POP QUIZ! Answer off the top of your head, do not look up the answer. Assume default configuration and default behavior.

True or false: when you reply to someone else's comment on Mastodon, your followers see your reply comment on their timelines.

@siderea Does it matter if you follow both participants?

@aneel @siderea I believe so.

@jered @aneel

Nope.

@siderea @jered @aneel this is incorrect, I can see the reply if I follow both participants

@sqncs

Oh, ho! I'm wondering what the default here is, because I don't think I'm observing that. I might set up a test.

@jered @aneel

@siderea I voted 'false', but I've seen a reply like that on my timeline. I think it depends, but I don't know what it depends on.

@kyleha Possibly boosted? I've noticed some of the really big reach Mastodonians boost a lot of replies that they get on their own comments.

@siderea @kyleha My assumption is that it depends on the visibility setting on the reply itself? I’m using Akkoma, so not quite apples-to-apples, but for example, I can choose whether this reply is “private”/locked/unlocked/global. Heck if I know exactly what those icons mean since I’m on mobile, though.

@siderea @jered @aneel it might have to do with what app you use. I can promise I see replies on Tusky as often as I'd expect.

@sqncs Yes, well, we're trying to establish how often when should expect to see replies in one's timeline! I am also on Tusky.

@jered @aneel

@sqncs @siderea @jered I wonder if it depends on what app the replier uses. I’m using @MonaApp and have these turned off, which I don’t recall actively choosing.

@sqncs @siderea @jered @MonaApp Also, I’m on an instance that runs glitch-soc, so maybe the difference is in the server side?

@alpha

Shouldn't matter to this case, because the default configuration and default behavior is completely public. If I'm not seeing replies in my timeline between people that I follow, I don't think it's because everybody I follow is posting under a more restrictive privacy setting that they had to opt into.

@kyleha

@siderea I voted true but I'm pretty sure the answer is actually false

@drmorr Interesting choice! I had thought about adding additional choices like, "true?", "false, probably", "trrrrfalse", "damn if I know", and "it never occurred to me to wonder".

What made you vote that way?

@siderea it's how i want it to work, so I'm sticking my head in the sand

@drmorr Ah! So you would prefer your comments to others to appear in your followers timelines, did I get that right? Or did you mean the other way around?

@aneel @sqncs @siderea @MonaApp I did not see any of these replies after Siderea’s “Nope.” Which makes it even more confusing! Perhaps I have to be following ALL tagged participants? *sigh*

@jered

Wait, even though you're specifically named in them? Whoa.

Edit: on second thought, maybe not whoa; I'm not expecting to see comment replies on my home feed at all, I expect to see them in my notifications. (I'm on Tusky, FWIW.)

@aneel @sqncs @MonaApp

@siderea For general Mastodon servers, your followers will see your replies on their Home timeline, if they also follow the people you are replying to.

@siderea Entirely possible it’s just an Akkoma thing, since I also have this setting and I find the default (show all replies) to be maddeningly useless for my fediverse purposes.

@siderea yes, you got that right

@drmorr Interesting preference! What about that appeals to you?

@MonaApp What does "general" mean here?

@alpha Is that showing your replies to others, or is that showing others' replies to you (in your home stream)?

@siderea Servers that run on the main version/branch of the Mastodon source code. Some servers run on altered Mastodon versions, which may behave slightly differently.

@MonaApp Ah, thanks.

@siderea That option switches between showing toot-replies from people I’m following to everyone/people I follow/just me.

@siderea Now that I’m my desktop, some further thoughts…

My mental model (which may be entirely wrong, but is my vague understanding mostly from discussions around how Mastodon DMs aren’t actually private and also some of the private-community features that forks and other servers allow but Mastodon itself does not) is that a reply is “a toot with a parent”, so visibility modifiers work the same as a non-reply toot.

On Akkoma, I have the following options for toot visibility:

• “Direct - post to mentioned users only”
• “Followers-only - post to followers only”
• “Unlisted - do not post to public timelines”
• “Public - post to public timelines”
• “Local - do not federate this post”

Although @darius is probably the person who can speak to this with actual accuracy, given that he’s the developer behind the Hometown fork.

@alpha @siderea your mental model is correct. (And an unlisted reply will appear on your home timeline if you follow both the author and the author of the parent post because your home timeline is not a public timeline)

What about self-replies? In that case anybody who’s following me is also following the person I’m replying to (also me) so presumably the answer is yes?

@darius @alpha @siderea

@jdp23 @siderea @alpha my assumption was yes so I tested it and: yes