Mastodon is bringing quote posts to the fediverse

Mastodon is officially rolling out quote posts. Starting next week, you’ll see an option to quote another user by selecting the repost — or “boost” — button, allowing you to add your thoughts to someone else’s post.

The decentralized platform initially planned not to launch quote posts over concerns that they could be used for harassment or to take someone out of context. Mastodon reversed this decision in February, saying a lack of quote posts might discourage people from joining the fediverse.

Mastodon is bringing quote posts to mastodon.online and mastodon.social first, but will roll out the feature more broadly with the Mastodon 4.5 update. If you don’t want someone to repost your content with a quote, Mastodon will let you disable quoting for all posts, or just for individual ones. You can also limit who quotes you to anyone on the platform, followers only, or just yourself, as well as remove your content from someone else’s quote post.

Mastodon notes that if you quote a post from another fediverse platform, “it may take some time for the quote to appear.” It also worked on a technical specification for quote posting in the fediverse and hopes that other platforms will adopt it. You can find more information about quote posts, as well as how to adjust your quote post settings, on Mastodon’s website.