diff --git a/index.js b/index.js
index 88cf67e..95aa160 100644
--- a/index.js
+++ b/index.js
@@ -201,7 +201,7 @@ exports.init = function (sbot, config) {
 	  paramap(addFollowAbout, 8),
 	  paramap(addVoteMessage, 8),
 	  paramap(addGitLinks, 8),
-	  pull(renderThread(defaultOpts), wrapPage(name)),
+	  pull(renderThread(Object.assign({}, defaultOpts, { renderPrivate: false })), wrapPage(name)),
 	  toPull(res, function (err) {
 	    if (err) console.error('[viewer]', err)
 	  })
diff --git a/render.js b/render.js
index 9ed6e1f..9f6b210 100644
--- a/render.js
+++ b/render.js
@@ -115,9 +115,9 @@ function toolTipTop() {
 }
 
 function renderAbout(opts, about, showAllHTML = "") {
-  opts.mentions = {}
+  opts.mentions = {};
   var figCaption = h('figcaption');
-  figCaption.innerHTML = 'Feed of ' + about.name + '<br>' +  marked(String(about.description), opts.marked);
+  figCaption.innerHTML = 'Feed of ' + about.name + '<br>' + marked(String(about.description), opts.marked);
   return pull(
     pull.map(renderMsg.bind(this, opts, '')),
     wrap(toolTipTop() + '<main>' +
@@ -338,6 +338,7 @@ function docWrite(str) {
 }
 
 function renderMsg(opts, id, msg) {
+  if (opts.renderPrivate == false && typeof(msg.value.content) == 'string') return ''
   var c = msg.value.content || {};
   var name = encodeURIComponent(msg.key);
   return h('article#' + name,