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I would like to settle something, once and for all. I think I may have asked about it this previously but not very clearly. On sites such as Livejournal, I enter interests seperated by a comma. For instance
books, classical music, cats
Some sites use brackets to separate each word or phrase. On Friendica, I followed their advice to use commas, but phrases, such as classical music, always show up as separate words i.e. "classical, music" when I read my profile, thinkint that was the seperator, but it did nothing. I want to know how to do this properly, since it may affect both how I find people and how people find me. How do I write these keywords, and is it the same for my profile as when I search by interest or for posts and people?

#formatting #friendica #friends #keywords #searching

in reply to Georgiana Brummell

I tried searching for things using the number sign and the word. I tried "Windows XP", "Windows 7", and, since I used it in our example, "classical music". I got nothing, except when typing "classical" and "XP" on their own. But I did see that the tags for certain posts had single words with no space i.e. Windows7. Is that how I'm supposed to do it? Also, does the search box on the main page only search on this particular instance, or all of Friendica?
in reply to Georgiana Brummell

I asked Perplexity the questions I wrote here and received an interesting answer. Note that, so as not to really create these tags, I am using a full stop instead of a number sign.

"Based on your query, I can provide some guidance on how to properly use interests and tags on Friendica:
Profile Interests
For your profile interests on Friendica:
• Use commas to separate individual interests
• For multi-word interests, use single words without spaces
For example:
text
books,classicalmusic,cats,Windows7,WindowsXP
This approach ensures that multi-word interests are treated as single tags rather than being split up.
Searching
When searching on Friendica:
• Single words work best for general searches
• For specific multi-word terms, try using hashtags without spaces
For example:
text
.classicalmusic
.Windows7
.WindowsXP
Search Scope
The search box on the main page typically searches:
• Posts and content on your local Friendica instance
• Profiles of users on your instance
• Some federated content from connected servers, depending on your instance's configuration
However, it does not search the entire Friendica network comprehensively
Tags in Posts
When creating posts, you can use hashtags to make your content more discoverable:
text
I love .classicalmusic and .Windows7!
This format allows for better indexing and searching of specific topics.
Finding People
To find people with similar interests:
1. Use the "Directory" feature on your Friendica instance
2. Search for hashtags related to your interests
3. Explore "Similar Contacts" suggestions
Remember, the federated nature of Friendica means that search results and content availability can vary between instances. Experimenting with different search terms and hashtag formats may help you find the most relevant content and connections."

Me. "This is very interesting! So even with single terms, such as book and cats, I would write them without a space but place a comma between them i.e. books,cats, not books, cats?"

Perplexity. "Indeed, you are correct! On Friendica, when entering your interests in your profile, you should write them without spaces and separate each term with a comma. Therefore, you would format your interests as follows:
text
books,cats
This ensures that each term is treated as a distinct tag rather than being split into separate words. By following this format, you enhance the clarity of your interests and improve the likelihood of being found by others who share similar passions."

#Friendica #posting #tags #searching #profile #keywords