Erin 💽 on Nostr: A lot of meta going around about the use of defederation recently, so let me chime in ...
A lot of meta going around about the use of defederation recently, so let me chime in a little. Firstly:
Defederate the fash and harassers early and often. There's absolutely no reason to put up with them
Who small, friend-group instances choose to federate with is up to them. When you have 5 users, you're pretty much accountable only to them and it's easy to be accountable to them
With that out of the way, the complicated area where nobody can really agree on really lies in the middle. As an example, the people who threatened Matt Blaze's instance with defederation for criticising Mastodon's DM system didn't have some trust and safety issue in mind; they just had a beef. (And I don't think that one was serious, or would travel very far, but wielding it as a weapon like that is a rather ridiculous escalation from whoever was responsible for doing so)
npub14ukaj9jxt92unn28r7z42n475c7u6typ2cu8wyur4eqrk67tyz9sxs2erc (npub14uk…2erc) used the term "HOA-style racism" to describe it, and I very much buy into that. An instance with a bunch of "just asking questions" sealions will putter along under the radar alienating users, while saying something that makes someone uncomfortable will get you yeeted into the sun.
There's a distinction between safety and comfort; and I feel like some of the moderation here conflates them. That's not to say that there's no purpose in making your place comfortable, but the two are not the same thing. People typically acknowledge that black people talking about racism is often unfomfortable but not unsafe, but I think theres a lot of other ares where people haven't.
As a tool for achieving safety (and complying with local laws...), the ability to cut all communication with another instance is vital. As a tool for achieving comfort, it's an overly blunt one.
(And also, it should go without saying: if your users are dogpiling someone, get them to cut that shit out)
Defederate the fash and harassers early and often. There's absolutely no reason to put up with them
Who small, friend-group instances choose to federate with is up to them. When you have 5 users, you're pretty much accountable only to them and it's easy to be accountable to them
With that out of the way, the complicated area where nobody can really agree on really lies in the middle. As an example, the people who threatened Matt Blaze's instance with defederation for criticising Mastodon's DM system didn't have some trust and safety issue in mind; they just had a beef. (And I don't think that one was serious, or would travel very far, but wielding it as a weapon like that is a rather ridiculous escalation from whoever was responsible for doing so)
npub14ukaj9jxt92unn28r7z42n475c7u6typ2cu8wyur4eqrk67tyz9sxs2erc (npub14uk…2erc) used the term "HOA-style racism" to describe it, and I very much buy into that. An instance with a bunch of "just asking questions" sealions will putter along under the radar alienating users, while saying something that makes someone uncomfortable will get you yeeted into the sun.
There's a distinction between safety and comfort; and I feel like some of the moderation here conflates them. That's not to say that there's no purpose in making your place comfortable, but the two are not the same thing. People typically acknowledge that black people talking about racism is often unfomfortable but not unsafe, but I think theres a lot of other ares where people haven't.
As a tool for achieving safety (and complying with local laws...), the ability to cut all communication with another instance is vital. As a tool for achieving comfort, it's an overly blunt one.
(And also, it should go without saying: if your users are dogpiling someone, get them to cut that shit out)