TWITTER: Twitter’s direct DM test is a terrible idea

Twitter is testing a new approach on iOS, to send direct messages (DMs) that includes allowing users to slip into your inbox via a link in your tweets, rather than using the DM button on your profile. The site claims that this would make it easy to "start a discussion" from your timeline, but you can surely see how badly this may go.

Offering a shortcut to your DMs, as public defender Eliza Orlins puts out, might render users even more vulnerable to abuse. Instead of needing to go to your profile to access your mailbox, users may send a private message without ever leaving the timeline (and just as easily as they could reply to your tweet). It's difficult to say who this tool might help – close friends would desire a quick method to DM each other.