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  "$type": "site.standard.document",
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  "description": "Social software should help people talk, respond, and stay in touch without turning every interaction into a growth loop. Messages, comments, and small signals can be useful. They do not need to become an attention machine.\n\nTouchGrass is built around real friends, circles, posts, profiles, and intentional audiences. Conversation belongs in that context. A comment can add something. A message can continue a conversation. A small signal can say “I saw this” without becoming a public popularity count. TouchGrass is a safe, open social home for real life — without addictive feeds or platform lock-in.\n\nWhy TouchGrass made this choice\n\nMost social platforms do not only host conversation. They shape it.\n\nA comment can become a performance. A like can become a scoreboard. A notification can become a habit loop. A direct message can become one more surface for pressure, interruption, and expectation.\n\nThe problem is not that people respond to each other. The problem is when the product treats every response as fuel for more engagement.\n\nHealthy social software should make conversation possible without making interruption the business model. It should let people reply, ask, acknowledge, and follow up without pushing them into public metrics, infinite feed checks, or algorithmic ranking.\n\nTouchGrass approaches conversation as part of a wider social home. Friends and circles matter. Audience matters. The profile and post context matter. The question is not “how do we maximize interaction?” It is “how do we support useful contact without turning people into engagement targets?”\n\nWhat TouchGrass does today\n\nToday, TouchGrass supports social interaction around friends, circles, profiles, and posts. Depending on the current feature status, that includes messages, comments, and smaller signals for acknowledging or responding.\n\nThe design direction is to keep these interactions human-sized. Comments should support conversation around a post. Messages should support direct communication. Small signals should help people acknowledge something without turning the entire product into a public like-count race.\n\nTouchGrass also supports visibility choices: public, friends, and circles. That affects conversation because the audience of a post shapes the audience of the response. A comment under a public post is different from a response in a friends-only or circle context.\n\nThe product avoids core engagement traps. TouchGrass is not built around algorithmic feed ranking, infinite scroll, videos as the main social object, or public like counts as status markers.\n\nTouchGrass is also moving in an open-web direction. Federation, portability, ATProto/Atmosphere, Solid, ActivityPods, and private sharing are important directions, but conversation features are especially sensitive. Do not describe private messaging, remote delivery, federation, or protocol support as complete unless the feature status confirms it. Some items may be shipped, partial, experimental, or planned.\n\nLimits / what not to overclaim\n\nMessages and private sharing need careful language.\n\nTouchGrass can provide visibility choices and private sharing features, but no product should claim that private posts or messages are private from screenshots, recipient misuse, remote-server behavior, compromised devices, or every future integration. If someone receives something, they may copy it, photograph it, forward it, or describe it elsewhere.\n\nComments and small signals also have social limits. Removing public like-count races can reduce pressure, but it cannot make every interaction kind, accurate, or welcome. Moderation, safety tools, and social norms still matter.\n\nOpen-web work should also be described carefully. Federation and portability can improve exits and reduce lock-in, but they can also introduce remote-server behavior and protocol limits. Use the feature status page for the current state.\n\nThe honest claim is: TouchGrass supports conversation without making interruption and engagement maximization the center of the product.\n\nFAQ\n\nDoes TouchGrass have messages?\n\nTouchGrass is built around direct social contact, including messages where supported by the current feature status. Check the feature status page before describing a specific messaging feature as fully shipped.\n\nDoes TouchGrass have comments?\n\nComments are part of the social interaction direction around posts and profiles. The exact availability and behavior should be checked in the current feature status.\n\nWhat are small signals?\n\nSmall signals are lightweight ways to acknowledge or respond without turning everything into a public score. The exact set of signals depends on the current product state.\n\nAre private messages or private posts completely private?\n\nNo product should promise that. Private sharing can limit intended visibility, but it cannot protect against screenshots, recipient misuse, remote-server behavior, compromised devices, or every future integration.\n\nHow is this different from engagement-first platforms?\n\nTouchGrass does not center the product on algorithmic feed ranking, public like-count races, infinite scroll, or videos as the main social object. Conversation exists to support real social contact, not to maximize interruption.\n\nSee what you can do: /what-you-can-do\n\nFriends and circles: /friends-and-circles\n\nFeature status: /status/features\n\nLast updated: 15 May 2026\n\nLanguage: English",
  "path": "/posts/1863",
  "publishedAt": "2026-06-23T10:47:51+00:00",
  "site": "at://did:plc:3psawlryd7qeqqdvpieu7geb/site.standard.publication/3mm4zoxsquk26",
  "textContent": "Messages, comments, and small signals without the attention machine\n\nSocial software should help people talk, respond, and stay in touch without turning every interaction into a growth loop. Messages, comments, and small signals can be useful. They do not need to become an attention machine.\n\nTouchGrass is built around real friends, circles, posts, profiles, and intentional audiences. Conversation belongs in that context. A comment can add something. A message can continue a conversation. A small signal can say “I saw this” without becoming a public popularity count. TouchGrass is a safe, open social home for real life — without addictive feeds or platform lock-in.\n\nWhy TouchGrass made this choice\n\nMost social platforms do not only host conversation. They shape it.\n\nA comment can become a performance. A like can become a scoreboard. A notification can become a habit loop. A direct message can become one more surface for pressure, interruption, and expectation.\n\nThe problem is not that people respond to each other. The problem is when the product treats every response as fuel for more engagement.\n\nHealthy social software should make conversation possible without making interruption the business model. It should let people reply, ask, acknowledge, and follow up without pushing them into public metrics, infinite feed checks, or algorithmic ranking.\n\nTouchGrass approaches conversation as part of a wider social home. Friends and circles matter. Audience matters. The profile and post context matter. The question is not “how do we maximize interaction?” It is “how do we support useful contact without turning people into engagement targets?”\n\nWhat TouchGrass does today\n\nToday, TouchGrass supports social interaction around friends, circles, profiles, and posts. Depending on the current feature status, that includes messages, comments, and smaller signals for acknowledging or responding.\n\nThe design direction is to keep these interactions human-sized. Comments should support conversation around a post. Messages should support direct communication. Small signals should help people acknowledge something without turning the entire product into a public like-count race.\n\nTouchGrass also supports visibility choices: public, friends, and circles. That affects conversation because the audience of a post shapes the audience of the response. A comment under a public post is different from a response in a friends-only or circle context.\n\nThe product avoids core engagement traps. TouchGrass is not built around algorithmic feed ranking, infinite scroll, videos as the main social object, or public like counts as status markers.\n\nTouchGrass is also moving in an open-web direction. Federation, portability, ATProto/Atmosphere, Solid, ActivityPods, and private sharing are important directions, but conversation features are especially sensitive. Do not describe private messaging, remote delivery, federation, or protocol support as complete unless the feature status confirms it. Some items may be shipped, partial, experimental, or planned.\n\nLimits / what not to overclaim\n\nMessages and private sharing need careful language.\n\nTouchGrass can provide visibility choices and private sharing features, but no product should claim that private posts or messages are private from screenshots, recipient misuse, remote-server behavior, compromised devices, or every future integration. If someone receives something, they may copy it, photograph it, forward it, or describe it elsewhere.\n\nComments and small signals also have social limits. Removing public like-count races can reduce pressure, but it cannot make every interaction kind, accurate, or welcome. Moderation, safety tools, and social norms still matter.\n\nOpen-web work should also be described carefully. Federation and portability can improve exits and reduce lock-in, but they can also introduce remote-server behavior and protocol limits. Use the feature status page for the current state.\n\nThe honest claim is: TouchGrass supports conversation without making interruption and engagement maximization the center of the product.\n\nFAQ\n\nDoes TouchGrass have messages?\n\nTouchGrass is built around direct social contact, including messages where supported by the current feature status. Check the feature status page before describing a specific messaging feature as fully shipped.\n\nDoes TouchGrass have comments?\n\nComments are part of the social interaction direction around posts and profiles. The exact availability and behavior should be checked in the current feature status.\n\nWhat are small signals?\n\nSmall signals are lightweight ways to acknowledge or respond without turning everything into a public score. The exact set of signals depends on the current product state.\n\nAre private messages or private posts completely private?\n\nNo product should promise that. Private sharing can limit intended visibility, but it cannot protect against screenshots, recipient misuse, remote-server behavior, compromised devices, or every future integration.\n\nHow is this different from engagement-first platforms?\n\nTouchGrass does not center the product on algorithmic feed ranking, public like-count races, infinite scroll, or videos as the main social object. Conversation exists to support real social contact, not to maximize interruption.\n\nSee what you can do: /what-you-can-do\n\nFriends and circles: /friends-and-circles\n\nFeature status: /status/features\n\nLast updated: 15 May 2026\n\nLanguage: English",
  "title": "Messages, comments, and small signals without the attention machine",
  "updatedAt": "2026-06-23T10:48:02+00:00"
}