Twitter may soon let you bow out from an annoying conversation

What you need to know

• Twitter seems to be developing a new capability to leave a conversation.
• Leaving a thread will untag your username and silence further notifications, but you'll still see the discussion.
• It will also prevent other people from mentioning you in the same thread.

Twitter is apparently experimenting with a new feature that will limit how other people engage with your account. The micro-blogging site is testing a new "Leave this conversation" button, according to Jane Manchun Wong, who has a reputation for discovering unreleased features.

The new option will allow you to completely unsubscribe from a conversation in which you do not want to participate, such as an unsolicited thread or total spam. This means untagging your username, which will then appear as plain text instead of a hyperlinked handle.

Currently, anyone can mute a conversation in order to turn off alerts from a chat in which they're mentioned. However, this doesn't remove the tag for their usernames.

Of course, you'll also stop getting notifications for a conversation you're mentioned in, assuming the new feature makes it to Twitter's public version. Other people will also be unable to mention you again in the same conversation after you've hit that button, which comes in handy if you don't want to get involved in a discussion you don't like.

On the other hand, you can stay in a conversation if you have a change of heart. Below the "Leave this conversation" button, there's another option that states "Never mind, I'll stay."

It's a nifty feature that will make it easier to bow out of annoying threads than simply muting them. However, it remains to be seen whether Twitter will make the experimental feature available across various platforms, including laptops and the best Android phones.