unity-design team mailing list archive

["frederik.nnaji@xxxxxxxxx" <frederik.nnaji@xxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Jeremy,

On Mon, Dec 20, 2010 at 18:12, Jeremy Nickurak <jeremy@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> On Mon, Dec 20, 2010 at 04:37, Conscious User <conscioususer@xxxxxxx>wrote:
>
>>  In IM being invisible means that you want the world to treat you like
>> you were offline. That means not sending you anything, regardless of
>> how important it is. Invisible can be seen as the ultimate maximum
>> level of "do not disturb".
>>
>
> Strong disagree. Invisible means "I don't want people to see me online".
> Often this is because you want to have a one or more important conversations
> with specific contacts, while appearing offline to the rest of them. You
> should still be able to receive messages is "invisible" mode.
>

exactly. that's why i'm thinking of it as more of a "Private status", which
would be ideal, if i could allow specific Contacts to see me online.
I think it used to be a hack in in Gaim IIRC, that allowed blocking everyone
but a select few, when going into "Private status".
Folks got unblocked once one went back to public status..

 "Offline" is the ultimate maximum level of "do not disturb".
>

I think you are both correct:
Going invisible makes you "appear as offline". That's obviously what you
desired to appear as.
Now, WRT your clandestine actions within that state, the typical use case is
to have a very private conversation, undisturbed.

So in that spirit:
Do not disturb is the precursor, the protostate, the warning sign outside my
door saying i'm in and i'm busy, unless you have an appointment.
Invisible is the asymptote of "seeking undisturbedness". It's closing the
shutters on everyone, revoking all general invitation and openness.
In that moment, all i want is my privacy.

Would be exciting to know if we could block everyone except for those we
allow ("privacy mode" or something), with one keypress.