I personally prefer hashtags over this. And given how liberally some admins block and defederate other instances I will stick with hashtags in the near future.
Hashtag is only usable for small contained community. Some instance already too big that hashtag is not work.
Especially multi language instance. Some word or phrase on hashtag can have multiple meaning depending on the language.
I hope they coordinate on this.
We have Mastodon Migration’s “Follow Packs”: https://mastodonmigration.wordpress.com/2024/11/20/mastodon-follow-pack-directory-nov-20-2024/
Dansup is working on “starter kits” for the fediverse: https://github.com/pixelfed/apska
Now Gagron’s team is working on a similar thing.
Stefan Bohucek is imperimenting with a separate version too. We’ll end up with multiple implementations of this.
The ‘Follow Packs’ are just a web directory. That’s totally different.
I have no idea what dansup is working on there, but it seems destined to be another plate he’s not going to focus on keeping spinning.
Gargon’s team is probably going to end up building something that’s off spec and idiosyncratic to Mastodon, basically guaranteeing that there are totally unrelated implementations across the fediverse.
Maybe they could also fix the “suggested accounts” feature so that the top recommendation for me isn’t an account that posted once 2 years ago.
How do starter packs help Mastodon become a better platform?
Mmm. Will users be able to opt out of being selected for inclusion in a starter pack? I see some issues happening over on BS about this.
