Hackers' Pub

Syntax	Description	Examples
`"` keyword `"`	Finds the string within quotes, including spaces. Case-insensitive. (Escape quotes inside with `\"`)	`"Hackers' Pub"`
`from:` handle	Finds content written by the specified user.	`from:hongminhee` `from:hongminhee@hollo.social`
`lang:` ISO 639-1	Finds content written in the specified language.	`lang:en`
`#` tag	Finds content with the specified tag. Case-insensitive.	`#HackersPub`
condition condition	Finds content that satisfies both conditions on either side of the space (logical AND).	`"Hackers' Pub" lang:en`
condition `OR` condition	Finds content that satisfies at least one of the conditions on either side of the OR operator (logical OR).	`#HackersPub OR "Hackers' Pub" lang:en`
`(` condition `)`	Combines the operators within the parentheses first.	`(#HackersPub OR "Hackers' Pub" OR "Hackers Pub") lang:en`

mcc @mcc@mastodon.social

2/20/2026, 2:50:39 AM

Public

Consider a Mastodon/Fediverse handle, like @username@domain.example . What kinds of restrictions are there on "username"? Can I assume any valid unicode could go in there?

Evan Prodromou @evan@cosocial.ca

2/20/2026, 3:15:41 AM

Public

@mcc unfortunately, it's very restrictive. It feels like a huge opportunity for us to reach the majority of people on the planet who use non-Latin characters for their names, but the network right now is mostly Latin.

https://www.w3.org/community/reports/socialcg/CG-FINAL-apwf-20240608/

ActivityPub and WebFinger

Identifiers in ActivityPub tend to be HTTPS URIs. The use of WebFinger (as defined in [RFC7033]) allows for discovery of an actor's identifier given a username and a hostname, which may be more socially salient or otherwise easier to communicate across various contexts and media. The username and hostname are resolved at the WebFinger endpoint of the hostname in order to discover a link to an actor associated with the user's account, and that actor similarly can be back-linked to the username and hostname.

www.w3.org

If you have a fediverse account, you can quote this note from your own instance. Search https://cosocial.ca/users/evan/statuses/116100781902878339 on your instance and quote it. (Note that quoting is not supported in Mastodon.)