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1. Embed this notice
   Chris Trottier (atomicpoet@mastodon.social)'s status on Tuesday, 07-Mar-2023 15:28:17 JST Chris Trottier

   I’ve had the following conversation multiple times.

   Person: I don’t want Fediverse search to exist.

   Me: But Google is indexing you right now. Why don’t you opt out?

   Person: I want to be found.

   Me: But you just said you don’t want search of the Fediverse to exist.

   Person: Yeah, I don’t want Fediverse-specific search to exist.

   Me: Why?

   Person: Because that kind of search will be used to harass me. I want to be found by the good people, but not by the trolls.

   • Embed this notice
     ocdtrekkie (ocdtrekkie@mastodon.social)'s status on Tuesday, 07-Mar-2023 15:28:16 JST ocdtrekkie

     in reply to

     @atomicpoet I think fundamentally the people behind these positions lack the technical understanding of how their position isn't practical. They see something in front of them they dislike, often run by a small enough entity (one person) they can successfully bully into shutting it down. The fact it doesn't solve the problem they can't see is immaterial.

   • Embed this notice
     Chris Trottier (atomicpoet@mastodon.social)'s status on Tuesday, 07-Mar-2023 15:28:17 JST Chris Trottier

     in reply to

     Personally, I think it’s weird that a giant tech monopoly (Google) gets a pass for indexing the Fediverse, but if a hobbyist wants to build Fediverse search, they are looked upon with suspicion.

     This makes no sense.

     lamp repeated this.
   • Embed this notice
     Mostly Harmless (Cam Johnson) (mostlyharmlessz@muskless.social)'s status on Tuesday, 07-Mar-2023 15:28:32 JST Mostly Harmless (Cam Johnson)

     in reply to

     @atomicpoet Somebody should just do it, people will complain about anything.

   • Embed this notice
     lamp@mastodong.lol's status on Tuesday, 07-Mar-2023 15:37:07 JST lamp

     in reply to

     • かき@GNUsocialJP
     • MsPraxis
     • Stu (boo!)

     @stufromoz @atomicpoet @MsPraxis That and this.

     Now, these don't apply very well to web search engines because they just see the *web* sites humans see, so for example a thread page with your reply may still be indexed because only the whole page can be opted-out (mastodon sets this based on the selected post of the page i think).

     But an ActivityPub search engine would have the ability to fully honor them.

   • Embed this notice
     Stu (boo!) (stufromoz@aus.social)'s status on Tuesday, 07-Mar-2023 15:37:08 JST Stu (boo!)

     in reply to

     • MsPraxis

     @atomicpoet @MsPraxis considering that everyone has the option to select this

   • Embed this notice
     Kit Rhett Aultman (roadriverrail@signs.codes)'s status on Tuesday, 07-Mar-2023 23:31:32 JST Kit Rhett Aultman

     in reply to

     @atomicpoet You're clearly not the trans and bi child of homophobes.

   • Embed this notice
     Chris Trottier (atomicpoet@mastodon.social)'s status on Tuesday, 07-Mar-2023 23:31:34 JST Chris Trottier

     in reply to

     But I think what people regard as a “search” problem isn’t exactly about search but how search has been used on platforms like Twitter.

     People want to be discovered—just not by everyone.

   • Embed this notice
     Chris Trottier (atomicpoet@mastodon.social)'s status on Tuesday, 07-Mar-2023 23:31:34 JST Chris Trottier

     in reply to

     Sometimes I toy with the idea of affinity-based search.

     For example, if you tag yourself with “chess” in your bio, your posts will *only* be discoverable by people who also have “chess” in their bio.

     To everyone else, you’re invisible.

   • Embed this notice
     Chris Trottier (atomicpoet@mastodon.social)'s status on Tuesday, 07-Mar-2023 23:31:34 JST Chris Trottier

     in reply to

     Google themselves had interesting ideas with visibility (circles).

     The problem is that’s not how people naturally think of themselves.

     When you talk to your family, you don’t say to yourself, “I’m putting on my ‘family’ persona.”