nicdex 🇨🇦 🇺🇦

Also someone raised a concern about privacy because bots could scrape your posts. Here's my opinion, but I'm open to suggestion or debate:

When you post a public toot, then it is accessible to the whole world. Posting anything public on the web is your consent for anyone having access to it.

What do you guys think?

#mastodon #bots #techhub #privacy

Nov 13, 2022 at 3:15pmWeb
Show threadDouglas CamataNov 13, 2022
@nicdex I agree with your position. As long as the bots themselves aren't breaking the rules or causing server havoc, why couldn't they be there? We are many devs in #techhub, bots are cool projects. Toot privacy concerns are handled by followers-only or mentioned-only toots.
Show threaddabblecodeNov 13, 2022
@nicdex that seems fair to me. There is some discussion of what level of privacy posts can be made at that I found informative here: https://docs.joinmastodon.org/user/posting/ (starting below the "publishing levels" table
Posting to your profile - Mastodon documentation

Sharing your thoughts has never been more convenient.

Show threadSpriteful DevNov 13, 2022
@nicdex entirely agree unless there is a “private account” feature like other socials
Show threadBrandon HaberNov 13, 2022
@nicdex Agreed. This is how the internet has always worked. Even robots.txt and similar has always been honor system.
Show threadMichael BorlandNov 13, 2022
@nicdex 👍
Show threadJean-Philippe Nov 13, 2022

@nicdex This is perfect. Eventually you might consider adding it to the server rules. If bots become more omnipresent on the instance, it might be a good idea to require the word "Bot" in the user name.

Personally, I find bots very interesting. Sure, it's closely related to my line of work, but I see the usefulness. As long as they do not break rules and are properly identified.

Show threadmbNov 13, 2022
@nicdex I agree, if you post in a public forum you cant expect different rules for a human vs. a bot acting on a human's behalf.
Show threadZefNov 13, 2022
@nicdex Treat anything you put on the internet as shouting into a crowded room.
Show threadselovellNov 13, 2022
@nicdex As have others have said, I agree with your position. I consider my toots to be public and viewable by anyone. As for seeing toots from bots, I will mute or block them and then do not have to see it. Mastadon makes it easy!
Show threadVictorNov 14, 2022

@nicdex yeah that seems fair. Posting something public is implicitly agreeing that anyone, including bots, can read it. Though some might view “public” differently… anyone?friends?closed group?human beings?

It’ll indeed help to make this clear as a disclaimer of sorts so there is no ambiguity.

Show threadDominik OttoNov 14, 2022
@nicdex I totally agree. Also, why would bots even be needed for scraping if all public posts can be viewed without having an account, e.g., on https://techhub.social/public ?
See what's happening - TechHub

Show threadAhmad 🇪🇬🇵🇸Nov 14, 2022
@nicdex I 100% agree with you. You should always treat everything you post/send online as if the whole world is watching/seeing it and that it will stay there FOREVER. If you have some 'secrets' that you want to send to someone/keep them safe, use something that supports e2ee 'like @session'.
Show threadCody Nov 14, 2022
@nicdex 100% agreed. If you don't want it to be public, don't post it.
Show threadJJ 🇬🇧🇺🇦Nov 15, 2022
@nicdex totally agree. We all have a degree of responsibility for ensuring we care for our own information. Don’t share it if you don’t want it to get into the hands of a bad actor.