Launch: Notifications from Unbridged Users
So far, Bridgy Fed has been doing a smooth job of connecting users between ecosystems, enabling cross-protocol communication over the bridge. That said, there are limitations when a user who isn't bridged interacts with someone's bridged account.
Currently, these interactions do not send a notification to the receiving user that someone has replied to or mentioned them. And as more users opt into the bridge, we've been asked numerous times if we can help users at least be aware when an unbridged interaction occurs.
Today, we're launching our first step toward solving that problem by introducing an unbridged notifications digest sent directly to your native account's direct messages.
Starting today, if your bridged account has unbridged interactions, we'll send an hourly digest DM listing those interactions for you.
The reason we've opted to link to the interactions rather than sending the full text is to ensure we preserve the privacy of the other user. Many people who have not opted into bridging do so because they don't want the other platform to see their content, and we want to ensure it remains that way. We find this to be a healthy balance between giving the Bridgy Fed user awareness while respecting the unbridged user's privacy choices.
If you find these DM notifications unhelpful, you can either send 'mute' to the Bridgy Fed bot or head to your Bridgy Fed settings page to toggle it on or off. And if you receive notifications on the other side of the bridge from users you do not want to interact with, you can also directly block users via our "block" DM command.
To receive these DMs, make sure that you, your Fediverse instance, or an ATProto blocklist you follow hasn't blocked the Bridgy Fed bot user. For Bluesky users, you'll also want to ensure your DMs are set to either "Users I follow" if you follow the Bridgy Fed account or "Everyone" if you don't. Similarly, on Mastodon, you can find settings for private mentions (DMs) in the notifications panel.
This is only our first step toward solving user experience issues between bridged and unbridged users, and we'd love to hear your feedback!
If you believe in our mission of liberating people's networks from platforms, you can support us via our Patreon! Last week, we launched a tier that starts as low as $0.95/month with an annual subscription or $1/month for a monthly subscription.