The 2025 Social Web Trust & Safety Needs Assessment Report is now available.

Volunteer moderators are burning out. Spam is rising. Legal threats are growing.

The 2025 Report reveals where things stand, and what must change.

Read it now: https://about.iftas.org/2026/01/08/the-2025-social-web-trust-safety-report-is-here/

#TrustAndSafety #Moderation #FediAdmin #MastoAdmin #Moderators #FediMods #MastoMods

The 2025 Social Web Trust & Safety Needs Assessment Report is now available.

Volunteer moderators are burning out. Spam is rising. Legal threats are growing.

The 2025 Report reveals where things stand, and what must change.

Read it now: https://about.iftas.org/2026/01/08/the-2025-social-web-trust-safety-report-is-here/

#TrustAndSafety #Moderation #FediAdmin #MastoAdmin #Moderators #FediMods #MastoMods

Dear open registration servers, each day so far this week, I've opened my Mastodon client, only to see slurs, swastikas, and death threat videos of "me" being hanged.

This is the Nazi bar problem. They're standing on the curb and your doors are wide open. Sure, you're kicking them out after they walk in and punch a few customers, but is that really how you want your bar to be known? As the place that apologizes *after* the Nazi assaults you?

With the current US election results rolling in, it looks like we're in for another predictable wave of butthurt GravySeals aching to own the libs in a sad attempt to bring meaning to their poor little wannabe white power lives.

It's time to close registrations and step up moderation to protect the communities you helped grow.

Racism is chasing Black folx off Fedi.
Queerphobia is chasing LGBTQ+ folx off Fedi.
Sexism is chasing women off Fedi.

Do you want another incel white boys club like Twitter? Because inaction is how you get there.

#FediAdmin, #FediMods, don't be a #NaziBar.

I have an apology to issue. Yesterday, I called out a few large, open-registration instances (mastodon.social, vivaldi.net, and mas.to).

I was ticked off because (once again) a blatant Nazi troll account sent me (and several other folx) swastika photos and hate-speech.

I'm not apologizing for calling out large, open-signup instances. I stand by every word I said. But there's something I *didn't* say, and that's what I believe I owe an apology for.

When you have as many followers as I do, it's easy to start a dogpile—even unintentionally—and because of this, I always try to include a "be kind, don't attack folx" message when I rant about something. Yesterday I forgot to do that, and some mods and admins caught shit for it. It was my responsibility to anticipate my (sometimes overly) enthusiastic followers' reactions and head that off, and I failed to.

If you were one of the people yesterday who sent reports or messages that attacked *any* of the moderation team members of those servers, I would love it if you'd apologize to them. They're all volunteers, just like me, doing their best with what they've got. It's on all of us to make Fedi a safe space for each other.

To any of the wonderful volunteer moderators of Fedi who got nasty messages yesterday—or don't wake up every day feeling appreciated for their work—I'm sorry 🫂 you deserve better. I appreciate you 💞

Update: two of the three above instances' admin teams have personally reached out to me about my original post—and that's amazing! I hope we can work together to make Fedi a safer, more inclusive space for everyone (except Nazis).

#FediAdmin #FediMods #Apology