Thought exercises for you, the reader. "Wielding" these against others goes against their spirit. None of the items below can substitute for individual judgement or experience.

In no particular order:

1. One person's "balkanization" is another person's "protective cell wall"

2. Communities can't exist without boundaries; otherwise all you have is a crowd where only the loudest get heard

3. Instances are run by people, not algorithms, and virtually always by people who are donating their time, energy, and money to their users. When you interact with another instance, act as though you're interacting with their guests in their living room.

4. One bad actor can ruin an entire space for everyone else and it only takes one bad actor to drive out all of the good actors, especially the quiet ones

4a. If an admin blocks or defederates aggressively, they may be hyper-attuned to early warning signs and dog whistles that you haven't noticed

4b. If it was an obvious tell, it wouldn't be a dog whistle. Trust marginalized voices when they point these out

4c. A bad actor can act nicely to your face while showing a different one to others

5. No one owes you their attention nor are you owed theirs

Stay safe