The reason following hashtags doesn't work very well is that -- as anyone who's been on the twitters will confirm -- the overuse of hashtags correlates inversely with having anything to say. For example, as soon as I started following the hashtag #Ukraine, I started getting flooded with posts that had every hashtag under the sun, but not much content other than the occasional rant.
Perhaps it works better for less topical hashtags, but this isn't working out well at all... the amount of noise --- a considerable proportion of it rancid -- is pretty high.
@pieist
Since hashtags are the only way for visibility on mastodon its kind of needed.
But I also see your point, at some point the amount of hastags is about trying to get attention rather than actually having anything meaningful to say.
I agree. Hashtag abuse is rife.
My own solution is to follow a hashtag for a few days, follow the accounts that seem interesting/credible/non-rancid, then unfollow the hashtag.
After that, if I want to go deeper, I see which accounts they follow, then follow them. Network effects then take hold.
This has worked for me so far, I hope you find it useful.
@pieist