le Pétomane Ancien @lePetomaneAncien@qoto.org

I hear new people noting how chill, tolerant, and pleasant Mastodon is.

Mastodon isn’t chill or tolerant or pleasant. It’s a tool… a foundation on which to create and maintain a culture.

It’s those who’ve been on Mastodon, run servers, and served as admins who did the hard work and created the culture you now enjoy.

Now, it’s your turn. The only way it stays tolerant and chill is by us doing the work to keep it that way.

A good example of, “Be the change you wish to see in the world.”

I hate to tell a lot of these quick trigger finger Fediblock people this, but it's true:

Fediblock should only be used as the nuclear option.

If you use it for things like, "Someone might do a bad thing," then you are diminishing its power.

In a sane world, being pro-life would mean being pro-Medicare for All, pro-gender-affirming care, pro-Green New Deal, and pro-gun safety.

Musk has used "Vox, populi, Vox Dei" to justify reinstating Trump on #Twiiter. But the quote is from a letter from Alcuin to the Emporer Charlemagne urging him to resist such ideas, "Nec audiendi qui solent dicere, Vox populi, vox Dei, quum tumultuositas vulgi semper insaniae proxima sit." Which translates as "And do not listen to those who keep saying, 'The voice of the people is the voice of God', because the tumult of the crowd is always close to madness."

Today is #TransDayofRemembrance when we honor and remember trans lives taken by violence. How horrifying that a deadly attack upon the LGBTQ+ community in Colorado Springs should occur right before this solemn day.
Hate isn’t born in us. It is taught. It must end.
This starts with our political leaders, who must cease their cynical attacks against our community before another attack occurs.
Call out the hate. Remind them of its consequences. Hold them to account.

@taylorbeauvais Yeah, so a lot of the known challenges with moderation and information quality seem easier when growth, engagement, and ad revenue aren't design goals, but these were the goals of the social media environments we are accustomed to. Communities on different platforms with different goals are likely to face different versions of governance problems. For example, social movement organizations, Wikipedia, and open source projects all govern speech, quality, and conflict.

@randomwalker One challenge will be shifting how we imagine the relationship between the platform/instance and the user. Agendas for the design and mgmt of commercial platforms serve business strategies. Users are used to acquiescing to these agendas. Open source social media communities will have to settle on new agendas and goals and this is likely to be a messy process, because discussions often revolve around individual tastes and preferences and not collective goals.

I’m a civil rights lawyer. I don’t want to practice before a Court that’s compromised. I want a fair Court. Expansion would make this particular Court more ideologically balanced. Agree. But w/o a real, enforced ethics infrastructure, there will be 18 justices not fully disclosing financials, not compelled to recuse, praying in chambers w/their own faith leaders, going on trips w/groups filing briefs in cases before them, owning stock in indiv companies whose interests are before the Court.

This is not a “centrist” position. B/c the claims of those who are most marginalized will never have the same chance in a system that is “unrigged” in one way, but not in these others. “Ideology” is a very broad term that doesn’t capture the ways in which what is considered “liberal” can leave intact interests and relationships that do not benefit the clients I’ve been privileged to serve.

So many people want Mastodon to be Twitter, but I am enjoying the experience of living in a new institutional dynamic. Im curious to learn more before passing judgment.

A gentle reminder that for those of us who came from birdsite, for now we are guests in someone else’s home.

So it seems joinmastodon removed QOTO from their directory without cause, without contacting us, and without any discussion or due diligence.

Since this is the only way to actually find QOTO for new users if it isnt reversed soon it could mean the end for our wonderful community.

If you care about this place remaining fair, respectful, and inclusive environment I highly suggest everyone reach out to them annd voice your objecttion and your disapointment and having no procedure to keep this fair and inclusive.

If you want to see QOTO stick around you can email your objecttion here:

hello@joinmastodon.org

Feel free to CC me here: jeffrey.freeman@qoto.org

Please be respectful, we want to show them we are the good guys and not give them any reason to object.

@Gargron @trinsec @khird

I can't help but notice many toots from helpful newbies encouraging you to support the Mastodon Patreon.

It's fine to do that but understand it goes to just two big instances and the official Mastodon dev team.

It does NOT trickle down to YOUR instance. If you want to support your server, donate to it directly. Nearly all the costs of the explosive growth of the past few weeks is borne by local instances.

Mastodon is decentralized. There is no Mastodon Inc. This is not Twitter.