@darius you can always boost and then reply with: "lb (...)" and removing the @

this way you can add some context to the toot and the people that see it will keep the context

@darius I run a few bots and I 100% get the desire for this!

I think a Twitter quote tweet (at least originally) is internally just a regular tweet with two newlines and a URL at the end(?). If Hometown did it this way, then it would render on non-HT servers as a regular web link, that's fine.

@darius

There's a bunch to unpack here...

The idea of dogpiling being "inevitable" is a complex one. It does indeed happen, and it's true that quote post would make it more difficult to mute such conversations, but as you correctly point out, it's already possible to simply embed a URL and have the same essential effect.

At the same time, as we see on Twitter, quote tweets also have a great deal of value, value that's simply not possible to capture here right now.

I plan to implement VKontakte-style reposts in Smithereen. I don't like it when reposting something doesn't create a separate comment thread for that particular repost.

@darius this sounds like a great way to implement the feature in order to avoid the pitfalls.

@darius I like the idea that local communities get a full picture of something, but that outsiders deliberately get a filtered view. That seems like a healthy tool to have around.

@darius I mute a lot of bots. If someone boosts a bot that I have need, that respects my mute. If someone replies to a bot, that respected my mute. If someone posts a link to a bot post “quote tweet” style, that does not.

Is there a reason to build a “quote tweet” style for bots rather than just use existing replies to bots? Still some fun ideas of how you could style Bot replies differently from non-Bot replies, but it doesn’t also serve to route around mutes/blocks.