Hashtags do not replace groups.
No one moderates them. They’re easy to hijack and spam. And there’s simply no permanence to them.
Which is why, if you actually want to discuss something, it’s better to tag a group. For example, if you want to be part of an actual PC gaming community on the Fediverse, it’s better to tag @pcgaming@lemmy.ca than #pcgaming.
This needs to be common knowledge because people new to the Fediverse do not know about groups. Hell, I’d say people who have had Mastodon accounts for years still don’t know. And that’s a shame.
@fediverse@lemmy.world
@breakfastmtn Thanks. So far I’ve tried Friendica, Misskey and Hubzilla, as well as three different Mastodon servers. So I do understand that Masto is not the whole fedi.
It’s just that so far as I was concerned, “Lemmy” is a dead rock star who had a penchant for Nazi memorabilia.
I’d never heard of it as a fedi service until Chris’ post, yesterday! 🤷♂️
@ApostateEnglishman You should check it out. Lemmy’s great! Interoperability is terrific but I think the way information and discussion are displayed in Lemmy* is superior for deeper dives and being “in” a discussion. Not at all a knock on Mastodon, which is perfect for what it is. They’re just trying to be different things that have different strengths 😀