@thomasfuchs Yep! Moderation is tricky.
But what I think is annoying is admin’s blocking entire instances due to a few bad apples or the instance is struggling with moderation (even though most—if not all—of the larger instances are trying to moderate).
That is why I advocate people simply do solo hosting & connecting to the #Fediverse from their lone instance.
It’s easier to navigate through the #Fediblock feuds & connect with interesting people from every federated instance.
@darnell @thomasfuchs It's cheap to refederate if an instance shows a commitment to cleaning up and ensuring they can be a good participant.
One of the things we've noticed about the defed early/often is that it's a strong indicator to an admin and mod team that their behaviour isn't acceptable. It sets a strong boundary, and how that admin reacts to it tells us a lot too.
@aurynn @darnell @thomasfuchs What do you do if an instance is a victim of a revenge campaign, as mine has been? Write them off? Refuse to listen to the admin and mod team? That seems to have been the accepted approach so far.
@knottedthreads @aurynn @thomasfuchs Ok, I see why many instances de-federated from Qoto (https://qoto.org).
The 25:35 mark in this YouTube video explains why: https://youtu.be/yZoASOyfvGQ
Summary: Qoto refused to de-federate from Gab, so many instances blocked Qoto. Is that correct‽
@darnell @thomasfuchs Part that, part (for me) that the admin has recently interacted with instances that I've deemed hateful, that the admin has recently boosted a post questioning if Club Q was a hate crime, that the admin mocks trans pronoun use, and that the admin is engaged in a harassment and slander campaign against Eugen, and finally, that the admin used a Kiwifarms-built tool to send emails to a bunch of admins that had blocked him
@aurynn @thomasfuchs Are you referring to the Journalist Host instance‽ The one with .host in the domain‽ (there are several “journalist instances” popping up now).
Yeah, kiwi farms were evil & they also were engaging in illegal activities.
I think they shut down after numerous police departments worldwide were investigating them for harassment & threats.
@darnell @thomasfuchs No I'm referring to qoto here
@aurynn @thomasfuchs Whoa! Seriously‽ I need to research that as this is serious! Kiwifarms was enraging people in around the world with their death threats. Not cool at all!
@darnell @thomasfuchs at the time that qoto did this, the only tool was the kiwifarms one that journa.host got caught up in, so it's presumed qoto used it too.
@darnell @thomasfuchs otherwise I have receipts from the last couple of days from qoto's admin, and the harassment he's engaging in is up on his blog, so
@aurynn @thomasfuchs Yeah, if you have info or news articles you can point my way that would be helpful.
@darnell @thomasfuchs I have screenshots from the admin of qoto’s timeline?
@aurynn @thomasfuchs That would be helpful. Google search is not showing many negative results (outside of Youtube) & their front page states they are against hate speech.
I am seeing nothing else beyond that so far. Maybe I am typing in the wrong search terms‽
@darnell @aurynn @thomasfuchs Members of marginalized and vulnerable communities on QOTO specifically requested the ability to be able to monitor such "hateful" instances that had a history of doxxing and stalking them. Accordingly, the QOTO admin added a feature to the instance that lets users "subscribe" to an account's public-only content without notifying said account of a follow. This has allowed marginalized communities like the LGBTQIA+ community to be able to warn targets when someone on an objectionable instance is planning to launch an attack. It lets them not be sitting ducks who get blindsided by stuff like this.
@knottedthreads @aurynn @thomasfuchs I understand the intent, but the implementation of subscriptions was bad.
It should have been setup on another domain & be very limited in who it could follow (bad actors only).
Otherwise a tool set up to protect your community could be turned against you & others.
@darnell @aurynn @thomasfuchs It also gave vulnerable people the agency to decide what "safe" looks like for themselves, instead of playing "great white savior," and I respect that. It's also worth pointing out that subscriptions don't appear in the federated timeline, and there is a zero tolerance policy for hate speech, whether expressed or boosted, on the server.
@knottedthreads @aurynn @thomasfuchs which instance are you referring to‽ Qoto.org‽