So I reached out to admins of the few instances that block us with a polite email explaining some of the misinformation spread about us in the pastt and describing the situation in some detail in the hopes it will be resolved.
Luckily nearly all the instances are very small and its not a big deal since our federation footprint remains one of the largest int he fediverse, but I felt it was an effort worth making.
Anyway, seems the drama is already begining and even more flat out lies are getting thrown around be a few:
https://cloudisland.nz/@aurynn/109361052656757061
https://cloudisland.nz/@aurynn/109361011483467968
Luckily despite a few bad actors most of the people I contacted reached out to me in good faith and several seem to be willing to reverse the ban. Lets hope the people who actually bother to fact-check win out on this one.
@freemo
I saw this and a few other conversations like it, and frankly it made me feel okay that these folks are not federated with us - if this kind of toxicity and personal insults are what they jump to when they see a polite attempt to communicate, it's unlikely they bring much of value anyway.
@freemo @digital_carver well, at least one academic I follow blocked qoto because of this nonsense. So it is a bit annoying. but I support qoto's position!
@jerlich @freemo @digital_carver So how would you know it was blocked?
The follow button becomes inactive if you are blocked or if you click it it says pending and never goes through.
@jerlich
Can't win-em-all .... frankly anyone who would block us either doesnt fact-check or is likely to be just plain toxic.. i dont mind addressing the former as best I cann.
@digital_carver