On GNU social, you can see an instance's public timeline, while that doesn't seem to be the case with Mastodon. Is that intentional or just yet to be implemented? It seems to me like a good way for people to get a feel for an instance, while instances that want to stay more private could easily turn it off.
@wspurgin I mean if someone who hasn't joined an instance wants to check out recent posts from that instance, it doesn't appear that they can do so.
@pybyte Ah I understand what you mean. You're right. The most you can do is use the URL
https://octodon.social/web/timelines/public/local
But that (as you noted) is only visible if you have an account on that instance.
@pybyte It appears that you need to be logged in to view the timeline itself, but individual toots and profiles can be viewed regardless of authentication.
Incidentally, the timelines and streaming API can be queried without the need for developer authentication or login now.
@deadsuperhero Yeah, I'm hoping the timeline becomes viewable at some point.
@pybyte you mean something other than the local timeline? That includes some* toots from other instances but it's predominantly your instances' toots.
*As a conjectured qualification, if someone on your instance boosts or favorites something from another instance I think it can show up on the local timeline... potentially following does that too.