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I am digging some of the conversation this United Federation of Instances is creating. Lots of great ideas so far, every last one.
@freemo I don't want to go through the trouble of creating a GitLab account, nor use my work GitLab account, to ask there, so I'll ask here:
I think I get why you're doing this. UFI seems like it should emphasize positive association rather than the negative association of FediBlock, for example. The question is: why would another server admin want to join UFI?
@pwinn The advantage of the UFI, as you point out, is a more positive approach.. The idea is that anyone int he UFI is sort of "certified" to be a good-actor, at least, so far as the ethics of the UFI go..
So it has two advantages..
1) is it lets other instances outside of the UFI know i follow a certain minimal code of conduct
2) to add a zone of protection against people threatening to fediblock people if they dont block all the same people they do... by promising always to federate with other UFI members this makes them more immune to defederation so long as they remain a good actor.
@freemo ...which is appealing to people who suspect they might be soon on the chopping block, but nobody ever does! Or rather, those who expect to be defederated generally deserve to be, and the zone of protection would do them no good.
You feel strongly the need for a zone of protection because you are in the middle of being unjustly targeted. Most admins are not.
So if I'm running a server, decentpeople.socialbutintroverted, or whatever, and I see there's a proposal, right now it seems like it amounts to: If you're just starting out, or suddenly dealing with a big influx of users, and would like some guidance or advice on moderation, here's a minimal code of conduct that you can use. As a bonus, if you affirm that code of conduct, you'll be able to advertise on your About page that you are part of the United Federation of Instances, which lets people coming to your server know you're not a haven for nazis or pesos or whatever. And if there's any accusation against your server, other UFI servers will stand with you--so long as you're still actually following that code of conduct.
Does that seem like a fair description? Because I'm not entirely sure how appealing that is as I wrote it, but then, I don't run a server.
@pwinn Its fair except for one very important fact... that all the accuasations against a server are heard and evidence documented, and democratically decided.
the point is the due process means there is a public ledger of all accusations made against the server and the evidence. and the decision... this level of transparency adds a vital level of protection
@freemo Yes, that is an important point! But again, at the risk of belaboring this, that's on the "exit" side of things, and I'm not seeing much on the "enter" side of things.
It's nice to know I can't easily be kicked out of club UFI, but that doesn't answer why I'd want to be in club UFI in the first place.
Put another way (and now I really am starting to think this horse is dead), people have been falsely accusing qoto, and therefore you, for a while now. But Eugen removing qoto from joinmastodon pushed your buttons big-time. It incensed you in a way that being on a blocklist or three did not. Why? Because it was Eugen, and you care about his opinion more than others? Or, as I recall you stating, because being removed from joinmastodon cut off a supply of users unexpectedly?
I guess I'm thinking it's mostly the latter, which is why I'm saying that I think the UFI needs to deliver some value like that. Be a better joinmastodon, not subject to arbitrary whims, but with a covenant and process.
@freemo I guess what I'm getting at is: in terms of outreach, I hope there's something more. A UFI site to point people that makes onboarding much easier than it currently is, for example.
Right now the choices are joinmastodon, which was weirdly limited and unhelpful even before they cravenly booted qoto, or something overwhelming and unhelpful like instances.social or fediverse.observer.
Perhaps UFI could deliver a better index site? That could be an attractor, at least for admins open to more users, and the "safelist" (I hate the terms "whitelist" and "blacklist") would then be a bonus.