Explore, hashtags, and mentions without turning the site into spam

Explore is the public discovery surface on OerSocial. It is where you search people and posts, open a hashtag, and see what is circulating without already following the author. Used well, it is how a new account finds a conversation. Used badly, it is how spam spreads.

Search

The search box in the right column and on Explore looks for people and posts. Type a name, a username, or a word from a post. If nothing comes back, the post may be too new, too private, or simply not there. Empty results are not a bug. Do not "fix" them by posting the query as a new thread.

Hashtags

A hashtag is a label. Use one or two that describe the post. "#oakland #nightphotography" on a photo of a station is honest. A string of twenty tags copied from another network is noise. Clickable tags exist so people can hop between related posts. They are not a ranking cheat code.

If you invent a tag for a small event, say what the event is in the post body. A tag with no explanation is a dead end.

Mentions

@username notifies a person and links to their profile. Mention people who are in the conversation or who asked to be tagged. Mentioning popular accounts so their followers see a notification is spam. Repeated unsolicited mentions can get a post removed.

What Explore is not

Explore is not a classifieds wall. It is not a place to paste the same affiliate link every hour. It is not a backup for search-engine keyword stuffing. If your only activity is dropping links under other people's posts, you are not using Explore. You are using other people.

A simple discovery habit

Once or twice a week, search a topic you actually care about. Reply to one post with something specific. Follow at most a handful of accounts you will read. That habit beats blasting fifty tags.

Discovery on OerSocial should feel like walking into a room, not like walking into a billboard alley. If you are unsure, read the post out loud. If it sounds like an ad with a human pasted on top, rewrite it or do not post it.