# Ambiguous replies
**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/ambiguous-replies/104606
**Category:** Support
**Created:** [December 19, 2018, 1:04am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/ambiguous-replies/104606 "2018-12-19T01:04:54Z")
**Posts on this page:** 8
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@abrambailey](https://meta.discourse.org/u/abrambailey)
#### Post date: [December 19, 2018, 1:04am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/ambiguous-replies/104606/1 "2018-12-19T01:04:54Z")
I’m not sure if this is a new issue or something that has only recently come to my attention, but it seems that the little “In Reply To” area is not shown when someone replies to the most recent post on a thread. Basically, the thing in the red circle below only appears when you reply to an earlier post in the thread.
A couple questions:
1. How do we differentiate a generic thread reply from a reply specifically to the last post on the thread?
2. How do emails / notifications work in cases of a generic thread reply versus a reply to the last post on the thread?
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### Author:  [@codinghorror](https://meta.discourse.org/u/codinghorror)
#### Post date: [December 19, 2018, 1:26am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/ambiguous-replies/104606/2 "2018-12-19T01:26:41Z")
In reply to metadata is suppressed by default (to reduce visual noise) when
1. There is a single reply
2. This single reply is directly under the post it is replying to
If you wish to change this, search your site settings for the word “suppress”
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### Author:  [@abrambailey](https://meta.discourse.org/u/abrambailey)
#### Post date: [December 19, 2018, 1:56am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/ambiguous-replies/104606/4 "2018-12-19T01:56:27Z")
Thanks Jeff. Are emails / notifications still sent to people who want to know if they’ve been directly replied to, even when the visual noise is being suppressed.
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### Author:  [@Remah](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Remah)
#### Post date: [December 19, 2018, 2:01am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/ambiguous-replies/104606/5 "2018-12-19T02:01:56Z")
Email preferences are set per user so it will depend what their preferences are and whether they are on the site at the time. By default, most users will be, e.g. [https://meta.discourse.org/u/Remah/preferences/emails](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Remah/preferences/emails) shows:
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### Author:  [@codinghorror](https://meta.discourse.org/u/codinghorror)
#### Post date: [December 19, 2018, 2:23am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/ambiguous-replies/104606/6 "2018-12-19T02:23:15Z")
Notifications are handled in the usual way regardless. The referenced site setting is purely about reducing visual metadata noise in the average topic.
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### Author:  [@abrambailey](https://meta.discourse.org/u/abrambailey)
#### Post date: [December 19, 2018, 2:25am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/ambiguous-replies/104606/7 "2018-12-19T02:25:23Z")
OK, thanks I think I understand this all now. Feel free to lock this down.
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### Author:  [@system](https://meta.discourse.org/u/system)
#### Post date: [November 9, 2021, 10:41pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/ambiguous-replies/104606/8 "2021-11-09T22:41:14Z")
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### Author:  [@codinghorror](https://meta.discourse.org/u/codinghorror)
#### Post date: [November 14, 2021, 5:24am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/ambiguous-replies/104606/9 "2021-11-14T05:24:33Z")