If Big Tech ever wants to bring down the free independent Fediverse, all they have to do is leak the private notes we pin to other people’s profiles.
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@CiaraNi @Tattooed_Mummy Eight years here and I didn't even know you could do that! What sort of note taking is even going on?
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@CiaraNi @Tattooed_Mummy Eight years here and I didn't even know you could do that! What sort of note taking is even going on?
If you click on the three dots beside someone else's profile, there's an option to 'Add a private note'. The heading in this screenshot is 'Private notes are only visible to you.'
The ever excellent Feditips has a good guide here:
https://fedi.tips/what-are-notes-on-mastodon-what-does-click-to-add-note-mean-on-mastodon-profiles/
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@nic @feijoa @Tattooed_Mummy That's not at all what I was thinking of, ohmygod it's too early on a Monday
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If Big Tech ever wants to bring down the free independent Fediverse, all they have to do is leak the private notes we pin to other people’s profiles.
I mostly won't use those because I don't trust them, deep in my heart. I first used email in its very early days and the fact that you could FORWARD it was shocking, plus I had the username "steve" at our large institution and every time they broke the aliasing system (which was often) I got a flood of emails intended for everyone's default steve, and I just rapidly learned that you don't type ANYTHING into a computer that you don't want your boss and your mother to read. So the "private notes" just always felt like, Yeah, right, you're not getting me that easy.
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@nic @feijoa @Tattooed_Mummy That's not at all what I was thinking of, ohmygod it's too early on a Monday
@CiaraNi tbf, most of my user notes are “blocked, mansplaining”, or “muted boosts”, or whatever, but I do try to make a note when I follow a new person, and it’s been helpful over the years. That one about Alice just makes me smile whenever I think about it.
I assume I have plenty of “muted, posts in Welsh” type notes attached to my profile.
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I mostly won't use those because I don't trust them, deep in my heart. I first used email in its very early days and the fact that you could FORWARD it was shocking, plus I had the username "steve" at our large institution and every time they broke the aliasing system (which was often) I got a flood of emails intended for everyone's default steve, and I just rapidly learned that you don't type ANYTHING into a computer that you don't want your boss and your mother to read. So the "private notes" just always felt like, Yeah, right, you're not getting me that easy.
@stevegis_ssg I'm the same. I don't assume anything put online is cannot-go-wrong private. I'm amazed that there aren't more email accidents in the world,. Especially at workplaces. We're forever bombarded with data security messages about being alert, then an organisation uses, say, Microsoft. You type the name into the 'To' field and in the nanosecond as you go to click on 'Send', it throws up everyone in the address book with a similar name. So easy to hit the wrong one.
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@Flatus Haha, I love the idea that a private note is a file. A Fedi-file. No reason to assume they're all negative! Though I'll admit that my most lyrical private notes are ones I dash off crossly just before unfollowing, muting or blocking someone
@CiaraNi I'd secretly hoped someone might write poetry about me one day. If it means I’m about to be blocked, though, I’ll settle for “Seems harmless. Prone to Kafka references.”;-)
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If Big Tech ever wants to bring down the free independent Fediverse, all they have to do is leak the private notes we pin to other people’s profiles.
Wait, what?
This is one of those "Innocent nerds find out banging together two bits of uranium releases huge amounts of free energy for the benefit of the world" moments.
"This'll be a useful feature: I can't imagine it *ever* going wrong."
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@CiaraNi tbf, most of my user notes are “blocked, mansplaining”, or “muted boosts”, or whatever, but I do try to make a note when I follow a new person, and it’s been helpful over the years. That one about Alice just makes me smile whenever I think about it.
I assume I have plenty of “muted, posts in Welsh” type notes attached to my profile.
️"That one about Alice just makes me smile whenever I think about it."
Thank you for the context, now I get the reference. I was imagining something far more not mainstream.
I think I'll start muting anyone who mutes anyone who posts in Welsh. I like posts in minority languages. They remind me how international the Fediverse is. I feel so cosmopolitan. Welsh is unguessable for me, so I use the Translate button and then I reply-guy in English.
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@CiaraNi I'd secretly hoped someone might write poetry about me one day. If it means I’m about to be blocked, though, I’ll settle for “Seems harmless. Prone to Kafka references.”;-)
@Flatus The idea of people writing little poems about one another as private notes is lovely. There's the premise for a short story right there.
"Seems harmless. Prone to Kafka references." Now I'm reminded of Arthur Dent taking offence at the 'mostly' in the Hitchhiker's Guide's two-word summing up of Earth as 'mostly harmless'
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If you click on the three dots beside someone else's profile, there's an option to 'Add a private note'. The heading in this screenshot is 'Private notes are only visible to you.'
The ever excellent Feditips has a good guide here:
https://fedi.tips/what-are-notes-on-mastodon-what-does-click-to-add-note-mean-on-mastodon-profiles/
@CiaraNi or
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Wait, what?
This is one of those "Innocent nerds find out banging together two bits of uranium releases huge amounts of free energy for the benefit of the world" moments.
"This'll be a useful feature: I can't imagine it *ever* going wrong."
@Badgardener Most of my private notes are aide-mémoires about mansplainers and reply guys. So I'll remember later why I muted or unfollowed or blocked them. Now I'm imagining some kind of meta-Singularity in the online universe if the reply guys saw my reply-guy notes and started reply-guying me about them.
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If you click on the three dots beside someone else's profile, there's an option to 'Add a private note'. The heading in this screenshot is 'Private notes are only visible to you.'
The ever excellent Feditips has a good guide here:
https://fedi.tips/what-are-notes-on-mastodon-what-does-click-to-add-note-mean-on-mastodon-profiles/
@CiaraNi @Tattooed_Mummy Nice save!
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@Badgardener Most of my private notes are aide-mémoires about mansplainers and reply guys. So I'll remember later why I muted or unfollowed or blocked them. Now I'm imagining some kind of meta-Singularity in the online universe if the reply guys saw my reply-guy notes and started reply-guying me about them.
The thing about that, though, is you can *see* it happening.
I mean, it just would, wouldn't it?
I feel a bit like the world has changed and we can never change it back.
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If Big Tech ever wants to bring down the free independent Fediverse, all they have to do is leak the private notes we pin to other people’s profiles.
@CiaraNi Back when I used reddit I occasionally tagged people with 'nutcase' to remind me not to engage, but that's about as bad as it got
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@CiaraNi @Tattooed_Mummy Nice save!
@feijoa @Tattooed_Mummy You'd better remember me when they make you Ambassador of Mastodon. I'll be wanting some kind of fancy post in your cabinet of Fedi-power. Like, I'll be the one who gets to decide how many hashtags are too many hashtags.
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@CiaraNi Back when I used reddit I occasionally tagged people with 'nutcase' to remind me not to engage, but that's about as bad as it got
@CarstenBoll 'Nutcase' is succinct. My notes are slightly more expansive. Especially the ones about Reply Guys. They have subcategories at this point, mostly with the given nuance if I decided to, say, mute instead of block. Or to not mute yet, but may later. Or if it's someone I haven't interacted with but see being a reply guy on someone else's thread. They're my favourites, it's like a stress-free block, avoiding the problem before it arises
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"That one about Alice just makes me smile whenever I think about it."
Thank you for the context, now I get the reference. I was imagining something far more not mainstream.
I think I'll start muting anyone who mutes anyone who posts in Welsh. I like posts in minority languages. They remind me how international the Fediverse is. I feel so cosmopolitan. Welsh is unguessable for me, so I use the Translate button and then I reply-guy in English.
@CiaraNi I’m pretty sure the only negative comments I’ve had about postng in Welsh have come from people who live in Wales. It’s always lovely to get a reply from someone who’s taken the time to translate something
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The thing about that, though, is you can *see* it happening.
I mean, it just would, wouldn't it?
I feel a bit like the world has changed and we can never change it back.
@Badgardener Agreed. I would never assume that it is impossible for something private online to become not private. Whether by accident or malicious design.
