@AJSWritesthings @gwensnyder @meganox

For antifascist researchers moving here, we think the biggest hurdle is not the lack of #quotability but the lack of #searchability. The hashtag-only search function makes it very difficult to find accurate and timely information from other researchers.

A lot of people on Mastodon don't want those functions and have perfectly logical reasons as to why: privacy, and reducing vulnerability to harassment. Ideally, both quotability and searchability would be added into the basic interface but only as opt-in. So those of us who WANT to be fully searchable and quotable could opt in, while others would simply maintain the privacy boundaries they currently enjoy.

We are looking into Akkoma for more specialized antifascist research use, which apparently federates with Mastodon but allows those kinds of functions.

However, the argument that lack of QTs reduces conflict doesn't seem to play out. Every time we've talked about racism on Mastodon we've gotten plenty of conflict without QTs and have had to block quite a few clueless techbro types.

Other arguments against QTs are more valid though. On Twitter, they do encourage manipulative harvesting social capital via easy dunking, for example, and result in a lot of repetitive BS that kind of lowers useful discussion for everyone.

It seems like the best long-term solution would be basic opt-in privacy levels so any user could set their posts to be either quotable or not quotable, searchable or not searchable. That way, no one is forced into a new feature they don't want.