Twitter is changing an old policy that meant that you could only be DM’d by — that is, you could only receive a direct message from — users that you follow. (So if I follow John Doe, John Doe can DM me — but if John Doe follows me and I don’t return the favor, he can’t.) This has led to all sorts of confusion among Twitter users and endless plaints to “please follow me so I can DM you.”

That was the old policy. Now, Twitter will let users decide individually whether they want to receive DMs from any Twitter user.

On one hand, limiting incoming DMs to people you follow distinguishes your Twitter inbox from your email one — theoretically, every message should be from someone you consider interesting enough to follow. But particularly for journalists, it also means cutting off a lot of potential sources. A number of journalists this morning said they’d be switching to the new policy.

READERS: I can now receive Direct Messages from anyone. If you have tips, leads, ideas, feedback, whatev and want anonymity, drop it there.

— Dylan Byers (@DylanByers) October 15, 2013

I'm going to treat Direct Messages like they're anonymous tips — so if you send me something sensitive or secretive, I won't I.D. you.

— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) October 15, 2013

@AdrienneLaF an anonymous tip box benefited me enormously at @tvnewser. i want to see how/if it works through twitter.

— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) October 15, 2013

Chances that I'll turn on Twitter's new "anyone can DM" feature: Zero. Nada. Zip. You kidding me?

— Dan Gillmor (@dangillmor) October 15, 2013

Creating a bot to index and spam everyone posting "I turned on that DM thing"

— Alastair Coote (@_alastair) October 15, 2013