I know this is already on Mastodon team's radar, but I do want to stress how important this feature is.

@stefan I don't think the Fedi is ever going to go mainstream, it's basically the Linux of social media

@kycm_ancy Perhaps. But I am curious to see what happens when Bluesky's money runs out.

@stefan I can only speculate but they did mention that they are considering ways to get monetized, but the first step will be ads for sure lol

@stefan

What I would love to see in addition is an Approve Reply function, to completely eliminate the echo chamber and allow a wider diversity of appropriate replies. Only allowing @-mentions and @-followers severely limits the chance for good, broad conversation.

@uc Hmm, I'm not sure I understand how this would work, mind elaborating?

@stefan

for someone who has not been approved before, or for all replies if desired, a reply goes into a moderation queue for the OP to read and approve or dismiss. Much the same as with some blogging software.

@stefan we already have reply controls. Every object has a `replies` collection that is managed by the author's server. If a) remote servers only use that collection for showing replies and b) the local server lets the user curate the collection, it just works.

@evan @stefan “If a) remote servers only use that collection for showing replies and b) the local server lets the user curate the collection, it just works.”

You’re not listening to the users, who prefer the ability to block replies altogether rather than to simply ignore them as you propose here.

For example, elsewhere in this thread @elena writes “Thing is, as a woman on the internet, I prefer to see what people are saying to me... so I can block accounts or entire servers if needed.”

@8124 @stefan @elena obviously, one should be able to optionally view responses that aren't part of the collection. Most social platforms allow this.

@8124 @stefan @elena obviously, one should be able to optionally view responses that aren't part of the collection. Most social platforms allow this.

@evan @stefan @elena Yeah, true enough, but then you are no longer talking about “reply controls” in the same sense which others are using the term when asking for this feature.

When they find out that replies are not controlled (after installing your software from a landing page emblazoned with “now supports reply controls”) they will get mad at you.

@8124 @stefan @elena declaring an acceptance policy ahead of time is helpful, definitely. "Only followers", "Only mutuals", "Only mentioned people". It can't prevent replies, of course, but it helps compliant clients and servers know which replies won't be accepted.

@evan @stefan @elena “It can't prevent replies, of course”

This is literally my only point, so I’m glad we can agree on it.