@kenjen I'd like to understand if your "picnic blanket vs loudspeaker" is actually correct. Very few people use the federated timeline. As Mastodon grows this only gets stronger. Everyone that follows you will see it, so it feels like a rather subtle distinction?
BTW, I'm NOT trying to simplistically remove it. I'm trying to figure out how to give you that sense of control in way the other 95% of mastodon can actually understand, e.g. what if we had an account setting, like search availability?
@scottjenson@social.coop If you're an experienced user, yes, the Federated timeline may be of little value, but if you're just getting started, it gives you a way to see what others are on about and find new peeps to follow.
I'm on a fairly quiet server myself(holos.social has 24 users... only two of which appear to have posted and PDX.social is definitely bigger, but pales in comparison to mastodon.social, tech.lgbt, mstdn.social, etc.) so local timelines can be useful to tie you into the community you've joined, but might be inadequate if you're looking for a wider range of discussions. This makes the Federated timeline useful there, too. Matter of fact, I wouldn't know of #hashtaggames were it not for the Federated timeline.
I think that, if you wanted to make them more intuitive
Public - Shout
Unlisted/Quiet Public - "Public" or "Out with Friends"
Followers Only - "Friends(for no reason other than consistency) Only"
@mention">@mention/Private - "Secrets"/"Whispers"
Or you could Anglicise it:
Public - "Performers" or "American Tourists"
Unlisted/Quiet Public - "Pub with your mates"
Followers only - Mates and a Cuppa
@mention">@mention/Private - Keep it secret, yeah?
I'm obviously kidding a bit. I don't think search can fix it. I think renaming might have value.
