Hello qoto!
Can someone explain to me how the #search function of #mastodon works in regards to #federation? I've read some guides but am still confused if for example the search for a hashtag only searches the toots the instance knows of or magically more of the Fediverse. Thanks!
@baschi29 Searching is done locally, in the instance's storage.
Here at Qoto we have Full Word Search enabled -- a great feature, so you can search using a word or two, and retrieve posts including it.
Many instances disallow that, as it takes processor and RAM to deliver. They might only allow hash tag searches, which is way more limited.
@baschi29 Hash tag seraches -- will diaplay any Toots containing that hash that the local instance already has.
In the case of instances that have server blocks, their searches might not retrieve results we can see here; in some cases, people in there might not ever see our toots here, due to their admin's option of blocking others.
