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Aral Balkan

Oh, nice, looks like the Fosstodon instance (@fosstodon) silenced my profile.

fosstodon.org/@JoshStrobl/1106

I guess it tells you more about “FOSS”todon than anything else that they chose to block a human rights activist/privacy advocate who wakes up and works at a not-for-profit on free and open software every day. Maybe if I were to work at Google and hack on a hobby open source project in the evenings I’d be acceptable?

*smh*

Edit: “silenced” not “blocked (i.e., suspended)”

146 comments
DansLeRuSH ᴱᶰ

@aral I had some issues to access (to some specific accounts) from there, that's mainly why I just moved 🤔

Leon Paternoster

@aral @fosstodon I’m on Fosstodon and can still see you, Aral. @fosstodon I’d question blocking Aral!

David Alonso

@leonp @fosstodon @aral FWIW, Aral has been silenced, not suspended.

Fish Id Wardrobe

@aral @fosstodon You're a contentious figure that likes to make dramatic statements. That *does* tend to rub some folk up the wrong way. Fairly or unfairly.

Gareth Kitchen
@fishidwardrobe But to be blocked just for airing that view! That's just wrong. Plain wrong. @aral @fosstodon
Chris Ely

Not really. I tend to notice when other instances block this instance more often than I find there is an account that I can't follow from this instance.

There are a fair number of accounts that I can't see from my backup account that I can and do follow from here.

@kcarruthers
@aral

Nantucket E-Books

@aral @fosstodon This is why the difference between free software and open-source software is not some trivial
distinction.

Aral Balkan

Edit: So if you’re on Fosstodon, know that Fosstodon has silenced my account.

You should be able to follow me if you want to see my posts but won’t otherwise see them if they’re boosted into your timelines, etc.

Or maybe consider switching to a FOSS server that doesn‘t silence FOSS developers.

(Please boost if you haven’t been silenced by Fosstodon also so folks there might see. Thanks.)

#foss #fosstodon #censorship #fediverse #mastodon #freeSoftware #openSource #privacy #SmallTech #SmallWeb

maegul

@aral so if you don’t mind my asking, as someone not enough in the know, why did they do this?

Nuno & Lua :DsaprvingLua:

@aral @maegul given their CoC I would guess that has something to do with their anti-advocacy stance or rule on "controversial" posts, I mean it's their server but 🤦
Edit: added screenshots

Thomas Ricouard

@ncrav @aral @maegul And that's why I would never go on niche servers. Admin can just run it like Elon in the end.

DELETED

@maegul @aral unfortunately this is what happens when mods and admins think they know what's "best" for all their users.

Pro-tip, users are quite capable of figuring out who they want to follow/mute or block themselves without some overzealous mod or admin deciding for them.

Edit: additionally its using tools like hide, or suspend things that are designed for troublesome users/spam/malicious actors being used on someone who's only crime was *maybe* having a different opinion... Absurd.

EdenDestroyer (He/Him)

@aral yikes. what was their reasoning to silence you?

moonwalker

@aral hmm... how do you call the account you follow and don't follow at the same time?

SolSoCoG

@aral huh that's an odd thing to do. Also, Limiting removes follows? Thought it would basicly just block your content from their fed tl.

73 million seconds

@aral from Your followers should still be fine. Based on Mastodon docs limiting (silencing) a user doesn't break follows and only means posts won't show up on public timelines: docs.joinmastodon.org/admin/mo

Or are the Mastodon docs incorrect?

Timo Tiuraniemi

@aral @73ms Indeed, I still get Aral's toots fine.

But still, really want to know what happened here with the silencing. @kev ?

John Conway

@aral @73ms yeah, I thought the whole point of silencing was that it allows follows, but keeps posts off the public timelines so people can’t come across them by accident.

~/hyde

@aral I hope it was a mistake... We'll see

dick_turpin

@aral So what did you say (write) to get yourself placed on the naughty step?

Aral Balkan

Note: edited to make it clear that I was silenced not suspended.

Apparently that doesn’t make people unfollow you but it means that your posts do not show up in people’s timelines if they’re boosted there, etc.

So, basically, folks on Fosstodon are not made to unfollow me but I’m censored there.

Mehrad :kde: :emacs: :rstats:

@aral it does, I still follow you *and* I saw your boost from @doot with no issue. Can you explain how you came up with such conclusion and how I for one can see and intract with you both from my Fosstodon account?!

@fosstodon

DELETED

@Mehrad @aral @fosstodon you follow aral and aral boosted me, so you can see us due to your follow relationship with aral.
We wouldn't show on the federated feed because of follow relationships on the server alone though, I believe.

We are only hidden to those who do not have some connection in that way.

Leon Paternoster

@aral fwiw @fosstodon I can’t see anything that warrants @aral’s silencing, both in tone and subject.

Jan

@aral fosstodon is the new closetodon?

Aral Balkan

@jan No idea. I was apparently silenced and now I’m apparently not… 🤷‍♂️

Eva Pavlikova

@aral and did they tell you why? Did you get any message on it?

Digital Mark λ 📚 🕹 💾 🥃

@aral fosstodon is mostly a troll instance, I have a couple followers there but the vast majority of interactions with them are some "Well Actually GNU Linux".

Kye Fox

@aral That's a weird call. I think silencing is generally a good feature, but my perspective is knowing and trusting all the people who run the instance I'm on to make good calls.

Jonathan Cremin

@aral that's crazy, but really shows how running your own instance is a good defense against censorship. Very surprising behaviour from @fosstodon

Joshua Strobl

@aral @fosstodon Is it possible there was just enough reports against your account / posts that you were blocked as a result, even if the reports date back years? I find @kev and co to be reasonable individuals and would hesitate to attribute malice. Fosstodon is an incredibly popular Mastodon instance, with a big user base, so I would wager some mistakes just happen during the process of administrating it.

Mehrad :kde: :emacs: :rstats:

@aral @JoshStrobl @fosstodon @kev no it is not. I don't understand why you and others are saying this.

Mehrad :kde: :emacs: :rstats:

@aral @JoshStrobl @fosstodon @kev i also posted under another such claim which obviously is not true (because I can see both your posts and interact)

fosstodon.org/@Mehrad/11068909

Aral Balkan

@Mehrad Are you following @doot? If so, sign out and visit the page.

This is what I see.

@JoshStrobl @fosstodon @kev

DELETED

@aral @Mehrad @JoshStrobl @fosstodon @kev to be clear i don't take issue with them doing so, if that's what they feel is right for them then fair enough

Mehrad :kde: :emacs: :rstats:

@aral no I don't follow @doot account. And using Tusky (which I have used all this time) I can see their profile and read their posts. Shall I share screenshot?

@JoshStrobl @fosstodon @kev

Timo Tiuraniemi

@Mehrad So silencing means:

"A limited account is hidden to all other users on that instance, except for its followers. All of the content is still there, and it can still be found via search, mentions, and following, but the content is invisible publicly."

IIUC it means that if someone you follow boosts a silenced account you don't also follow, you won't see it. If you use search, you will still find it.

Edit. doot via fosstodon.org shows "This profile has been hidden...", but not via Tusky.

Joshua Strobl

@Mehrad @aral @doot @fosstodon @kev

doot appears as blocked by mods for me. Once I click to show anyways, so long as I do not refresh the page, it will continue showing the profile. The moment I do a full refresh, it shows the same thing again (so likely retained in page state until it's cleared on refresh).

Mehrad :kde: :emacs: :rstats:

@aral @JoshStrobl @fosstodon @kev yes, I see his post and I don't see what he sees. That simple. There is something wrong, sure, but it is not what you claimed it to be because I'm from the same instance and I saw your posts in my wall (that's how I found out and replied)

Joshua Strobl

@Mehrad @aral @fosstodon @kev Because it was? You think I'm just gonna make up some random bullshit and what...GIMP some screenshot? What would the objective be there? I'm perfectly happy with Fosstodon, I got no reason to stir shit up. @hyde ping me, couldn't see @aral, went to his account and got the message.

Following the account does not provide any prompt.

Mehrad :kde: :emacs: :rstats:

@JoshStrobl @aral @fosstodon @kev @hyde all I'm saying is that I (as you can see) have no issue seeing the posts, following @aral and I don't see **any** warning or notice in the client I use. So we better investigate rather than pointing fingers.

Ralf Rottmann

@aral @fosstodon Fundamental flaw in Mastodons design. Especially the lack of transparency. A decentralized network of arbitrary censorship nodes.

Jeroen Baert

@aral @fosstodon That's disappointing. I don't see why anything that's even remotely related to FOSS would want to block you. Sure, you're vocal and (positively!) radical, isn't that exactly what a movement needs? Even if you don't always agree? Sigh.

Emanuel Pina

@aral @fosstodon I'm on Fosstodon and could, and still can, see your posts. Do you have confirmation that they have limited your account? Do instances have a public log of limited accounts? I have @kev and @mike as very reasonable and transparent. Hope we can get this straight.

Aral Balkan

@emanuel Just edited the post to make it clear I was silenced not suspended. Not that that’s great but important to be precise. I’ll update the other post to make it clear that that hasn’t caused people to unfollow. (I was confused because someone said they had to re-follow.)

@fosstodon @kev @mike

Emanuel Pina

@aral @fosstodon More. Even when logged out, I can see your latest post on the public federated timeline: fosstodon.org/public

Aral Balkan

@emanuel Yep, looks like my account is no longer silenced.

@fosstodon

katt

@mike @aral @kev @emanuel @fosstodon Yes, I think, Limit preserves existing follows. It’s people who don’t yet follow u who won’t be able to see posts. At least that’s the behavior I saw when migrating to an instance that Limits m.social. Existing m.social follows that I migrated over were preserved and functioned as usual. But I couldn’t view posts from M.social accounts that I didn’t follow. If I found an account by other means and followed them, then everything functions normally. So basically everyone on that instance just needs to follow you and all will be copacetic! 🙌 😊. Sorry this happened. What a pain. :/

@mike @aral @kev @emanuel @fosstodon Yes, I think, Limit preserves existing follows. It’s people who don’t yet follow u who won’t be able to see posts. At least that’s the behavior I saw when migrating to an instance that Limits m.social. Existing m.social follows that I migrated over were preserved and functioned as usual. But I couldn’t view posts from M.social accounts that I didn’t follow. If I found an account by other means and followed them, then everything functions normally. So basically...

Aral Balkan

@kim_harding Yep, I can access it too now. I guess I was unsilenced 🤷‍♂️

@fosstodon

Aral Balkan

Well it looks like my account is not silenced anymore on Fosstodon?

e.g., Access fosstodon.org/@aral@mastodon.a while signed out and you should be able to see it.

Hiccup?

Policy reversal?

🤷‍♂️

Any idea what happened here, @fosstodon?

thomkennon

@aral @fosstodon

Also, clicking on *Share profile anyway* does not reveal, it's a dead click for me.

Andrej

@aral @fosstodon It seems like that happened to other people as well.

Benjamin Hollon 🇺🇸🇲🇾🇮🇳🇦🇫

@aral This post is an odd find under Fosstodon’s trending posts. 😂

Twelve :GrapheneOS:

@aral
Never noticed any silence from you, hopefully just a hickup otherwise id be a bit disepointed
@fosstodon

Moon
@aral @fosstodon

> a human rights activist/privacy advocate who wakes up and works at a not-for-profit on free and open software every day

You can be all those things and still be an irritating asshole (hypothetically.)
Extra_Special_Carbon

@aral @fosstodon This is the first I’ve seen of your posts in a while. Don’t know if it’s connected. I wondered where you had gone.

Nikov :comunismo: 🇵🇸

@aral @fosstodon probably because your ideas are close to communism and speak to communists like me and others? 😂 beeep, beeep, anticommunist alarm! ⚠️

Mike Christensen

@aral @fosstodon Maybe no one told the Fosstodon admins that because you're a human rights activist/privacy advocate who wakes up and works at a not-for-profit on free and open software every day that their rules just don't apply to you and you can say and do whatever you like and they can't ever do anything or risk your ire?

Twitter_expat ✅(Fedi Resident)

@aral @fosstodon

If the #fediverse is worth something I belive is for advocacy for or against something NOT for perusing censure of different points of views. Any server or instance that promote censure of reasonable point of views is in the wrong place. Needless to say that racism, nazism or misogyny is NOT a point of view.

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