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Here's something really useful I've found.

One of the great things about the Fediverse is being able to follow hashtags.

But.

If someone puts up a post using that hashtag, and no-one on your instance follows that person or anyone who shares it, it won't appear in your feed.

This is particularly common if you're on a small or single-user instance.

Here's the solution.

First, follow @_followback

It will follow you back.

And then tags.pub bot then reshare all of your posts that use hashtags.

So if you do a post with the hashtag #Fediverse, then @fediverse will share your post.

Here's where the magic happens.

The tags.pub bot will do the same thing to everyone else who follows that followback account.

So if you follow @fediverse, then you'll get a feed of everyone who uses #Fediverse on the Fediverse.

And you'll see their posts even if no-one on your instance follows them.

And it works for all hashtags.

Just put the name of the hashtag, followed by @tags.pub

So @tech follows all posts using #tech, for example.

Or @news follows all posts using #news

#relay #relays #selfhosted #selfhosting #Mastodon #feditip #feditips #fedihelp
#fediverse #mastodon #fedihelp #feditips #news #selfHosting #tech #relay #relays #selfhosted #feditip @_followback @fediverse @tech @news
This entry was edited (1 week ago)
Droppie [infosec] 🐨:archlinux: :kde: :firefox_nightly: :thunderbird: :vegan:​
this sounds phenomenal, ta for sharing [how did you discover it?]. am about to test it on my small friendica.au instance... the main reason i left it a few weeks back & returned to masto, was exactly this -- most of my followed tags had few hits there for the reason you explained. 🤞 🤞 🤞
AJ Sadauskas
Errant space?Try @_followback (at _followback at tags.pub no spsces).
This entry was edited (1 week ago)
Droppie [infosec] 🐨:archlinux: :kde: :firefox_nightly: :thunderbird: :vegan:​
@_followback sort of yes & no. i tried again simply by going to your OP, within friendica, clicked the link rather than used the search function, expecting it to fail, but to my surprise it took me to page https://tags.pub/profile/_followback per pic1.

i couldn't grasp how to use that page, so clicked its top link, to https://tags.pub per pic2.

noting there, similar to your OP, that i would then follow, eg, @[url=https://tags.pub/user/aboutconfig]aboutconfig@tags.pub[/url], i searched that in my friendica search field, which took me to a page matching that, where i could & did Follow it, pic3.

i repeated this pattern for some other of my desired tags, but then the wheels fell off when i tried tags that are more popular, eg, when i tried @[url=https://tags.pub/user/Arch]Arch@tags.pub[/url], instead of similarly going to an expected Arch@tags.pub page for me to follow that tag, it went to actual people who follow that tag, offering me to follow them [which i do not want] but NOT at all also offering me the tag itself; pic4.

at this point i have stopped, coz... unless i am still misunderstanding something... it's not going to meet my need... i want tags, not peeps, when i try to follow hashtags.
pic1 FollowBackBot Follow me and I will follow you back. Your public posts will then be boosted through tags.pub. Unfollow me, and the boosts will stop. https://tags.pub/profile/_followback Outbox Following Followers Liked Add Add Add Add Add Add pic3 #aboutconfig aboutconfig@tags.pub (News) Follow me if you're interested in the aboutconfig hashtag. I'm a global hashtag sharing bot from tags.pub. When content with the aboutconfig hashtag appears on the Social Web, this account will re-share the content to its followers.
pic2 tags.pub tags.pub is a global hashtag server for the Fediverse. You can follow an account like example@tags.pub and it will boost all the content tagged #example from across the Fediverse. Following a hashtag globally Posting with a hashtag Connecting a server Privacy Opting out Contact Following a hashtag globally To follow a tags.pub hashtag in Mastodon, go to the Search input box at the top of the page, and search for the name of the tag with "@tags.pub" at the end. So, for "#bloomscrolling" search for "@bloomscrolling@tags.pub". That should bring up the account on tags.pub to follow. To stop following the hashtag, you can search for the hashtag and click "Unfollow". You can also go to your list of Following accounts, find the relevant tags.pub account, and click Unfollow there. Please note that following a hashtag on your Mastodon server is different than, and independent from, following the same tag on tags.pub. Turning on one won't turn on the other, and vice versa. pic4 People search - Arch@tags.pub  Tuxi ⁂ Pending outgoing contact request tux@anonsys.net linux, debian, ubuntu, arch, mint, manjaro, datenschutz, security, privatsphäre, server, android, google, it, tor, torrorist, freenet, i2p, bitmessage, friendica, diaspora, mastodon, itsec, fahrradfahren, mountainbike, berge, seen, wald, natur Matrix friendica
@#aboutconfig @Arch@tags.pub
Droppie
@Friendly Koala @Marek 🇦🇺🇩🇪 Hi again Marek, hope you're well. I more or less stopped using my new account here as per my "final" post to you about the hashtags difficulty several weeks ago. Tonight though, as per this thread, i wondered if there might now be reason to hope anew.

Would you be kind enough pls, when you have time, to review this thread & advise me your thoughts, wrt your server? Thx.

cc: @Droppie [infosec] 🐨 ​ @AJ Sadauskas @FollowBackBot
@Friendly Koala
Marek 🇦🇺🇩🇪
From what I read, the account name to follow should be @FollowBackBot, have you tried that?

(That's "AT _followback AT tags.pub", replace "AT" and no spaces)
This entry was edited (6 days ago)
Droppie
@Marek 🇦🇺🇩🇪 @FollowBackBot @Friendly Koala @AJ Sadauskas yes i did, but i posted the pic of the resultant page, above... here it is again... i dunno what to do with this page once there.



i suppose my main question here for you is -- how do you feel about any of your instance users, eg me, using this new possibility, wrt your server resources?

cc: @Droppie [infosec] 🐨 ​
Droppie
@Friendly Koala @Marek 🇦🇺🇩🇪 @AJ Sadauskas @FollowBackBot today i have mucked about some more with this, & now have formed a tentative conclusion that this service is not compatible with friendica.

the essential first step is to
FollowBackBot

Follow me and I will follow you back. Your public posts will then be boosted through tags.pub. Unfollow me, and the boosts will stop

but afaict the #friendica GUI simply provides no facility to DO that initial Follow of this service. i tested in #FirefoxNightly, #Floorp, & Vivaldi.

in Masto, per pic below, searching for that tag does generate the standard Masto Follow Hashtag button.



otoh by contrast, in friendica a completely different page ensues, per next pic, which has NO button or any other way obvious to me, to actually DO the Follow.



alas, it seems i still have no good way so far to expand the reach of hashtag-fetching across fedi, in a small friendica instance.
#friendica #floorp #firefoxnightly
⇧