How to Mastodon: Visibility Levels

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Tutorial written by tikli. Also available as a Mastodon thread and a Twitter thread.
Page last updated on 23 September 2023 [change log].

Contents

Public posts

Public posts can be viewed by anyone. They show up on Live feeds and can be boosted by other users. Everyone can also reply to them.

Public posts are searchable by words and tags if the poster has given permission for this. If you want others to be able to search for your public posts, go edit your profile settings on your server's webpage. "Include public posts in search results" is on the "Privacy and reach" tab.

Two screenshots from the beginning of episode 3, where Stede and the crew are onboard the Revenge. In the first screenshot, Stede asks the crew “Right, well, what should we do with our hostage?” This is a Public post from @Bonnet@the.revenge. In the second screenshot we see Black Pete lifting his hand, Roach standing next to him, both looking at Stede. They are users on the.revenge server who are looking at “This server“ timeline in their Live feeds.

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Public posts and tagging

Tags can be used to give more visibility to Public posts. They can also be used for filtering/muting purposes on all visibility levels.

If you follow a tag, posts that use it show up on your Home timeline, even if you don't follow the account that made the post.

Please note that when you search with a tag, you can only find posts from accounts that are on a server that your “home server” is aware of. (Server A is aware of server B when at least one user from A follows someone from B.)

Two screenshots from episode 3, where Stede is doing his “Man for sale!” marketing stunt at the Republic of Pirates. In the first screenshot, Stede shouts “Man for sale! Man for sale!” This is a Public post from @Bonnet@the.revenge tagging his post with #ManForSale. In the second screenshot we see the Magic Man approach Stede and Lucius. @MagicMan@pirate.republic searched posts that use the tag #ManForSale.

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Public posts and federation

When a post is Public, it reaches not only your own “home server” but also every server that federates with it (= is connected to it).

People who are on the same server as you can see the Public post on This server timeline under Live feeds. Those who are on federated servers can see it on their Other servers timeline under Live feeds. Everyone can boost it and reply to it.

“Instance” is synonymous to “server” on Mastodon.

Three screenshots from episode 3, the scene where Lucius announces Stede to the patrons at the Spanish Jackie’z and Stede addresses the room. In the first screenshot, Stede says “Hi, all. Nice to be here.” This is a Public post from @Bonnet@the.revenge. In the second and third screenshots we see the bar patrons staring at Stede. They are users on any server (=instance) that federates with the.revenge. They see Stede’s post when they look at their “Other servers“ timeline under Live feeds.

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Unlisted posts

When you mark your post as Unlisted, it won’t show up on any public timelines. People who browse their Live feeds won’t see it. It doesn’t turn up on Explore view either.

Unlisted posts aren’t indexed in the search database, so they can't be found by words or tags. You can still use tags to help people mute things they want to avoid.

Unlisted posts are still visible to anyone who comes across them. They also show up on the Home timeline of everyone who follows your account.

Two screenshots from episode 3, where Stede is asking Geraldo about the drink he just had. In the first screenshot, Stede asks “What do you call this?” and Geraldo answers “It’s juice from the nose jar.” Both of these are Unlisted posts. @Bonnet@the.revenge asked a question and @Geraldo@spanish.jackiez replied to it. These posts won’t show up on Live feeds and aren't searchable by words or tags. In the second screenshot we see Izzy leaning against the wall, saying “I’ve a few colleagues in there.” This is an Unlisted reply from @Izzy@queen.anne. He can see the posts and interact with them.

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Unlisted posts and mentioning others

If you mention other accounts by their full name (username AND server name) they will get notified, no matter what the visibility of the post is set to.

Mentioning other users in Unlisted posts doesn’t affect the visibility of the post. It still behaves the same way any Unlisted post would.

Two screenshots from episode 3, set at Spanish Jackie’z. In the first screenshot, Izzy tells Stede “my boss would like a word with you, Bonnet.” This is an Unlisted post from @Izzy@queen.anne mentioning @Bonnet@the.revenge. Even if it wasn’t a direct reply to Stede’s previous post, Stede would still get notified of it. Izzy’s post doesn’t show up on Live feeds and it isn’t searchable by words or tags, but it’s still visible to anyone who stumbles upon it. In the second screenshot we see Spanish Jackie holding her knife at Stede’s face and she’s turned to look at Geraldo, asking “Muthafuckin’ Blackbeard wanna talk to this guy?” Geraldo saw Izzy’s message to Stede, boosted it, and since Jackie follows Geraldo, she saw the post on her Home timeline and now she is aware that Izzy sent an Unlisted post that was “addressed to” Stede.

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Mentioned People Only

If you want to restrict the visibility of your post to a specific person or several people, set the visibility of the post to Mentioned People Only. The post will be visible to only those you mentioned in it.

Remember that EVERYONE you mentioned WILL get notified and see the post.

A post with this visibility can’t be boosted.

A screenshot from episode 3, where Jim has sneaked in to the backroom of Spanish Jackie’z to get their knife back, and Jackie follows them and closes the door behind her. We see Jim backed against the pillar while Jackie flirts with them, and the corpse of Alfeo is on the foreground of the picture. Jackie is saying “You are one sexy thing.” This is a Mentioned People Only post from Jackie@spanish.jackiez, mentioning both @Jim@the.revenge and @AlfeoDeVaca@spanish.jackiez. They are the only people who can see this post, and Alfeo hasn’t even logged in for a while, so it’s technically between Jackie and Jim only.

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Followers Only

Another way to restrict the visibility of your post is to set it to Followers Only.

Whether you follow THEM or not doesn’t matter. The post is visible to everyone who follows YOU.

Remember that if you don’t set your account to “Require follow requests”, anyone can freely follow you and see your Followers Only posts. Enable this setting to manually approve (or reject) follow requests to gain more control over who sees your Followers Only posts.

These posts can’t be boosted.

A screenshot from episode 3, where Stede and Geraldo and some crew members are rowing towards the Spanish ship with their tapas plates. Stede is telling Geraldo “In honor of our hosts, I’ve had Roach put together some food.” This is a Followers Only post from @Stede@the.revenge and it’s only visible to those who follow Stede (= the people currently on the dinghy). They can see the post on their Home timeline.

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