Messages
Write in the box at the bottom of a channel and press Enter to send. Most actions on a message are in its menu: right-click it, use the ⋯ button, or press and hold on a phone.
Formatting
Section titled “Formatting”Messages understand Markdown: **bold**, *italic*, `code`, quotes starting with >, lists and links.
Code blocks between three backticks get a copy button. To hide a spoiler, write ||like this|| or select the text
and press Ctrl+Shift+S; readers reveal it with a click. Attachments can be marked as spoilers too.
Replies, reactions and emojis
Section titled “Replies, reactions and emojis”- Reply quotes the message you answer.
- React opens the emoji picker with quick reactions, recently used emojis, the room’s own emojis and your
personal emojis. Custom emojis can also be written as
:name:. - Edit and Delete work on your own messages; edited messages are marked “(edited)”.
Emojis in a message are a little larger than the text, and a message of only one to three emojis shows them at twice the size. Country flags show as flags everywhere, also on Windows, whose own emoji font has none.
Mention people with @name (or @name@domain for someone on another node), a whole role with @Role, or
everyone with @everyone where you may. Mentions notify the people you name. In the message they show as small
highlighted labels; a mention of you, @everyone and @here stand out in a warning colour, and the whole message
that mentions you is tinted.
Ask a question with a poll: choose ＋ next to the message box and then Poll or Date poll, or type
/poll followed by the question. Polls work in text, announcement and forum channels, in threads and in direct
messages. In a room they need the permission Create polls, which everyone who may write has unless the room
changes it.
- A poll has 2 to 20 options, with a single answer or “Allow several answers”.
- A date poll finds a date: pick days in the calendar, each one all day or with times, and everybody answers each of them with Yes, Maybe or No. Times are shown in each reader’s own time zone.
- Show results always, only after voting, or only when the poll closes; votes public (who voted for what) or hidden until the poll closes; and when the poll closes: never, after an hour, a day, a week, or at a time you pick.
Vote with the buttons in the message; Change vote and Retract vote work until the poll closes. Results show bars with the number of votes, and a date poll puts the best dates on top, with Show all answers for the full grid. The author, or a moderator with Manage messages, can Close poll now. A poll cannot be edited after it is sent.
Once you voted, the poll shows its results with your own vote marked, and Change vote opens your answers again. The results of a date poll stay small with many dates: a grid with the days as columns and the times as rows, a star on the best dates. Choose a date in the grid to see who answered what.
In an encrypted conversation the question, the options and every vote are end-to-end encrypted; the node only sees that somebody voted and when the poll closes. “Hidden” results and votes are a promise of the apps, not anonymity: every member’s app can read all votes, and the poll composer says so.
Buttons, menus and forms from bots
Section titled “Buttons, menus and forms from bots”Bots can put buttons and select menus under their messages, and answer a click with a small form. The app draws them with its own controls, so they look and work like the rest of tavrn on every screen; the bot only chooses the words, an emoji and one of a few styles. What a bot answers can be a new message, a changed message, a short notice under the message that only you can see, or a form, which opens as a dialog with the bot’s name.
A link button always shows you the full address before it opens anything. In an encrypted channel, what you choose or type into a form is encrypted for the channel’s members like a message. Room owners decide who may use these controls with the permission Use buttons and menus of apps.
Pins and threads
Section titled “Pins and threads”Moderators pin important messages; the channel header lists them under Pinned messages.
A thread is a side conversation about one message. Choose Create thread or Reply in thread in the message’s menu. The thread opens next to the channel (full screen on a phone), and the thread button in the channel header lists the active and archived threads. Writing in a thread follows it, so you are notified about new replies there.
Attachments
Section titled “Attachments”Drag files into the channel or use the attach button. Your node sets the largest size and the allowed file types. Before an image is uploaded, tavrn removes hidden information such as the place where a photo was taken. Images from strangers wait behind a Load button, depending on your setting under Settings → Privacy & safety → Image previews. If the node offers it, the composer also has a GIF search.
In encrypted channels, attachments are encrypted on your device like the messages themselves. Images open in a viewer with zoom and a download button.
Slash commands
Section titled “Slash commands”Type / at the start of a message to open the command list; /help shows every command you can use where you
are. A few examples:
| Command | What it does |
|---|---|
/me | Sends an action in the third person |
/shrug | Appends a shrugging emoticon to your message |
/nick | Sets your nickname in this room |
/poll | Opens the poll composer with your question |
/whiteboard | Opens the shared whiteboard of the conversation |
/timeout, /kick, /ban | Moderation commands, for members with the permission |
Bots add their own commands, which appear in the same list.
The whiteboard
Section titled “The whiteboard”Every channel and conversation has a shared whiteboard for sketching together, encrypted like the messages. Open
it with /whiteboard.
