this post was submitted on 22 Jul 2023
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I mean... I come from the forum scene and they were always called PMs, as in Private Message. What in the hell does DM stand for and when did things change from people calling them PMs to DMs.

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[–] [email protected] 93 points 11 months ago (11 children)

Twitter used Direct Message instead of Private Message because they needed to establish that there is legally no understanding of privacy for DMs, because Twitter will surrender the contents of DMs to law enforcement / government / data collection. Fediverse should also use DM because there is again no guarantee of privacy (and you do not expect there to be).

[–] [email protected] 8 points 11 months ago

As if admins of the older forum softwares couldn't just query the database for anyone's private messages.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 11 months ago

Didn’t they also switch the wording from “data protection” to “data usage”?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Still, the conversation is private, as in not public. Even if it is surrendered to the authorities, the'll probably never be released publicly (unless leaked).

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[–] [email protected] 52 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I think Twitter might have been the first time I saw DM used but it stands for direct message.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 11 months ago

Twitter is where it started.

And every 'hip' person started talking about sliding into someone's DM and it became the default application.

PM is still used in professional settings sometimes.

[–] [email protected] 43 points 11 months ago (1 children)

DM is direct message and seems to have started around the same time things culturally shifted away from forums and boards more toward social media.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (3 children)

And now people don't even understand me, like I wrote "I'll PM you" and they said "What 🤨" 🤦.

Guess I'll have to shift from using PM to DM... though it seems completely illogical to me, but hey, that's life I guess.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 11 months ago (2 children)

"I'll Prime Minister you"

"I'll prime meridian you"

"I'll post mortem you"

"I'll prima dona you"

"I'll Pringle Mingle you"

[–] [email protected] 8 points 11 months ago

Gonna steal "pringle mingle", sounds like a great insult lol

[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago

"I'll dungeon master you"

"I'll deathmatch you"

That last one was probably used at some point in time though..

[–] [email protected] 8 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I somehow never realized it was a shift from forums. I've used both terms interchangeably with a bias towards DM. TIL

[–] [email protected] 8 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Same, but prefer PM. We both know what we mean :p

[–] [email protected] 4 points 11 months ago

Yup, and that's what matters

[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

I'll be you Dungeon Master any day ~~<3

Playing Tuesdays and Thursdays, bring a barbarian or fighter.

[–] [email protected] 39 points 11 months ago (1 children)

when did things change from people calling them PMs to DMs.

I don't think I've ever heard it called a "Pungeon Master"

[–] [email protected] 15 points 11 months ago

You, are a pun-geon master.

[–] [email protected] 27 points 11 months ago

PM means private message. Nothing on Facebook or Twitter ever suggested that personal messages were private, so they used direct message instead to make sure there was no legal confusion.

[–] daddyrat 20 points 11 months ago

“Direct Message” , from Twitter.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 11 months ago

I assume it's direct message. I also come from the forum scene and grew up with PMs. The cynic in me says maybe the big social media companies are shy of using the "private" word when their business model revolves around exploiting user data. Alternatively it's just language evolving over time.

[–] unwinagainstable 17 points 11 months ago (1 children)

DM stands for Dungeon Master, the person who makes up the story in the game Dungeons and Dragons

[–] Imgonnatrythis 2 points 11 months ago

More like Dork Moron! Now give me your lunch money.

[–] ctobrien84 15 points 11 months ago (1 children)

DM means Dungeon Master to me, so I go with PM, if I don't just say message.

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[–] [email protected] 14 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I prefer the terms DM, especially if the messaging system doesn't rely on E2EE. If the server admins can read it, then it's not private.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

Well, yes that is true, but still, it's not public either.

I might have to change my lingo to using DM instead of PM cuz some people don't actually know what I'm talking about.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Because of the phrase 'slide into the DMs'. I tried to 'slide into the PM' but the Prime Minister wasn't having any of that

[–] [email protected] 10 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Now it’s just the Dungeon Master of your local D&D group and apparently they were okay with it.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago

I rolled a 20, I don't make the rules!

[–] [email protected] 9 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

Direct Message.

I've only really seen "DM" used this way with Twitter, so I have to assume that's what Twitter calls private messages.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

Dude, everyone calls them DMs, on FB, here, Reddit... in fact, I've never seen anyone call them PMs, except for me.

[–] c0mbatbag3l 3 points 11 months ago

Direct message became ubiquitous in the wake of "slide into your DM's" as a phrase.

At least in my experience.

[–] coolfission 8 points 11 months ago

DM/PM/IM all mean the same thing

[–] SandmanXC 6 points 11 months ago (3 children)

It's what some people call a /whisper

[–] [email protected] 4 points 11 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

i always preferred to /query

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Just think of the P in PM as a D, but with a tiiiiiiny vertical line going down from the bottom left so it’s a P.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

Good one 🤣.

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