Simon WillisonDec 22, 2022

My least favourite sharp edge of Mastodon is the fact that when you view someone else's post you only see replies to it that are known to your server - so there's actually a good chance there will be replies that are completely invisible to you, especially if you run your own instance

I'd love it if tapping a post kicked off a request back to the original server that fetched the current reply count and provided a "view all replies" button if there were replies not yet visible to me

Show threadSimon WillisonDec 22, 2022

My hunch here is that very few people see even aware of this Mastodon feature

So, a poll: prior to reading this thread, did you know that Mastodon by default will only show you public replies to a post if those replies have already been fetched into your server somehow?

(This only affects you when you view a post that originated on a server other than your home server - if the original post author is on the same server as you then you'll see all of the replies)

Yes I knew about that
24%
No, I didn't know about that
70%
I don't understand the question
6%
Poll ended at .
Show threadsean 🔒Dec 22, 2022
@simon is this true? i saw this reply and we’re on different servers. it’s possible that someone else on my server fetched it in the 3 minutes between when you posted it and when i saw it but that seems tight
Show threadSam MinnéeDec 22, 2022
@sean @simon do you follow Simon? I think that might mean that his posts are pushed to your server.
Show threadsean 🔒Dec 22, 2022
@sminnee @simon oh, yes i do! that explains it, then.
Show threadSam MinnéeDec 22, 2022
@sean @simon at core it means that discussion participants are okay and drive-by drop-ins (like me, now 😆) are more at risk of not being seen. But is a social network that makes life harder for reply-guys all that bad? 😉
Show threadSimon WillisonDec 22, 2022

@sminnee @sean my problem with it is that I frequently reply to someone... and then find out that what I've said has already been said several times before by multiple other people in replies that weren't visible to me

Which makes me look rude, like I'm spraying replies around without even bothering to read the conversation first!

Show threadIan Tindale

@simon @sminnee @sean this is a huge design failure

(Someone’s probably already said this to you, but as the first replier, I said it first)

Apr 3, 2023 at 10:21amWeb
Show threadIan TindaleApr 3, 2023

@simon @sminnee @sean oh wait, yours was itself a reply?

I didn’t see that – it wasn’t apparent