Post
Have you checked your "Private Mentions" section in Mastodon?
It's easy to miss notifications about DMs as they are mixed in with all the other mentions and notifications.
You can check your DMs on your server's website by clicking "@ Private Mentions" on the right of the screen (or click ☰, then "@ Private Mentions" if you're on mobile).
Apps may have various different interfaces for DMs.
No mention of Mastodon DM should miss the fact that they are neither direct, nor private. Your server admin has visibility into them just the same as Elon can read DMs on Xitter. Use Signal with a username to chat in private.
@FediTips
Yeah, social media in general is not a good place for sensitive information.
Just to add though, unlike Twitter there isn't any method built into Mastodon for admins to view DMs. It isn't designed to let admins view them.
To view DMs in Mastodon, the admin would have to manually browse the raw data in the database, or perhaps use some third party tool.
When you're the admin, the database is very accessible. All it takes is a password and an SQL query. If Mastodon wasn't designed to let admins view the data, it would encrypt the data. It does not.
@FediTips
I think we might have different experiences of how easy it is to reach something?
A lot of admins, myself included, have instances on managed hosting providers where the database cannot be accessed directly by the admin. (That does raise possibility of hosting company viewing it, of course.) As there is no GUI for it, the admin is locked out of viewing DMs.
On Twitter there are apparently direct graphical interfaces for moderators to view DMs, I just meant Mastodon doesn't have that.
The hosting providers locking access just for themselves makes this even worse.
@FediTips
@FediTips "It's easy to miss notifications about DMs as they are mixed in with all the other mentions and notifications."
They show up in a different background colour, though, at least on the web (and I think on the official Android app as well), so they kinda pop up.
This is a Bonfire Federated social instance for those that enjoy gnarly adventures. Whether it's shredding mountains or slaying guitars, from action sports to art.
