Post Visibility
Typically your post will be Public. This means that anyone across the internet can read the contents. Even if the reader is not on the fediverse, they can read the post if they have a link to it.
BEFORE you click to post your content, consider the Visibility.
- Public: This is usually the default, depending on your settings. As noted above, it is visible to anyone on the internet and fediverse.
- Unlisted: All your followers will be notified of the post and can read it. The post will not appear in any Timelines and is not discoverable by others. However, someone could share a direct web link to your post. It will appear on your list of Public posts if someone looks directly at your profile.
- Followers: Only people who follow you, and anyone you mention in the post, can see it. This means the post will go to your followers servers across the fediverse, but only your followers see it, and not others on those servers. Simply put, this restricts your post to people who follow you.
- Direct: Think of this as a Private/Direct Message. Only the people you specifically mention in this post can see it and interact. See further note below on this.
- Local Only: This is similar to 'Unlisted', however it can only be seen by people on your own server. A viewer from another server will not see it on your profile, or your server's local timeline.
Direct Messages
Caution
Setting post visibility to 'Direct' is the Firefish equivalent of a private message. However, messages are NOT encrypted in the database. Therefore, it is possible for your server admin to look at the content of a direct message, via the database, if they wish to do so.
This is a great feature for private chat, but DO NOT include sensitive information in the message (for example, bank details, password/ID details).