Post Visibility
When creating, or replying to, a Post it is important to consider the Visiblity of the content. In simple terms this is who will see the post.
You set the visibility before you Publish the post, using the tool bar at the bottom of the Post window:
- Public: The post will be published and available for anyone to read. A copy of the post will be sent to all of your followers. The post will appear in the local and federated Timelines and therefore discoverable by other servers.
- 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.
- Mentioned: only people you refer to in the Post will see this post. This is the equivalent of a private/direct message. Example Post: Hi @joe@mastodon.somewhere, how are you today. Only Joe and you will see this. The post can not be boosted
Info Be aware, that if someone follows you in the future they will see old Followers-Only posts, not just new ones.
Caution Posts are not currently encrypted on the server, so do not send sensitive/private information via any Post, not even a Mentioned only Post. Your system admin can, in theory, go into the database and read your posts.