The intent is to allow the reader to view the comment as intended. From one Lemmy instance to another it makes little difference, but from Kbin to Lemmy, Firefish to Mastodon, etc. there can be differences in things like Markdown, image embeds, and the availability of other contextual features like "quote tweets."
For instance, Hexbear does not allow externally hosted images to be embedded in comments. If someone from another instance makes a comment like this, you might use this button to view it with the embeds enabled.
Another example, on Mastodon sometimes large media files don't get mirrored, and you need to use this function to watch an attached video.
The intent is to allow the reader to view the comment as intended. From one Lemmy instance to another it makes little difference, but from Kbin to Lemmy, Firefish to Mastodon, etc. there can be differences in things like Markdown, image embeds, and the availability of other contextual features like "quote tweets."
For instance, Hexbear does not allow externally hosted images to be embedded in comments. If someone from another instance makes a comment like this, you might use this button to view it with the embeds enabled.
Another example, on Mastodon sometimes large media files don't get mirrored, and you need to use this function to watch an attached video.
IMO, it should be buried in the hamburger menu.
but i was doing a bit