Question on message reading

[Fume]

I recently did a massive blunder IG where apparently, if you 'use' a message to read it, its like talking it to all others around you as it comes up in everyones chat scroll.
I was trying to keep this note a secret but I read it to make sure I was going to give it to the right person, then that person sent me a tell saying I just read it to everyone. Doh. They were ok about it, but not good, as the note said bad IC things about the pc.

Is this true? Reading a note puts it in the chat window for all to see?
Can I toggle something to stop this from happening because this whole time, I thought the notes/ messages I were reading were private me only sigh

[Perplexia]

if you click on the ground when using the item you will read it silently, using it on yourself reads it aloud

it'd be far more intuitive if it were the other way around imo, but changing it now would just cause more confusion for those who are used to it

[Fume]

Ah I see. Cheers

[Skibbles]

I've been playing on and off here for almost ten years and still I start sweating when I read a secret note because I'm never 100% sure if I'm doing it right.

Would be kind of nice if there was only one use option, and it simply brought up a dialogue window that asked how you wanted to read it - out loud, to yourself, and cancel.

[Eira]

A tip for people with secrets.

Keep a notebook on you. Put the note in the notebook and read it from there. Then you 100% always know it is silent.