🎓 Doc Freemo 
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@freemo@qoto.org
- UFoI Member
- http://UFoI.org/u/freemo/
- Website
- http://JeffreyFreeman.me
- Gitlab
- https://git.qoto.org/freemo
Admin
Jeffrey Phillips Freeman
Innovator & Entrepreneur in Machine Learning, Evolutionary Computing & Big Data. Avid SCUBA diver, Open-source developer, HAM radio operator, astrophotographer, and anything nerdy.
Born and raised in Philadelphia, PA, USA, currently living in Utrecht, Netherlands, USA, and Thailand. Was also living in Israel, but left.
Pronouns: Sir / Mister
(Above pronouns are not intended to mock, i will respect any persons pronouns and only wish pronouns to show respect be used with me as well. These are called neopronouns, see an example of the word "frog" used as a neopronoun here: http://tinyurl.com/44hhej89 )
A proud member of the Penobscot Native American tribe, as well as a Mayflower passenger descendant. I sometimes post about my genealogical history.
My stance on various issues:
Education: Free to PhD, tax paid
Abortion: Protected, tax paid, limited time-frame
Welfare: Yes, no one should starve
UBI: No, use welfare
Racism: is real
Guns: Shall not be infringed
LGBT+/minorities: Support
Pronouns: Will respect
Trump: Moron, evil
Biden: Senile, racist
Police: ACAB
Drugs: Fully legal, no prescriptions needed
GPG/PGP Fingerprint: 8B23 64CD 2403 6DCB 7531 01D0 052D DA8E 0506 CBCE
Joined Jul 2018
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@yisraeldov @freemo @louis@emacs.ch Rather than being premature optimization, this is late in coming. You might not be aware of this, but in the absence of a central authority, self-moderating instances have joined together to build domain blocklists that are shared widely and based on nothing more than the say-so of one or two people.
While mastodon does have plenty of tools we can use to block content that we don't want to see, many instance admins choose to really aggressively block entire instances without any due process or evidence or opportunity for counter-evidence. I've seen QOTO described as having "no moderation at all," something I know to be factually false. I've seen entire instances blocked because of the actions of one non-admin user, which is the right of any server admin, but doesn't bode well for federation. I've seen entire instances blocked *not* because of something anyone said or did, but because the instances were insufficiently aggressive in promising to seek out and block other bad instances. It's mind-boggling, and scary for anyone thinking about running an instance of their own.
Primarily at this point, the UFoI is about a guarantee of due process, which is currently lacking in the fediverse. It might not cause the super-aggressive blockers to change their approach, but it will at least guarantee that smaller instances won't be completely isolated from everyone on the whim of someone at a big server having a grumpy day.
If mastodon were as safe and friendly as you say it is, the UFoI wouldn't exist, and the hashtag for BlackMastodon wouldn't be filled with people saying that they're seeing worse treatment on Mastodon than the bird site. I'm glad your personal experience has been positive, but that is not the case for everyone.
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> While I appreciate what you are trying to do here, I think one of the beauties of the "fediverse" is that instances are self moderating.
UFoI doesn't take over moderation for instances.
> I think that small instances are the best way to go and keep mastodon safe and friendly organically.
Reality is that neither you or I can’t force all instances to be small instances. I can say that the value of UFoI is massive to small instances.
As a small instance operator, I can tell you that smaller instances are constantly at threat of being defederated by larger instances if we don't do what they say. If one of them labels us as anything; who do other instances trust more? The 10-person instance or the instance with 10,000 people?
If the larger instance says that an instance has some hugely offensive problem, and you choose to not block that instance, well now it looks like you're in support of that thing. That instance now says you're that thing too because you didn't defederate and they're going to defederate you too.
Now, perhaps some of these are true, and some of these are just personal gripes between people. What the UFoI helps us establish is a set of minimal standards to adhere to for federation that most of the Western world can at least work within (I would expect very restrictive regimes would have problems with it). It establishes evidence requirements so that instances can’t be just defederated over personal issues if they’re a UFoI member.
For larger instances, this sort of thing also helps against inter large-instance issues for similar reasons, but also having a clear process and standard to work within reduces the amount of headache trying to just maintain a service.
UFoI doesn't take over moderation for instances.
> I think that small instances are the best way to go and keep mastodon safe and friendly organically.
Reality is that neither you or I can’t force all instances to be small instances. I can say that the value of UFoI is massive to small instances.
As a small instance operator, I can tell you that smaller instances are constantly at threat of being defederated by larger instances if we don't do what they say. If one of them labels us as anything; who do other instances trust more? The 10-person instance or the instance with 10,000 people?
If the larger instance says that an instance has some hugely offensive problem, and you choose to not block that instance, well now it looks like you're in support of that thing. That instance now says you're that thing too because you didn't defederate and they're going to defederate you too.
Now, perhaps some of these are true, and some of these are just personal gripes between people. What the UFoI helps us establish is a set of minimal standards to adhere to for federation that most of the Western world can at least work within (I would expect very restrictive regimes would have problems with it). It establishes evidence requirements so that instances can’t be just defederated over personal issues if they’re a UFoI member.
For larger instances, this sort of thing also helps against inter large-instance issues for similar reasons, but also having a clear process and standard to work within reduces the amount of headache trying to just maintain a service.
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@freemo@qoto.org @ufoi@a.gup.pe @kravietz@agora.echelon.pl @Ryle@awoo.fyi @gregory@magpie.masto.host @jonnypencils@social.retrodon.net @steve@social.technoetic.com @dump_stack@lor.sh @joaopinheiro@mastodon.pinheirodeabrantes.pt @SolSoCoG@ieji.de @evan@public.garden @greg@clar.ke @selea@social.linux.pizza @jens@toots.nu @t1c@i.calckey.cloud Added to my TOS! https://stop.voring.me/@thatonecalculator/pages/tos
Please don'tt forget everyone in the UFoI or planning to be.. You have to post on your Terms of Service (rules) somewhere that you are in the UFoI and that the server adheres to its rules.
You are welcome to say this or put it wherever you want as long as it is clear to your users.
Basically make sure you include two things:
1) A reference to the fact that the instance is in the UFoI, with a link to the website: https://UFoI.org
2) A reference to the fact that it follows the Code of Ethics, preferably with a link to that: https://ufoi.org/docs/code-of-ethics
I just added this myself to QOTO, attached is a screenshot of the way I did it.
If anyone wants the html code to copy and paste into their ToS that I used it is here:
Finally if any of you new people in the thread want to use the profiles with verified profile links (the little green check mark next to links in bios) just reach out to me and I can show you how to set it up.
(PS not a hell thread, just taging people this is relevant to)
#UFI #UFoI @ufoi @kravietz @Ryle @gregory @jonnypencils@social.retrodon.net @steve @dump_stack@lor.sh @joaopinheiro @SolSoCoG @evan @greg @selea @jens @t1c @thatonecalculator
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Should the white button at the top of the United Federation of Instances page point to Getting Started, like it does now, or the Code of Ethics?
The website for the United Federation of Instances is pretty much done. Please check it out and if you see anything that needs fixing let me know. I plan to officially launch it this weekend but sharing it now for feedback.
If you see anything needing fixing please just jump right in and create a merge request here, no need to ask permission.
https://gitlab.com/ufoi/ufoi-site
Also if your too lazy you can always jut let me know and ill fix it, but a MR would really be much more helpful.
So far the United Federation of Isntances consists of 2.5% of the entire #Fediverse... We havent even officially launched yet! So exciting.
🎓 Doc Freemo 🇳🇱
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@EubieDrew hey, would you like me to add you as a **registered** member on UFoI.. it basically means you get a profile page that links back to your profile so you can add a verified link to show people you are a part of the eUFoI (you are automatically an unregistered member regardless).
See my mastodon profile for a link to my UFoI profile as an example.
🎓 Doc Freemo 🇳🇱
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We are all stardust.
That oxygen you breath? That comes from dying massive stars, ending their light in a supernova.
The iron in your blood? Some massive stars dying, but mainly white dwarfs, the leftovers of dwarf stars like our own Sun, exploding.
The gold ring on your finger? Mostly merging neutron stars, leftovers from supernovae.
We have had 3 more instances sign up to the United Federation of Instances in the last 24 hours or so.
Still around 200K members but I really am getting excited at all this momentum.
Setup a cool little verified link system too where members of the UFoI can add a verified link to their profile.
If you are an instance admin and want to join, whether your instance is 1 user or 100000, just let me know, as long as you follow our code of ethics I can add you and you will show as a founding member on the website once we launch.
🎓 Doc Freemo 🇳🇱
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One thing I've noticed after years of exercise... I am willing to put in the effort neccesary to do the carb loading needed to win marathons... its the running part im not to keen on...
Just a reminder, as I get this a lot, but joining the United Federation of Instances doesnt require **any** time contribution of the part of its admins or instances. Any voting is totally optional to participate. As long as your instance follows our code of ethics you can join, nothing else required other than to federate to other UFoI instance.
DM me if you want to talk more, are are at over 200,000 members and will be open to more over the next week or so before membership will become harder and more formalized.
all intances welcome, from single user to large instances.
If anyone wants to help on the United Federation of Instances website let me know.
I have a first working version done. But welcome any improvements (including to layout) as well as some help filling in some of the documentation.
There is also some room for scripts to help make the whole thing work, we can talk if anyone wants to help there.
Anyone, anyone interested in helping let me know. I will send a link to the current website in private at request, I just dont want to share it with the world until its more complete.
There are 2 ways to sign up to the United Federation of Instances, for those wondering.
We have over 200,000 members but looking for more before launch.
One, and the most important, is as an instance admin bringing your instance onto the UFoI. For this you dont need to do anything other than ensure you follow our basic code of conduct. See the proposal/by laws for that:
https://ufoi.gitlab.io/constitution/united_federation_of_instances_proposal.pdf
https://ufoi.gitlab.io/constitution/united_federation_of_instances_bylaws.pdf
Other than that you dont have to do anything to be a member, and you can be a one person instance or a large instance. You do need to promise to federate with other instances in the UFoI. Also you can leave at any time, no questions asked, so not much obligation.
The other is as an individual.. for that just let me know and ill give you access to everything and add you to the list of contributors. In this case you arent under any obligation either, you can join in on conversationsn, suggest edits, or just lurk. Up to you. Message me if you want to be a contributor and ill add you and check out the repo here:
https://gitlab.com/ufoi/constitution
Any questions first feel free to ask me.
For more information on ways to connect see this post:
- UFoI Member
- http://UFoI.org/u/freemo/
- Website
- http://JeffreyFreeman.me
- Gitlab
- https://git.qoto.org/freemo
Admin
Jeffrey Phillips Freeman
Innovator & Entrepreneur in Machine Learning, Evolutionary Computing & Big Data. Avid SCUBA diver, Open-source developer, HAM radio operator, astrophotographer, and anything nerdy.
Born and raised in Philadelphia, PA, USA, currently living in Utrecht, Netherlands, USA, and Thailand. Was also living in Israel, but left.
Pronouns: Sir / Mister
(Above pronouns are not intended to mock, i will respect any persons pronouns and only wish pronouns to show respect be used with me as well. These are called neopronouns, see an example of the word "frog" used as a neopronoun here: http://tinyurl.com/44hhej89 )
A proud member of the Penobscot Native American tribe, as well as a Mayflower passenger descendant. I sometimes post about my genealogical history.
My stance on various issues:
Education: Free to PhD, tax paid
Abortion: Protected, tax paid, limited time-frame
Welfare: Yes, no one should starve
UBI: No, use welfare
Racism: is real
Guns: Shall not be infringed
LGBT+/minorities: Support
Pronouns: Will respect
Trump: Moron, evil
Biden: Senile, racist
Police: ACAB
Drugs: Fully legal, no prescriptions needed
GPG/PGP Fingerprint: 8B23 64CD 2403 6DCB 7531 01D0 052D DA8E 0506 CBCE
Joined Jul 2018
