s because of 2 external tools:
GetMoarFediverse allows me to pull hashtagged posts from other servers, that my own server wouldn’t otherwise be aware of, into my server.
FediFetcher pulls in replies to these posts, and fills their authors’ profiles.
Without those two tools, hashtags were of little use to me, but since I’ve been using them, hashtags work perfectly for me on my single user mastodon instance.
@stpaultim I'm on a medium sized instance (~13k profiles), but I'm not experiencing problems with hashtags. What sort of problem are you facing? That they don't show up as long as nobody follows them or follows someone using them?
I don't know if you are able to see my replies to others, I explain in some detail there.
My problem was with a VERY small server. I am hosting a test server with only about 6 accounts. My server is only aware of hashtags used by accounts that it is aware of and it is only aware of the accounts followed by users on my server. This means that I am not able to find MOST content via hashtags.
This is one potential reason NOT to create a single user server.
@stpaultim hm, you can still use a tiny, single user instance, but you have to be aware, that some things might be a little inconvenient. Sure, personally, I wouldn't recommend to host a full instance for just one person, but it's possible - as long as you're aware of the drawbacks.
As I follow your fosstodon account, I can see this account's toots, boosts and also replies. I don't follow your testaccount on your own (Soapbox?) server, so I can't report anything re that account.
@stpaultim what I did realize: depending on the other instance (load) it can take a little time, until content (comments or so) arrives in my timeline. Didn't realize that something won't show up at all, though. But that doesn't mean, it can't happen.
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