Pete ForsythNov 26, 2022

Much discussion of whether "Mastodon" is friendly to POC treats "Mastodon" as though it were the monolithic thing Twitter is. But it's not - that's one of the main points.

Specific instances being moderated in ways that are either overtly racist or clueless IS a problem. And if that's happening in lots of instances, that's a huge problem.

But what is it a problem *with*? A solution requires a clearly defined problem.

I think this post captures the question well: https://mastodon.oeru.org/@ScribblingO[email protected]/109409847234141043

Shubheksha (@[email protected])

Content warning: Meta // Fedi

the Octodon
Keith AxlineNov 26, 2022
Show threadPete Forsyth

One of the things I think we're missing is a good way to perceive and consider and compare the various problems that occur on different instances, and the various ways they're handled.

If instances are analogous to cities, towns, villages, I think we need the equivalent of "local journalism" covering instances before it becomes possible to properly perceive how their cultures differ, what similarities there are, what works well, what marginalizes people.

Nov 26, 2022 at 8:59pmWeb
Show threadPete ForsythNov 26, 2022

I've been using Mastodon for several years, and I'm in the somewhat unusual position of actually knowing some of the folks who got my instance started.

But even I don't have any sense of what issues our instance has confronted and how it's gone. Much less any other instance.

I'm not saying this is a failing of any particular thing, but I do think it reflects an absence of certain crucial mechanisms for collaborative governance.

Show threadPete ForsythNov 26, 2022
(An aside: @lightweight , @mackiwg etc. I would love to know your thoughts about how to engage with administration of this instance in ways that are useful and/or illuminating!)
Show threadWayne Mackintosh 🇳🇿🐧Nov 26, 2022
@PeteForsyth @lightweight Pete, I'm leaning towards the principals of sociocracy for instances run and financed as shared infrastructure (i.e. like a cooperative). Instances that have dedicated purposes within our non-profit activities will be governed through our Board of Directors or delegated to the specific project owners. It's still early days and we have a lot to learn and think about. What are your thoughts?
Show threadPete ForsythNov 26, 2022

@mackiwg @lightweight
Did you see this thread (or have you followed these themes)?

I agree with you Wayne, that model seems intuitively attractive.

Will it be sustainable as servers fill up or bandwidth gets stretched, or as issues requiring delicate handling of socially complex situations multiply?

I'm curious whether any of that has started to feel like a burden, or whether there's data suggesting it might in the foreseeable future.

https://mastodon.oeru.org/@josh@sciences.social/109410527836709453

Josh Braun (@[email protected])

This is a really nice observation. While it's true that the research on concentration in new media is laggy, I'd suggest it's useful here to look to the political economy and material realities of previous communication systems. In particular, there are a number of important dynamics that have historically tended to shape the organization of telecommunication networks that have interesting implications for Mastodon. 2/

sciences.social
Show threadWayne Mackintosh 🇳🇿🐧Nov 26, 2022
@PeteForsyth @lightweight We have small instances, and they have been manageable thus far. But you're right, fiscal sustainability and the moderation of complex social challenges as we move into the future assuming steep growth curves will change the way we do things in our corner of the fediverse. Observing what others have been saying, we would be well advised to keep the user to moderator ratio below 1000:1. Better to close registrations than rush into bad decisions in the short term imo.
Show threadPete ForsythNov 26, 2022

I wasn't one of the earliest Twitter users, but I was there pretty early on. I remember a number of things (@ mentions, # hashtags, retweets, quote tweets) originating as users innovated with ways to *use* the software.

With Mastodon, we get a big population of people in a position to innovate with ways to *administer* their own neighborhood/instance. How do we perceive where the innovations are, and what is promising, and what has been tried and demonstrated not to work?

Show threadPete ForsythNov 26, 2022
https://mastodon.oeru.org/@thomasfuchs@hachyderm.io/109411108329740003
https://sciences.social/@josh/109410528615327916
https://mastodon.oeru.org/@lzg@mastodon.social/109412255872914124
https://mastodon.oeru.org/@Deglassco@mastodon.social/109393345036943720
https://dougbelshaw.com/blog/2022/11/25/defederation-and-governance-processes/
Thomas Fuchs 🕹️🔭:verified_paw: (@[email protected])

Fascinating to see tech people learn that setting up a Mastodon server, keeping it secure, paying the bills for hosting and the 24/7 devops... ...is the easy part. Proper steering of a community and keeping tabs on moderation is 95% of the work. Don't start a server if you're not willing to learn and do that.

Hachyderm.io
Show thread⁂ Fish Id WardrobeNov 26, 2022
@PeteForsyth I think you've already highlighted the problem I'd like to see solutions for:
"But even I don't have any sense of what issues our instance has confronted and how it's gone. Much less any other instance."
Show threadMatt HodgkinsonNov 26, 2022
@PeteForsyth The journalism could be akin to the Wikipedia Signpost.