An issue that will be both a positive and negative for moving forward:

Mastodon is a protocol, not a single service. This means that what individual *nodes* do on that protocol differs based on the node you're on. Mine, for example, allows full-text comment searches and following topics by regex, not just hashtag.

This will be a pro because the ability to build different features atop the protocol will encourage development and diversity. Never care about spoiler tags? This node lets you disable them. This node lets you regex for which ones you auto-show and which ones stay hidden. This node lets you specify trusted users where spoiler-tags are auto-shown, etc. Let a thousand flowers bloom.

This will be a con because users actually hate complexity and it takes a particular mindset to be excited about the answer to a simple question of "Does Mastodon support X" being "It depends."

... my prediction is that we'll probably see some nodes converge around a common language / expectations of utility, and then outliers.

"Oh I like this one... it offers the Base Kit but also the Search Extension. Don't know how I feel about the AutoBan shared-list banning though."

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