Mastodon is great, the only thing I miss on this app is quote posts. I know they have a bad rap bc of Twitter, but every major social network has this functionality for a reason (Tumblr, LinkedIn, Facebook, IG). As a journalist, I’d love to add commentary and amplify great info, build on ppl’s points, etc. You just can’t do that the same wait with replies! Is there any chance we might get them on here?
@taylorlorenz Yes, this is on our roadmap but we want to get them implemented correctly, in a way that prevents abuse.
This is complex as it requires changes to the ActivityPub protocol, both to define what is a quote post on the protocol level, and also to add proper controls so a user can choose to disallow them.
Some Mastodon client implemented them on the rendering side, transforming URLs to Mastodon posts into quotes, but we have more requirements for it to be implemented in core.
@renchap@taylorlorenz What’s stopping abuse right now by someone taking screenshots of posts and reposting those in place of a quote? I guess I don’t understand why it’s such a concern with this specific feature when that specific type of abuse seems to already be possible? I would love to know more, especially if I’m misunderstanding something.
@kobra@taylorlorenz Those cases are currently handled by reports / moderation, and there is no other way to handle screenshots properly.
But this is more complex than just doing a quote post by clicking a button, as well as for people who may pile up on it if they want to notify the original poster (happens a lot with harassment campaigns).
We are mindful of the impact having a feature in core has, and if we implement something, we want to do it the best way possible (like edits have been done)
@taylorlorenz There is currently only one full-time developer working on the core Mastodon software (server and web app), and this is barely enough for keeping the lights up (bug fixes, security, maintenance…).
Big feature work takes a lot of time and unfortunately Mastodon gGmbH does not allow more at the moment.
Volunteers (like me!) are always welcome, but such a big work as Quote Posts require experience that few people have, and time that even fewer people have.
@renchap@taylorlorenz Are there not enough funds to hire more people? Or did you have to prioritise moderation because of the influx? Wait, moderation was also volunteers, no? I remember there being some successful crowdfunding a while back, was that not enough? The servers should be big enough to pay more than one developer, no?
@chickamora@taylorlorenz Yes, and we have a sponsor page as well as a Patreon: https://joinmastodon.org/sponsors
This brings money, but then the non-profit needs to pay for hosting mastodon.social/mastodon.online, salary for a few people (1 full-time dev, devops), design, mobile app development, moderation team and so on.
There is some work in progress to get access to better funding (like a US non-profit) and I have ideas about making it easier for people to help the project, but thats… work :D
@renchap@taylorlorenz good. Strongly agree that user controls which disallow the function are necessary in the Fedi context. With that requirement met I would welcome them but not without it.
@renchap if you are working on quotes: will that include putting a CW on the quoted posts? Even without adding something smart, that would be a very helpful functionality.
@taylorlorenz
Not everyone is here to go viral. You cannot continue assuming people only signup for social media seeking worldwide fame. Nor can you claim they're "doing it wrong" just because it's not how you think and live. People want a different social experience.
Quote tweets didn't exist 10 years ago, who's to say they'll exist 10 years from now. Standards change. Ideas run their course. The Internet has been in a state of constant change since its inception.
@taylorlorenz
You can link it, share a screenshot of the post with alt text or both. Not everyone will like it and it's slower to do, but you can do it.
@taylorlorenz install this client for #mastodon — @IceCubesApp – it supports boosting with quotes. Also has many other cool features that official app doesn't.
@taylorlorenz As an alternative, can't you reply and then boost your reply? This fixes the biggest problem with retweets, which was that people responding to the retweet are not part of the original conversation. [Testing this with this reply]
@taylorlorenz At the bottom of each post there is an up-arrow icon to share. Click the icon, choose Mastodon as the target, and the app will share a copy of the post into a new post where you can write your comments on it. Also the Mona app (paid version) has quote text.
@taylorlorenz
I second this call, since #QuoteBoost is really an essential part of effective communication for many of us, including #academia, #journalism, and people who work in multiple languages.
Yes, it's coming to Mastodon. And exists on servers that use #calckey, due to be upgraded and rebranded today.
There are many replies suggesting individuals migrate instances, but we should really be talking about getting more instances to commit to use software that do QBs & search. (1/2)
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