honest question, who is telling the academics to go to qoto? and has anything changed since the golden days of uh free speech probs over there?
@jonny what's wrong with qoto? I landed there just by chance, not really knowing much about the fediverse at all
@Augusto_ER that's completely fair and a good question. so the fediverse at base is an unregulated space: anyone can come set up an instance, which is attractive to people interested in a free internet but also to groups that are commonly kicked off the corporate web: fascists and other hate groups being prominent among them. moderation and choosing which instances to associate is thus extremely critical, otherwise it can get downright dangerous esp for vulnerable/marginalized people...
@Augusto_ER ...Defederation is especially important bc of how most fedi clients work: if someone from an instance boosts some hateful content, it will be visible to other people on the instance, and it can leak one hop over into neighboring instances. It's just a constant on any part of the open web: you have to block the Nazis.
So "free speech" is even more of a dogwhistle than it is elsewhere- it generally means, even if "accidentally," "accommodating of hate." ...
@Augusto_ER ... Qoto is a free speech instance that does not defederate from any other instances. They claim to not allow hate speech but from many ppls experiences that is apparently very loosely enforced. Most instances will proactively defederate from other instances that actively do not defed both because of the practical risk to members and also because of the strong difference in culture it represents. ...
@Augusto_ER ...It might sound like siloing, but really it's a matter of being able to make safe digital spaces for people in a world where harassment and abuse is the norm, and in practice, in most moderately-sized instances, that just means "everyone except the Nazis and the people that are down with them." (there are plenty of smaller instances that make tighter circles to serve specific communities). ...
@Augusto_ER ...but it's entirely understandable to not know that because the role of the instance is not altogether clear to newcomers, and understanding the landscape is as challenging as learning any other social landscape - it takes time! and listening to other ppl! But why I worry is bc some might show up on an instance that many other defederate from, not see their friends, see some toxic shit, and think this whole fediverse thing sucks and quit...
@Augusto_ER ...the beauty of the fedi (as imperfect as it is) is that instances can each have their own culture, and as always with cultures they don't always fit with one another - which is fine, but again because the cultures of different instances are not all that visible from the outside, and unless you spend time on other instances can be invisible esp while you are learning the medium, that's why I was wondering why ppl were joining qoto bc I figured most newcomers didn't know.
@jonny Thanks for the detailed info! Following the advice right away, see you soon in Neuromatch!
@Augusto_ER ♥️♥️♥️