@freemo @antares @derickflorian @toxomat @ceoln @PaulaToThePeople @shelenn

I can take the tangent further... Is "dog whistle" a dog whistle? Is it further a dehumanizing phrase, othering those not on one's group to say they are inhuman, just animals that respond to signals?

More seriously, I do get concerned at the growing list of Forbidden Words deemed to be dog whistles. It's hard to keep up.

@derickflorian @freemo @toxomat @ceoln @PaulaToThePeople @SecondJon @shelenn Eh, I'm of the mind that there's no reason to get upset about it. QOTO doesn't block servers, so the servers decided to block themselves. It's self-selected curation. Anyone who wants their eyes shielded by another for arbitrary reasons is probably not the kind of curious, inquisitive person that I prefer interacting with on social media anyway.
All one can do is try to publicize the fiasco so that those who are curious can leave the draconian servers and come to the light of reason and open discussion.

@LouisIngenthron

On this I agree. Its just shame that many will buy this guff and assume their lies are reality and use it to make misinformed decisions, very sad.

@derickflorian @toxomat @ceoln @PaulaToThePeople @SecondJon @shelenn

@freemo @derickflorian @toxomat @ceoln @PaulaToThePeople @SecondJon @shelenn To an extent, yes.

But I believe that (even in a more general sense), we ascribe too much blame to the liars and too little blame to those who uncritically believe lies. The latter create the demand that affords the former their living.

We, as a species, easily fall prey to confirmation bias. Those who refuse to fight it with critical thinking are absconding their duty to their community.

@LouisIngenthron

These are good points, cant disagree.

@derickflorian @toxomat @ceoln @PaulaToThePeople @SecondJon @shelenn

@freemo
Oh look on the bright side.
Well if you've got a dystopian cyberpunk fantasy, societies headed in that direction. If you don't, get your nitrox certification, and you can drive a bit deeper/longer to escape it all. 😂

@LouisIngenthron @derickflorian @toxomat @ceoln @PaulaToThePeople @SecondJon @shelenn

@freemo *dive not drive

@skanman

I can go down 450 feet... I am well past nitrox :)

@LouisIngenthron @derickflorian @toxomat @ceoln @PaulaToThePeople @SecondJon @shelenn

@freemo yyyeeeaaah that's scary, are you bringing extra tanks? I wouldn't think you'd get much time at that depth, and a lot can go wrong. Have you gone down that far before?

@LouisIngenthron @freemo @toxomat @ceoln @PaulaToThePeople @SecondJon @shelenn That is a good point and I agree with everything you say, but I think the part that gets me is that they are making the decision to not see on behalf of others.

I guess the best action is to just continue on and keep bring attention to it and the United Federation of Instances seems like a good vehicle/countermeasure for that.

I do like the community on QOTO and all the other instance I have the pleasure of interacting with. I have blocked a lot of instances in the list that was shared by my own choice so it’s not an entirely bad list.

I just wanted to vent. It just seems like one block after another for the flimsiest of reasons but your approach is definitely the correct one.

@derickflorian @freemo @toxomat @ceoln @PaulaToThePeople @SecondJon @shelenn
"they are making the decision to not see on behalf of others"
I disagree with this characterization. Those folks chose to join those servers. Sure, most likely, when they joined, they were ignorant of the blocking policy. But they can always learn about it and move.
Some people may want to live in gardens with arbitrary walls defined by others. 🤷‍♂️ Who are we to stop them?

@LouisIngenthron

The problerm is they **cant** learn about it, not easily... They are on a server where all dissenting voices are silenced, so they will never heard about it on network.

They could look at the block list, but since they are blatantly lieing about the evidence they will again be unable to discern the truth.

These people go out of their way to engineer it so their lies are the only thing anyone hears.. if you even try to discuss it or look into it you get attacked.

@derickflorian @toxomat @ceoln @PaulaToThePeople @SecondJon @shelenn

@freemo @derickflorian @toxomat @ceoln @PaulaToThePeople @SecondJon @shelenn Oh, come now. The idea that someone "can't learn about" something just because they're not spoon-fed it by social media is one of the more ridiculous fictions of the modern era.

You're doing the right thing by getting the truth out there for people who are willing to look for it.

Those who are happy with their ignorance can blissfully marinate in it. Those who aren't happy will start to ask questions and seek outside info.

@LouisIngenthron

I'm not saying they **can't** learn about it.. im saying they are in a position where it becomes much harder to learn about, partly for technological reasons (blocking) and partly for social reasons (peer pressure and threat of being suspended if you even ask).

@derickflorian @toxomat @ceoln @PaulaToThePeople @SecondJon @shelenn

@derickflorian

There are absolutely servers on that list that deserve a personal block! I like the idea, in general, of there being a variety (a small variety, probably, to avoid needing second-level lists of lists) of shared Blocklists of various kinds. There just needs to be a certain amount of pressure to be open and transparent (and accurate) about list criteria, and I'm happy to be a small part of that pressure now and then.

In the short run it would be excellent if the list could be updated (if it hasn't already been) to say something correct in the qoto entry. Even for the sake of the list itself: since a brief glance at qoto will show that "no moderation, free speech" is inaccurate, it undermines the credibility of the whole thing.

@LouisIngenthron @freemo @toxomat @PaulaToThePeople @SecondJon @shelenn