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Hey there followers!
Just to let you know, I usually reply to questions on this account as private messages because I don't want to spam my followers' timelines with lots of replies.
Unfortunately, even Unlisted posts seem to appear in the Home timelines of followers, so I use Mentioned visibility instead (which is basically a DM).
Please don't think I'm being weird if I reply to you privately!
p.s. To be honest I am still having trouble nailing down how Unlisted is supposed to work. It isn't documented fully.
Unlisted is public but not visible in Federated or Local or Search.
BUT... what about Home?
I assumed it would never show up in Home unless it was boosted, but I've seen unboosted Unlisted replies to conversations I wasn't taking part in.
If someone can point to proper full documentation for Unlisted including its behaviour in Home timelines, that would be fantastic.
p.p.s. Okay, thank you to everyone who replied about this. Just did a few more tests and Unlisted seems to work like this in Home:
Unlisted posts and replies from people you follow will appear in your Home timeline unless they are a reply to someone you don't follow.
...so... yeah... this is not the most intuitive setup, but seems to be how Unlisted works on Home!
@feditips I thought it only appeared in timelines if you were following said person tbh
Ferles 
@feditips Hmm I had thought it was visible in all of those except search and federated.
@feditips Unlisted is supposed to change behavior in these specific ways:
* Will not show up in local/federated timelines
* Will not show up in hashtag searches
It does not alter the behavior of posts on Home otherwise. So if you follow a person, their Unlisted posts will still show up.
I don't know where official documentation of this behavior is, however.
@ToddVierling @feditips thanks for that explanation. i‘m struggling and wondering about this feature for quite a while
@feditips I think all posts from people you follow show up on Home.
I always see Unlisted and even posts in a language I have filtered out if it was posted by someone I follow.
@feditips Conversations between people you follow will show up on your Home, unless they were using DM.
@feditips Ok, that would be exactly how I would have expected it to work. However, I feel like I sometimes see replies to people I don't follow and which haven't been boosted either.
I'll have to take a closer look, I guess.
@feditips exactly like public posts for followers on the timeline.
@feditips just too complex for most people
@feditips While on this subject, I recently learned that someone can start a thread with followers-only visibility and then I can see replies if someone I follow replies to the thread and then that person is replied to by someone else I follow.
(post, followers only, from someone I don't follow): invisible to me
(first reply, from someone I do follow): initially hidden from me
(reply to the reply, from someone else I follow): visible in my Home feed, clicking on it gives me above
@feditips <a href=https://mastodon.social/@feditips@mstdn.social>mastodon.</a>
@feditips Unlisted also omits from per-user hashtag searches. If you tag an unlisted reply and look for it later with a url like this, it won't come up.
@feditips I'm new in this amazing platform so, I want to understand... I need to type in "@" and the usernames to "mention" them and this is considered DM or private message because it only appears in their private timelines? Please, let me know. Thank you in advance. 
@ShengIntegral You also have to change the visibility of the post.
In Mastodon-powered instances/servers, you need to click the globe icon.
Please see attached screenshot. A fair warning, DMs are not encrypted. It can be seen by anyone who knows how to.
@youronlyone Oooh! I see. It's the fourth option, "Mentioned people only", correct?
@ShengIntegral Yep, that is correct. ^_^
@feditips
Unlisted only affects the public timelines, your follower's home feed is unaffected. But we have the option to hide all replies from our home feed. I only figured that out recently.
Before, I would see entire conversations of unlisted posts between people I follow. Anti-chronologically and wedged between other posts, so it was quite messy at times. Now I don't, and my feed is nice and tidy.
@feditips
Oh, you already made some tests. I'm just too slow. 
So unlisted replies only show up if you follow both accounts. That's consistent with what I saw, because I never saw all replies someone made, just when I followed both.
@feditips
I wondered if mentioned visibility was basically a DM.
I had the discussion a few days back
https://norden.social/@pineforest/110185021447047117
and from the replies and my observation I think it is that way: Unlisted answers appear only on the home timeline if one follows you and the one you are responding to.
That makes sense, I once received one such private reply from you and there was nothing weird about it!
Your posts and patient replies, public or private, are a substantial service to building this place. Very much appreciated!