I mean… I come from the forum scene and they were always called PMs, as in Private Message. What in the hell does DM stand for and when did things change from people calling them PMs to DMs.

      • deejay4am@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        No you were clear. You are just incorrect. Your “private messages” can be accessed by anyone who works at the site, and are typically scanned for analysis and that data about what you discuss is sold to market researchers.

        So they named them direct messages so they couldn’t be accused of false advertisement.

        Just because they’re not “public” doesn’t mean they’re “private”.

        • 0x4E4F@lemmy.rollenspiel.monsterOP
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          1 year ago

          That is clear… well, at least regarding corporate social media. Admins in the fediverse can read PMs, but why would they, they have no insentive to do that. Hell, I’m still an admin of a forum and I can read all PMs but I have no incentive to do so, I couldn’t care less what people talk about in private.

          Still, that doesn’t mean that the content of the conversation is of any interest of the company. The monetization of the converstaion, yes, but the actual converstaion, no.

      • mrcarrot@lemmy.calebmharper.com
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        1 year ago

        “Public domain” is a copyright term which isn’t really relevant here. The point the other user is trying to make is that, legally speaking, calling something “private” when it very well may be not private is at best disingenuous and at worst a lawsuit waiting to happen.

          • 0x4E4F@lemmy.rollenspiel.monsterOP
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            1 year ago

            And it doesn’t change the fact that only you, the other person and the wiretapper know about that conversation ever happening… well also whoever they might have shared that with as well, but that’s still not public as in someone reading this comment. Everyone can read and confirm that this is what I wrote.

            • tomich@lemmy.ml
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              1 year ago

              I agree partly with you but…

              If the wiretapper releases that conversation and it appears on every TV in the World then it is public and the first thing you are going to say is “but that was a private conversation in a private room and was not meant to be public”. There is expectation of privacy. There is none in a DM. It is a direct message/contact between you, other person and potentially 99999 auditors, and the rest of the world. This is by design, not an exceptional situation.

        • 0x4E4F@lemmy.rollenspiel.monsterOP
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          1 year ago

          Yeah, I know, I was just trying to clarify and couldn’t think of another term 🤷.

          The truth is, if you share something online, whether it be in a PM or publicly, it can never ever be considered private. However, a PM’s content is harder to get to than reading this comment for example, that was my point.