Mastodawn

Luke LeBrun Nov 21, 2022

This is a big problem for Mastodon.

Canadian journalist Erica Ifill just had her mastodon.online account suspended without explanation. She's been sharing stuff critical of Mastodon re: intersectional issues.

I get the decentralized structure and idea that each server has its own rules. But this Reddit-style moderation, where moderators with god-complexes make mysterious and arbitrary decisions, is going to cause people migrating to Mastodon to flee in droves.

https://www.presscheck.org/journalists/erica-ifill

PressCheck.org

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austin, not your sweet baboo Nov 21, 2022

@llebrun

if Eugene Rochko (@Gargron) does not make Mastodon an affirmatively anti-racist space, he makes it a de-facto
white supremacist space.

Eugene Rochko oversees the day-to-day operations of Mastodon.Social and Mastodon.Online, the flagship instances of the Mastodon project, which he heads.

Positive justice is preferable to "peaceful" injustice.

This is a lesson I had to teach Jeff of Discourse forum project fame the hard way.

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Dudley Saunders Nov 21, 2022

@notyoursweetbab @llebrun @Gargron Pre-emotive suspension is commonplace in social media as a protective measure. Getting to clear up any misunderstanding about it with real accountable people is rare and the difference that makes Mastodon a more human place.

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austin, not your sweet baboo Nov 22, 2022

@dudleysaunders @llebrun @Gargron

Eugen's explanation and apology lays out what happened and what steps are being taken to address this going forward. These incidents were upsetting, but I am glad that Eugen has taken accountability and action.

https://mastodon.lol/@Gargron@mastodon.social/109383948564712812

Eugen Rochko (@[email protected])

There were two notable moderation incidents on mastodon.social and mastodon.online in the past 24 hours that I would like to address. In the first, a post was wrongfully removed due to a report claiming it contained a dogwhistle, and in the second, a person was wrongfully suspended due to a report claiming it's an impersonator. Both were undone and apologies issued.

Mastodon

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Dudley Saunders

@notyoursweetbab @llebrun @Gargron Sort of: one was a suspected impersonator, the other was report of a dog whistle that turned out to be overstated & not objectionable. Absent an active team that can moderate in real time, a pre-emptive suspension is the only way to prevent ongoing harm, i.e. Nazi posts. The difference I see is that Facebook will not engage about their decisions where here you can make your case to a real human. Love that!