@catraxx Hashtags have a few problems. For instance, most of the time you can never be certain what the "right" hashtag is so you end up with a hashtag vomit at the end of the post in an attempt to reach everyone interested.
Posts for a hashtag also won't reach all "participants" equally because it entirely depends on how well-federated the poster's server is. Regular following adds you to a list, which is how servers know who to send posts, but hashtags don't have that. Following hashtags, if even possible, is just a hack that catches posts that happened to find their way to your instance.
There might be more, but that's what I could think of right now.