I still don’t know how exactly stars operate so I’m just using them as “yes this is nice/interesting” markers instead of “I’m pinning this to my fridge” type of stuff.
Just surprises me to see them always used far less then the retweet/mirroring feature.

@Dahtin The main reason folks say not to use the stars is because there's no algorithm to push so they don't serve a boosting function

You can use them however you want, I tend use them in my home feed as an "I like this" and in my notifications tab I use them as a "I read this"

@tabitha Oh, that’s really good to know! Thank you!
Kinda a shame the stars don’t do anything, but I suppose I can use them to bookmark art and such at the very least. I like the notif idea, too.

@Dahtin My guess is that since boosting is a thing, it was considered redundant to have them do anything. I'm not an expert though, just someone who's used used Mastodon for a while

There's also an actual bookmark function too! At least for the apps I use, it looks like you're using Mastodon for iOS and I admittedly know nothing about that one

@tabitha Neat. I didn’t even know it showed the app used on posts/profiles.
I am *very* new to Masto. Only have been able to begin setting things up today or so. ^^;
Even still, thank you!

@Dahtin You're welcome! It's something that's visible by viewing a post in an expanded window.

I've been using Mastodon for a few years so I'm trying to reach out and help newcomers. There's a lot to get used to so I get how overwhelming it can be x3

@tabitha Very neat, I appreciate it! Sent a follow

@Dahtin As others have replied already, favourites don’t do much in terms of pushing posts to more people. If you want to reshare a post, it already exists via the boost button.

Favouriting a post sends a notification to the original poster to say that you liked it, which I feel is a more meaningful signal boost than an opaque algorithm that might rank their post higher or lower than someone else’s posts.