so you don't get notifications for when someone shares a post from you that you shared from someone else, which was like 90% of how i found new people to follow on tumblr
on top of that p sure there isn't a way to see if other people added commentary to a post in their reblog that isn't in the version the person you're reblogging it from has, which might be user error on my part but based on the ethos of the devs feels fully intentional
no internal messaging system, and i'm pretty sure i saw a devpost saying that they refuse to implement one, which sucks bc my girlfriends are always sending me posts they like which is so so cute
you also to the best of my knowledge can't tag people in posts
it REALLY feels like the only way to interact with people on this site is through divine luck or total accident. like everyone's page is their own Gary Larsonesque tiny desert island and the only way to talk to other people is to huck a message in a bottle in their general direction and pray
you also get notifications when people like or share your original posts but you can't look at the post itself and see any of that information which baffles me
Agreed. Not being able to see what other people are saying about a post sucks. Makes each account feel that much more isolated.
its really fascinating how the design of a website not only shapes people's expectations for how a website should behave, but also (and more importantly) it shapes people's expectations for how you're supposed to behave on a website. design drives behavior, and behavior drives expectations.
after using this website for a little while, i dont feel at ALL isolated or alone on this website. im gonna try to explain why by addressing each point made on @transmortifried's original post.
-
cohost doesn't give you notifications when someone shares a post from you. so if you share a post that you did not make, you dont get a notification. for a website about posting (as opposed to a website about getting notifications), this makes sense. if someone shares a post from you, you can only know by seeing it in your timeline. what effects do these designs have? this makes the timeline more useful for this particular social interaction than your notifications. the connection you have with your follower is therefore established through the post itself (the important part), rather than through a notification for the post. spending a lot of time in your notifications is not good or fun; spending time connecting via posts is fun.
-
if someone adds commentary onto a post by someone you follow, the only way you can see it is if they (or someone else) posts it onto your timeline. you cannot click a post to see all the shares it has on it. what effects does this design have? for one, it prevents people from searching for comments they disagree with, which is practically a sport on twitter (browsing quote tweets) and on tumblr (searching the notes), where it encourages bad behavior, such as harassment, brigading, and picking fights with people. you only see posts that you opted to see, and you only see posts that the people you follow have opted to share. this encourages users to follow more people to see more posts. also, this design encourages an original poster to share when someone has added commentary onto their post, because they know that's the only guaranteed way for their followers to see that added commentary (if they do, in fact, want their followers to see the added commentary). this is a great way of preventing bad behavior.
-
there's no internal messaging system. why? because that's a HUGE vector for bad behavior. harrassment, brigading, trolling, phishing, hacking. plus, everyone in the world already uses messaging systems elsewhere, such as telegram or discord or whatnot. what effects does this design have? it encourages people to just, you know... swap IM handles and talk to each other. why reinvent the wheel, while increasing the chance of people being mean or exploitative to each other? instant messaging would add many, many more problems than it solves, especially problems for vulnerable people.
-
you can't tag people in posts. why? also harassment. do you know how many times a day i get tagged by a phishing bot on tumblr? between 5-10. if you want someone to see a post, just send it to them, via IM. make a connection with someone.
there are actually a lot of ways to interact with people, such as via comments. cohost LOVES comments. its great. i have lots of interesting and fun discussions with people in the comments, and i've deliberately sought people out to message them on other platforms from interactions we've had in comments or shared posts.
- looking at the post itself to find information such as shares and likes and comments, once again, puts the value on gathering notifications instead of making posts. sites like facebook, twitter, and tumblr have conditioned us to believe that social media is a game, and if we get notifications, we're winning. that's bad for your brain and encourages people to do stupid or mean things just to get notifications. cohost wants to discourage that behavior by drawing the attention away from notifications and onto posts. though, cohost is also planning on adding a few select metric trackers for creators using cohost as part of their work, so they can have an easier time doing their job
cohost has a very calculated range of how you can interact with other people, and they didnt design it shortsightedly. it is very deliberate. please give it a shot. give it a few months of only interacting on cohost with the tools and mechanisms that cohost has given you. i think you will find that the way you start connecting with people is actually really fun and organic. and altogether quite peaceful
TAG YOUR POSTS. TAG THEM LIKE A BOOMER ON TWITTER. GO WILD WITH THE TAGS.
Cohost has an extremely robust tagging auto complete that recommends tags that already exist for you, which is also a great way to find posts - "oh, this tag already exists? let's see what posts are there!" Sometimes you get a little disappointed that it was a tag made by a private page, but more often than not you'll find a couple people talking about the subject that interests you! It's one of the best ways to easily connect with people over shared interests here. I've already made a couple friends this way!
You can also still hide comments and stuff in tags just like on Tumblr - though do note tags on the original post will be visible on rechosts, however tags on rechosts will only be visible on that individual rechost (unless that user adds regular body text, then it behaves the same way as OP and is carried on). So you can rechost something, add a comment in a tag, and it won't pollute others' feeds if they rechost it from you.
