If you're about to respond to someone on Mastodon with advice or information or critique or disagreement, PLEASE read their post again to make sure that they have invited that.
If they haven't asked for input they probably don't want or need it, but if you still think they'll be interested in what you want to say, ASK before replying.
"Hey, are you asking for advice, or just venting?"
That's ALL you need to say.
I'm tagging it #netiquette (what a great word, haha) but it's universal.
@Felthry I mean, same, tbh! It feels weird to post this because I feel like I'm so bad at this! :P
@cassolotl Also, before you do that, consult your lawyer and send them an official letter asking them for permission before you comment their post. You know, they registered on a social network. They may get surprised and feel it really awkward if someone replies to their post.
@pskosinski @cassolotl Do you go up to random people in public and insert yourself into their conversation?
@cassolotl how about instead of telling other people what to do, you learn how to use the block or mute features if you're bothered by someone else
@cassolotl Alternatively, if you're unsure, CW "unsolicited advice" so that people can choose whether to read it or not?
@trwnh Nah, that's still giving unsolicited advice, it's still intrusive. Some people might be okay with it, but you'd have to ask them first to be sure. "In future, is it okay to send you unsolicited advice without asking if it's under a CW, or should I still ask first?"
@cassolotl @trwnh Your advice is to not giving advice unless we asked for. and we did'nt asked for !
@trwnh @cassolotl At risk of violating Cas' OP, but it seems relevant in this context, I was informed that I definitely need to make more use of the CW feature whenever I kvetch about stuff.
The implication was that I apply CW when I kvetch, but not when I'm open to feedback.
This hasn't applied universally, but it seems to have made a great deal of my followers happier so far, and was thankful for the advice.
I'll also start taking Cas' suggestions into consideration too; can't hurt.
@vertigo @cassolotl fwiw i usually operate under the implicit assumption that replies are usually ok to me unless i specifically say "don't reply"
@trwnh @cassolotl Good point. I usually use the word "rant" on other forums. It's weird how that habit has not transferred to Mastodon. (Although, it's usually fairly obvious from the CW subject, I guess.)
@cassolotl @trwnh My subjects are usually pretty snarky when I'm in a really foul mood about something. :P
That said, I'm starting to realize that I wish we had both CW and RANT flags which you could apply independently to a message.
@cassolotl @vertigo Quite possibly a good idea to place some more obvious / explicit signaling? Perhaps in a profile, if not per-toot level.
@cassolotl Hi, I may or may not find this proposal cool and thoughtful. Are you looking for feedback or just throwing it out there?
@0x40 Just throwing it out there! Thanks for asking, though. :)
Opinion and advice Show more
@cassolotl That's good advice. I can fall prey to MAS from time to time.
@feoh Oooh, what does MAS stand for?
@cassolotl Male Answer Syndrome
@feoh Ohhhh! Haha, nice, learned a thing!
@cassolotl and dont be an asshole if they turn you down
@sonya @cassolotl I love this. Mastodon would be easier for me to navigate if people self identified which type of speaker they were so I knew how to engage!
I'll add while I'm thinking of it that if you *really* want to say your not-agreement thing but the person to whom you'd be responding hasn't invited (or has declined when asked) your negative commentary, you can just make a new post.
If you just want to get some critical thoughts/feelings/opinions out there, you don't have to aim them at the OP, you know?
@cassolotl Completely disagree: if someone is 'venting' in my timeline, they're inviting for an answer. Otherwise, respect your readers, and don't post in public.
@cassolotl A lesson I really need to learn.