Terms Governing Mention Alert Priority
A notification generated by being named in a message is governed by the reflex that precedes the mute setting.
TERMS GOVERNING MENTION ALERT PRIORITY Effective: The first time a mention interrupted something important
1. Definitions
"Mention alert priority" refers to the condition in which a notification generated by being named in a message receives attention before older, unread messages in the same channel. The alert is called noise. The user opens it anyway.
2. The Priority Rule
A mention notification jumps ahead of older messages because being named feels like a direct summons. This is not a setting. It is a reflex. The reflex operates independently of the mute setting, the notification preferences, and the user's stated intention to manage alerts more carefully.
3. The Contradiction
The alert is called noise while ignoring it creates more attention. A user who chooses to ignore a mention notification will, in most documented cases, think about whether the mention required a response. This thinking constitutes attention directed at the notification, which is the outcome the noise designation was intended to prevent.
4. The Muting Provision
Under the governing rule, mention alert priority becomes procedure once repetition feels safer than reconsidering it. Mention alert priority steals one extra check of the screen. The check becomes habitual even after alerts are muted. The mute setting creates a new obligation to check manually. Attention management turns into another inbox.
5. Inheritance
These terms are inherited by all future alert management systems adopted by the user. Each system introduced to reduce checking will generate a new form of checking. This is not a defect in the systems. It is a property of attention.
6. Term
These terms remain in effect until the user either stops caring about mentions or accepts that caring about mentions is a fixed cost of participation.
By reading this far, you have already checked.