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Hmm, I would have thought a post starting with @mention would not be visible on the main timeline but only under posts and replies but apparently not.

I guess it’s “full attention of everyone following you” or “direct message.” Would be nice to have “public but I’m not shouting it to all my followers” as the default for @mentions.

So the issue here is we’re not differentiating between directing a post to someone and mentioning someone in a post.

If a post begins with someone’s handle, that post should be treated as a directed post.

If public, it should not appear to all your followers by default (but should be in your replies if people look there).

If not public, mentioning other people in the post should not bring them into the conversation.

The current in is socially awkward.

@aral I'd go further and say that I would like an explicit DM function where the post is private, with the recipient being asked whether they want to receive the message, a bit like what Twitter does. Private messages open additional abuse vectors and handling those should be part of developing a dedicated feature.

Aral Balkan

@brunogirin If a private message feature were to be implemented in the protocol, it would have to be end-to-end encrypted to be fit for use.

@aral @brunogirin I also like that I can go private in a thread when the conversation drifts to a point that's not of general interest. It keeps the context intact.