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@juergen_hubert @mekkaokereke
Thanks for explaining what I'm fighting for better than I ever would <3
Fyi that's why I built mastox.eu to mirror X accounts of public person and institutions that are not (yet 
) on the fediverse: this allows others to come here without losing those informations.
I've spent time at r/Mastodon and r/Fediverse on reddit.
My general observation is that the Fediverse, like Linux, demands that you learn how to use it.
That little extra effort is a bridge too far for most people.
So I think the Fediverse is self-filtering... now.
It's an odd paradox that, if it gets more user-friendly, the enshittification levels will increase because more knee biters will show up.
@Theresacityinmymind @mekkaokereke
Enshittification happens when a platform owner stops buying customers with VC money because they've hit a monopoly state and they can start charging higher and higher rents with lower and lower services because customers are locked in.
The Fediverse has no owner. That's the whole point.
Everyone deserves access to this platform. No gatekeepers.
@mekkaokereke I have been here a long time, long before the mass exodus from Twitter and the big boom of new users on the fediverse. There has been an echoing refrain from the beginning which is that the fediverse doesn’t work for black people.
It triggers so much…I don’t know…everything. Guilt, shame, anger, whatever. It’s a rainbow of emotions every time someone posts something about it.
But then that’s it.
Bit of shame and anger and on to the next thing.
“Boost Black voices, I did my part.”
I see so few people who seem to genuinely want to do the work to understand what that *means* when someone says that the fediverse doesn’t work for them and it’s maddening. It feels like a very real reflection of reality most of the time though. Not at all in a good way.
@mekkaokereke We need a superblock. i.e. Block this account on my personal deny list, and also nominate it for inclusion on these shared deny list subscriptions:
[X] Racist (@haters@fubu.party)
[ ] Sexist (@misogyny@gurl.club)
[ ] Horny on Main (@nsfw@super.gay)
[X] Fascist (@thefash@antifa.io)
[ ] Yucks Others' Yums (@downers@funhouse.lol)
[ ] Fedi HOA (@squidwards@nerdwords.net)
[ ] AI Scraperbot (@ai@opsec.tech)
[X] Replyguy--Creepy (@stalkers@furry.win)
[ ] Plagiarist (@stealers@dadjoke.org)
There are Mastodon instances that operate on an allowlist-only basis. While that can stave off a lot of harassment, it's got obvious downsides too, unless maybe you can expand the network of allowed instances to sufficient size. But could we use filtering to screen out harmful posts (or even just content a given instance chooses to disallow) in a more fine-grained way? It always feels like there's an enormous void in the tools we have available for this sort of moderation, just begging for someone to develop a better way.
Until then, I guess we all get to work at changing things culturally here.
@mekkaokereke It's more than fine if changing Mastodon (or anything else) to increase Black safety disrupts the experiences of people who don't care about Black people
@mekkaokereke 💯 I am surprised at the pushback but I guess I shouldn't be. If you stand for the ideals of the fediverse I don't see how you'd be against more users.
@being @mekkaokereke The part that a lot of open source advocates don’t want to admit it that they dont care about fediverse ideals and just want their own consequence free fiefdoms that they couldn’t have on centralized platforms.
@are0h @mekkaokereke well, they can still be consequence free on their little instances lol! Saying this as a self-hoster myself, if you got 6 bucks a month you can always be in complete charge of your exp on fedi 🤷🏽♀️
@mekkaokereke That’s a super clear, well laid reasoning.
@mekkaokereke From the technical point of view - what features could enhance safety? What can be added or is there and need to be made more user-friendly so people can feel safer?
Is the problem the federation? The lack of control or knowledge to block users / servers / hashtags? That anyone can be online on multiple servers? That mods do not do their moderating tasks?
I read several toots saying "Mastodon isn't safe for us", but I haven't heard yet of what features need to improve. And I'd really like to know!
@mekkaokereke
There seem to be at least two opposing views on what ‚safety‘ should mean in the fediverse that I’ve seen.
1) being able to control who can see and comment on one’s posts
2) being able see and point out posts that attack one
These two seem to collide.
How do you see this?
This is an honest question - no trolling.
@mekkaokereke My take is: If a thing works to connect the hyper-marginalised in a good way, then it'll also work for me, the privilieged white male hetero GenX German. Except that my experience is going to be a lot more interesting and insightful by having folks NOT like me around.
So why would I ever be against that?
Give us everything that will help black, trans, neurodivergent and everyone else to feel welcome and safe!
@mekkaokereke
I'm with you. Would love to see it. I wonder if maybe Mastodon isn't the software platform to get what's needed done. I keep looking at Bonfire and wondering if something modular like that isn't a better place to experiment with moderation, trust, and safety features.
@mekkaokereke plus there’s the inherit problem of being an open protocol allowing anyone to harass. Every now and then a Nazi will pick up one of my posts, boost it, and then I’m just inundated with Nazis that I have to clean up from a variety of instances they prop up to do these sorts of things after their old ones get more widely blocked.
The fact that there can be no subscribed to, dynamic blocklist is a safety issue in of itself, and an impediment towards wider adaption.
I think it's ridiculous to play whack a mole from a computer security perspective.
There was a big discourse on Bluesky about these communal blocklists being more harmful than helpful. I don't disagree with some of their points, but I think overall I fall on the side that they are a useful tool.
IMO, most of the arguments against are solved by (like many other things in life) being mindful of what blocklists you participate in.
@rapscalorie @me @mekkaokereke
Communal Blocklists — like sources, lists, and individuals — can gain reputations for fairness, prompt action, and focus on specific issues.
All of this is consistent with Fediverse-style support for Server level block policy — generally used with caution — and personal choice.
If you strongly disagree with a Server’s choice of Blocklists, you can move elsewhere. You should also be able to add Blocklists that you strongly want to use.
@rapscalorie @me @mekkaokereke I just feel they're too easily weaponized. The ever present question of who decides what's on the block list and the criteria for being added gets complicated quickly with no good answers. I'll keep my own council on whom I block and I won't impose that on anyone else.
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