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2026-06-28 00:41:27

deutrino@mstdn.io

can anyone comment on how good, or not good, search (for posts) is between self-hosted fedi platform apps good for single-user servers, such as #Snac2, #Mitra, #GoToSocial, #Bonfire, etc?

I am looking for search which is actually usable by someone who wishes to find things and perhaps sort what's found, unlike that provided by e.g. Mastodon, Akkoma, etc.

2026-06-28 00:52:48

R.L. Dane :Debian: :OpenBSD: :FreeBSD: 🍵 :MiraLovesYou:

rl_dane@polymaths.social

@deutrino

In my experience, search on GtS is very slow. That's why I hashtag everything like a 2015 wannabe influencer on twitter. 🤣

2026-06-28 00:54:18

Airikr :sweden: :endeavour: :xmpp:

airikr@mst-gts.airikr.me

@deutrino I use GoToSocial and Phanpy and I can't search outside of my own instance. That is the only turn-off for me. I have no clue of why.

2026-06-28 09:52:05

Menel :xmpp:

menel@snikket.de

@deutrino@mstdn.io
Snac can search full regex patterns it's chronological.

Thats about it.

Generally I find less content there then on some account that sits on a very big Mastodon instance naturally.
I've added some relays but still.

2026-06-28 11:11:25

gyptazy

gyptazy@gyptazy.com

@deutrino@mstdn.io if you’re subscribed to a relay (e.g., fedi-relay.gyptazy.com) and you get much content in, it works quite good. I’m personally running a fork of #snac2

2026-06-28 13:22:59

silverpill

silverpill@mitra.social

@deutrino What's wrong with search on Mastodon/Akkoma?

2026-06-28 14:36:39

Jupiter Rowland

jupiter_rowland@hub.netzgemeinde.eu

@deutrino Hubzilla (which I recommend to anyone who is eyeing Bonfire) and its descendants, (streams) and Forte, have two searches.

One is in the navbar. It searches the whole server database for whatever you enter: keywords, hashtags, non-group actors, group actors (the actual accounts/channels and not their content) and even the built-in documentation. If someone on the server has posted it, if someone on the server has received it, this search can find it as long as you're permitted to see it.

This search tends to be rather slow when used for keywords: It has to search the whole server database, it apparently does so without a search index when searching for keywords, and it only starts listing search results when it's done with the actual searching. If you're on a very big server with a four-digit number of channels that has been around since before Musk even took buying out Twitter into consideration, this search is so slow when it's used for keywords that it's pretty much useless. On a server started a few years ago with about a dozen channels, it's significantly quicker, but still, it doesn't show content instantaneously.

Interestingly, it's a great deal quicker when you want to search for hashtags because Hubzilla, (streams) and Forte index hashtags. The same goes for non-group actors. In these two cases, the search even offers auto-complete before you start the actual search.

The other search is in the sidebar of the stream page. It only searches your stream, i.e. what you've posted and what you've received. It isn't so much a search as it's actually a stream filter. Also, it dynamically loads more content when you scroll down. All this makes it significantly faster. But this search can't find what has never gone through your stream.

Both searches are strictly chronological. Also, when searching for keywords or hashtags, they always present single messages although they always show entire conversations otherwise. However, these messages always have a button at the bottom that takes you directly to the full conversation.

#Long #LongPost #CWLong #CWLongPost #FediMeta #FediverseMeta #CWFediMeta #CWFediverseMeta #Hubzilla #Streams #(streams) #Forte #Search #FullTextSearch