I find the "Being blocked because we refuse to de-federate" quite annoying, really. Sounds like Elementary school clique type behaviour.
In the case of Mr. Furrow, which you can see from my original letter (fully copied in the Blog post) that I addressed him formal and courteously -- in a Business like letter.
He responded at first in the same manner, but got annoyed by a partial quote and a word in particular, which had been used by another staff member -- "Naive".
The response was what you saw above.
BUT --- I am also very concerned about the Effects of those bans, which have spread to other instances (some irrelevant, others not). AND -- in how it affects me, as a User here.
I have been denied service in some cases due to the instance address being used. I do have various accounts and use them lightly. But this is now changing.
This is my main one, but I will be writing (long) about how this is concerning me, as a Content Producer (writer, publisher, Blog author, educator, etc).
I have already started to re-locate some of my posting to other instances. As to reach the widest possible distribution is important to me.
I will detail how that happened, and how it is working now.
We are all Travellers, the way I see it, and I like to see different ports, this is one of the beautiful aspects of the #Fediverse I enjoy.
🇳🇱
The main issue as I see it is when you cave to pressure that you yourself see as unjust you effectively promote such behavior into the future. You tell them their tactics work and that you care more about their community than the communities they oppress.
The problem is, as I've stated before we are int he top 20 most fedrated instances.
So the consequence isnt "My voice doesn't have reach".. the consequence is "My voice doesnt have reach specifically among oppressive instances that have acted childishly".
The fact that you see this as a consequence rather than as a positive is alarming because it shows you value more your reach to oppressive instances than tolerant ones, even when the tolerant instances out number the oppressive ones. Instances you yourself labeled as childish.
Do you really not see why that is a concerning pattern of behavior and ultimately promotes such childishness to continue to run rampant?
For the record as I said before I have **no** issue with you discussing this publicly, or sharing your viewpoint here. It is, as always, welcome.
What I am suggesting is that it is a line of thinking that not only hurts you, but the community, as it promotes the very sort of behavior you find distasteful by caving to it. Even at the cost of reducing your own reach in the process.
@freemo @design_RG I think there may have been a misunderstanding above with one of the "you"'s that was talking about other instances caving to peer pressure and following someone else's rules, and not "you" you.
When I say caving to pressure I am refering to anyone who responds to those "childish" blocks by trying to move to servers those people doing the blocking sanction (which are by their nature oppressive of minorities and the general public when it doesnt agree with their desired politics).
@freemo That makes sense.
What about that do you find rude? You are talking about how you find the blocks childish and at the same time are admiting your going to cave to the intention of those same blocks. What about pointing that out do you find rude?
As you know from my 6 months of posting here at Qoto, I favour precise use of language.
When I called something "childish" that was not in response to another poster's comment, or any specific person in particular. You see, we look at things differently, and I am fine and happy for that.
When you use :
> The main issue as I see it is when you cave to pressure that you yourself see as unjust you
...that is directly point to me, a thread poster, a staff member and contributor here.
But it's not the first time, I have been annoyed by some of your posts and discussed that in public and in private.
Many of those posts could and are used as ammunition to denigrate the instance. And I consider that unprofessional from a staff person.
I have been involved in Internet communities as a user, collaborator, staff member, moderator and admin in various different sites over the years. I am concerned, and in the point that it affects my personal work and content, I am looking for my interests.
We have lost 2 moderators over the past few months, in both cases it was not clear the reasons, they simply left as you and anyone observant knows.
In one of those cases, I had seen various posts complaining about lost connections and Followed accounts disappearing.
I honestly don't want to favour the people pushing these blocks, but they are a reality. As a Content person, I am concerned and taking action. It's working for me, and I will detail that in my own site, my own channel, my Blog.
To whistle past the graveyard and put on speeches doesn't solve the problem. Qoto is a good instance, and I intend to continue volunteering as staff member as long as I don't get annoyed excessively. It has happened before, and I have left; we are volunteers and my time can be used many ways. Getting aggravated is not a good one.
If you lose confidence in me and cannot abide those terms, please let me know.
If I lose confidence, I will let you know as well.
Both the moderators we lost made it clear why they left.
Dave left because he wanted to shit post and didnt feel he could contribute STEM material and thus left, he had no objection of any kind.. In fact his new account is also on a free speach instance that is far more about free speech than us.
The the other moderator who left, mike, is a very close friend of mine. He left the **entire** fediverse because he felt the censorship from other instances was absurd and was angered by it entierly and publicly stated he thought the treatment of QOTO was unfair.
We as staff members we set the example for the community. That means we must show that we will express our opinions opening and candidly without acting out of fear or caving to the childishness of other instances. That means we are expected to do what we expect our users to do: share unpopular opinions honestly and respectfully and engage in the conversation, perhaps changing their mind along the way or helping to change others.
Acting professionally doesnt mean you act like a politician and a yes man, it doesnt mean you only say what is popular. That is not what we want from our users it should not be what we want from ourselves. Acting professionally means acting with respect and dignity and hearing opposing views and still treating them with respect.
I dont think anyone has "lost confidence in you". I am critical of your decisions, and I voice that, respectfully. I think part of it is your so use to people not speaking your mind even when someone does you assume it is a diluted version of what they really feel. In my case it is not, these are my actual feeligns of the matter, in full, no holding back. I have no loss in confidence in you, I only question your logic and am vocal about it, that is it.
I am out doing yard work, it's a beautiful Spring day and that is good for me and the garden, both. 😺
The differences in temperament and culture we have are just like the animals that I so clearly think we are similar to.
I obviously am a Cat person, always have been. I admire them, and think we have lots to learn by observing and reflecting. The Egyptians considered them divine. Bastet was part of their pantheon.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bastet
You on the other hand are pooch like, lol. And we can see that in interactions with everyone, myself included.
I consider the position of an administrator a very important one, and would not act in ways that I have seen here, pointed at and criticized. The duty comes first, and using pointed polite language can be as effective as spouting what comes to mind.
I have my style, you have yours. You will always be here, or there's no Qoto, as it's your project from the get go. Myself, I can be here, but only as far as it's pleasant and productive to me. Otherwise, why?
As you like to say, fairly accurately, I favour Curated content -- and I consider that a Compliment.
Mastodon doesn't work too well for that, my Blog projects are much more satisfactory to me as an Author. And that's were I intend to place full priority.
Including the Fediverse Reporter Blog which I have tons of notes for various posts saved, some for months now.
Off to garden, I think we are done here for now, I hope?
@design_RG
Lol i certainly agree with the animal comparison 100%
To be clear i like you its nothing personal at all. I am just very direct and open and i share my opinions. I think it is an important quality. When i see myself keeping something to myself i go out of my way to stop.
We need a world with open communication, where people arent either scared to share whats on their mind nor where people need to try to read someones mind. I feel its a quality lacking in the world and we need more of.
@freemo
And as part of free speech, I feel it's perfectly fine to show the consequences of the fedi blocks, there are. You are talking strategically, as an admin with a mind set and a concrete place you have built.
I am writing as a free thinker, and someone who could use any of a number of available services. There are consequences.
@Kovaelin @tripu @pganssle