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Top-level
@ajroach42 I'm not convinced that Mastodon's success is due to its decentralization. Quite the opposite actually. It might become the biggest friction factor in the coming weeks as drama will inevitably come and various instances will defederalize over anger/upset etc. Otherwise, I quite enjoy the place. 12 comments
@ajroach42 I don't misunderstand, I just am currently witnessing partial defederalization of the instance I'm on because someone created an account 3 years ago and hasn't used it, and is apparently a biggot. And the mod won't ban the account and other instances gamedev instances are cutting ties because of that, thus penalizing thousands. I don't even want to brush on the issue with the guy, but I don't see how this is a measured response or a welcome behaviour. @ajroach42 I am also not against defederalized networks on principle. But human drama is never far and I don't see how this kind of chaos is healthy (the one described above anyway).  @bl00dberri I'm always going to be on the side of protecting my local users over maintaining access to the rest of the network. Migrating between instances is easy. Defederating from instances that won't moderate their platform is how we, as a community, protect ourselves. And we won't always agree, and so the network fragments. IMO, that's better than the alternative. @ajroach42 But this is a super extreme case don't you think? and also, this is not the case of one instance being troublesome, in which case yeah sure just cut off ties. People could just block that account preemptively. If the account was active then 100% he would have been ejected. But who's to know what kind of content someone might post when the account isn't even used? Do you pre-ban people "just in case"? Is that ethical? How far will you go to protect your users? @ajroach42 You also assume in your response that it might be the admins who are shitbags, but what happens when it is the mob that is in the wrong? I'm genuinely curious, don't want to troll. Maybe I'm a cynic, which is possible, but I don't think crowds are smarter either, y'know? anywho, interested in the conversation if you have the time ^^ @ajroach42 Well this is where I think we disagree. It does hurt communication. also I know it's a massive blocker for a lot of people I've tried to convince to join the platform. They want to have control over what they censor or not, and not have a "big brother" mod do it for them (I'm exagerating a bit here just for the example). Hence why I think this'll impede Mastodon's capability to overtake Twitter, even if the algo does "censor" too albeit in an obfuscated way. @bl00dberri I never said anything about overtaking twitter. And if they're concerned about that censorship 1) self host an instance, you can do it with one click on a $10 droplet from Digital ocean 2) expect to get blocked by like 3/4 of the network for interacting with the bigots who make up the other 1/4. @ajroach42 well "overtaking twitter" was meant mostly as "twitter replacement" considering this is what animates most in this migration. anyway, this isn't about being a power user either, especially if that's the one way to not have to bother with content blocking. Unfortunately most people just want something that works and doesn't have to be managed otherwise. I don't have all the answers, hence why I'm just chatting about it, but there seems to be missing a middle ground somewhere is all. |
Gregory's Server
@bl00dberri
I think that, perhaps, you have fundamentally misunderstood the place in which you are participating.
Defederating from instances with which you have issues is not only common practice, but also good. Lots of right wing shitbags have run mastodon instances in the past, some still do, we're separated from them.
The decentralized nature of the network is the biggest hurdle to onboarding and adoption, but it's also the only reason the place can continue to exist at all. It would be too expensive to run, and too difficult to moderate, and too full of petty drama if it was all one thing.
I'm glad your enjoying the space, I hope you stick with it for a while, I think you'll find that the union makes us strong in ways that centralization cannot.
@bl00dberri
I think that, perhaps, you have fundamentally misunderstood the place in which you are participating.
Defederating from instances with which you have issues is not only common practice, but also good. Lots of right wing shitbags have run mastodon instances in the past, some still do, we're separated from them.