Thread | Brutkey

I suppose it’s my own neurosis or something, but I think:

Private messages on Mastodon are really creepy. <<<

There are pretty rare occasions when it is justified for a very good reason. For example, though it’s not a very good idea to toot passwords in the first place, don’t send someone a password in a public toot. Journalists, lawyers & others may accept tips or other sorts of contact that should not be public. There are very few such reasons, as far as I’m concerned. And most of them are probably better suited to Signal. (Mastodon private replies are not end-to-end encrypted.)

Private replies to an account that doesn’t follow you show up in the sketchy notifications area, which isn’t the best way to get to know someone. You’re in the dubious company of Fediverse Chick & Mastodon Support. I don’t see those notifications right away, if at all.

It amounts to someone I don’t know sidling up and whispering in my ear. On Twitter it was, “sliding into my DMs.” Ew. There’s no need for it. If I could disable it with a setting, I would. Maybe I just haven’t found it yet.

Please don’t send me private messages here. For the most part, you can expect them to be entirely ignored. That particularly goes for HangTrek & SarlaccPit guesses.

I’ll pin this on my profile & otherwise try to keep my antisocial vibe to myself. Thank you, as someone often says, for your attention to this matter. We now return to our regularly-scheduled horseshit.