palastaNov 27, 2022
Nathan 🏳️‍🌈

Too many people are used to centralised social media and websites in general.

Mastodon is like email in the technical sense, but it's more like Minecraft. You can join a server, but you don't have a right to be there. You're asked to follow the rules. If you piss off the admin you'll probably get banned because they don't want you there. Getting banned from one server doesn't mean you can't join another.

That's the Internet. Welcome. Be gay. Have fun.

Nov 25, 2022 at 11:35pmWeb
Show threadDoug Massey ✅Nov 25, 2022
@nathan 💯
Show threadMichael 🏳️‍🌈Nov 25, 2022
@nathan I'm really enjoying this minecraft server, cheers 
Show threadtheRICHARDexpNov 25, 2022
@nathan the decentralized aspect is what I keeping a lot of people I know from joining. It doesn’t feel user friendly from a description of what it all is.
Show threadNathan 🏳️‍🌈Nov 25, 2022

@therichardexp Send them this:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=IPSbNdBmWKE

What is Mastodon?

YouTube
Show threadtheRICHARDexpNov 26, 2022
@nathan thanks!
Show threadhailee she/herNov 26, 2022
@nathan @therichardexp super cute video and great explainer, I've saved this to also send to people thanks 😊
Show threadkarenNov 26, 2022
@therichardexp @nathan hell of a lot more friendly than an app where people can tell trans ppl to die - but mastodon isn't for everyone and that's OK, I mean it's no different from different mobile phone networks but not everyone had to do the same thing
Show threadUn Mate🧉?Nov 25, 2022
@nathan so the Minecraft.lol server is officially a thing?
Show threadJaydn 🏳️‍🌈Nov 25, 2022
@nathan “Be gay, have fun” should be the server tagline 
Show threadBigJay 🏳️‍🌈Nov 25, 2022
@nathan
Show threadSabineNov 25, 2022
@nathan this is the benefit of Mastodon to me. I can move into whatever space feel safest, and interact outward from there
Show threadFriendly to y'allNov 25, 2022
@nathan I feel like it's a mix of discord and twitter
Show threadJemfellpoetry 🏳️‍🌈 🏳️‍⚧️Nov 26, 2022
@friendly @nathan the good bits of both
Show threadhughNov 25, 2022
@nathan yesss 🚀 refreshing to be back in these kind of community interest, community moderated spaces.
Show threadCarlos SolísNov 26, 2022
@nathan

> Getting banned from one server doesn't mean you can't join another.

And that is at the same time useful and horrific
Show threadLesley Carhart Nov 26, 2022
@nathan love ya, pal
Show threadMacfarlanaticNov 26, 2022
@nathan Good to know....thanks!
Show threadGramixNov 26, 2022
@nathan mastodon.lol sponsored modded mc server when?
Show threadwb x64Nov 26, 2022

@nathan indeed, the speed and ease with which someone can be banned on a small/open chat service/channel/forum (IRC, Matrix, PhpMyBB, Discourse) versus all the free speech hand-wringing about someone being banned on a corporate network (FB, Twitter) has really left assholes feeling entitled.

You're entitled to nothing on the internet except the IP address you pay your ISP for. Useful-capitalist-idiots acting as an anonymous proxy for your assholery just convinced you otherwise.

Show threadwb x64Nov 26, 2022

@nathan I'm surprised at people saying that muting, blocking, and defederating can't scale, because done properly (proactively) it really can. Shitcan entire quadrants of the net for having a bad smell, it's not like there's a shortage of internet users to talk to.

The bigger question for me is about vetting new users and formalizing reputation systems like Fediblock, not how to have gigantic websites that are safe for millions (which mostly serves centrist corporate interests)

Show threadwb x64Nov 26, 2022

@nathan the bigger question of scale IMO is scaling instances' reputation and trust for new users who've never touched the Fediverse before. Those instances being popularly mentioned as having open registrations aren't necessarily ones we want people joining.

And then there's the "AOL Keyword" / "Gmail is email" / eternal september problem of a corporation embracing/extending/eliminating the open source protocol in favor of its interests, but that's just an internet problem.

Show threadwb x64Nov 26, 2022
@nathan my dad was signing up for forum services using open source software in order to figure out how to repair the family minivan when I was 11, and that worked fine for millions of information hubs for decades until reddit and Facebook targeted them for harvest. The idea that one "free" website *can* effectively protect the needs of millions of diverse people is kinda authoritarian/neoliberal on its face tbh. Each human contains multitudes, no library would hold everyone's books.
Show threadDavidNov 26, 2022
@wilbr @nathan I love the idea of a server shitcanning quadrants of the net for its users, but I'm a little afraid of coordinated multi-server shitcanning because they "smell bad" because it can severely limit diversity of thought. Is that a thing other people find scary?
Show threadwb x64Nov 26, 2022
@ratamacue @nathan no. I've been around the internet and the planet enough to know that "diversity of thought" at this point on the English speaking internet is essentially a euphemism for "banning racist ideas is worse than actual genocide." We don't need to entertain fascist ideas in order to have a healthy society and worthwhile discussion, indeed a healthy society will excise such ideas like the cancerous sociopathic tumors they are.
Show threadwb x64Nov 26, 2022
@ratamacue @nathan I'm also not suggesting that giant chunks of the Fediverse should all defederate with other giant chunks based on whims. I'm saying that a good moderation/admin team of a reasonably sized instance can defederate with other instances proactively and liberally because (a) there's usually little to no immediate downside, and (b) it can always be undone with a button click. (Allow-listing is more secure than block-listing.)
Show threadwb x64Nov 26, 2022
@ratamacue @nathan if we use the email analogy, there's absolutely nothing wrong with me blocking entire continents worth of IP addresses from hitting my self-hosted email server. There's not even a free speech argument to be made. I simply do not need to make my inbox available to a computer sitting in Myanmar, nor do I expect I will ever receive such an email, it's entirely my prerogative as the caretaker of my home and life.
Show threadkarenNov 26, 2022
@wilbr @ratamacue @nathan brilliantly put. Diversity of thought is just 4 chan for allows hate speech
Show threadPhantom Kitty (Tech)Nov 26, 2022
@nathan I totallyy agree. I joined a server and started following content that the instance owner did not want to see come up in their local or federated timeline. It was a new instance so the owner didn't think to post the rules yet. We talked, I unfollowed the accounts he didn't want to see, and move everything over to here. It was kept civil, no arguing, and he appreciated my understanding. That is how it should be done.
Show threadRichard BarrellNov 26, 2022
@nathan Ohhhh yeah, explaining concepts around instancing and sharding to people is so much easier after they've played Minecraft a bit on a couple different servers. <3
Show threadxmanmonkNov 26, 2022
@nathan Well, I wasn't going to be gay, but since you said to, I will :)
Show threadToddNov 26, 2022
@nathan interesting analogy to Minecraft.
Show threadFrank The TankNov 26, 2022
@nathan is the gay required? Or just the fun? Maybe both?
Show threadStory Time with RobNov 26, 2022
@nathan I'll be gay up to the point of sleeping with men ('cause that's just not my jam). But I'm thankful for all the real gays being their gay selves.
Show threadAaron KulbeNov 26, 2022
@maxamillion One reason why I run my own instance.
Show threadAmerikateNov 26, 2022
@nathan Out of curiosity, if someone were banned from Server A, sets up a new account in Server B, could they migrate their followers and such to Sever B from A or would they be starting over from scratch?
Show threadNathan 🏳️‍🌈Nov 26, 2022
@amerikate Yep, they can, generally. Admins do have a feature which allows them to instantly delete the data of a suspended account so that information can't be migrated to a different server. It's only used in a extreme cases though.
Show threadSomul 🏳️‍🌈Nov 26, 2022
@nathan I actually used Minecraft servers to explain mastodon to my husband a few days ago lmao
Show threadanakita [MUWDWED]Nov 26, 2022
@nathan be gay have fun 💪
Show threadMariapocalypseNov 26, 2022
@nathan and I think it really underlines that the rules for one instance may be different to those on another. There might be those with fairer disciplinary policies and a chance to appeal. Indeed, they may be fine with hate speech. You could say that's a feature rather than a bug. Equally though, if you run such a server you also may be defederated.
Show threadsigi714Nov 26, 2022
@nathan I grew up with newsgroup and I'm back into something similar, without worrying about the costs and connection speed.
Show threadC. L. Curole, mostly tired.Nov 26, 2022
@nathan It reminds me of Usenet before Usenet got taken over by spam bots.
Show threadKévinNov 26, 2022

@nathan my BBS upbringing has prepared me for this moment. Wikipedia article linked as I'm confident very few people will understand that reference 👴🏿 ☎️

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bulletin_board_system

Bulletin board system - Wikipedia

Show threadStaren, the Last StardaughterNov 26, 2022
@nathan @rabbit Also, joining the fediverse and choosing instances to make accounts on feels a lot like finding places to set up your base in minecraft SMP; maybe you find a more fitting place later but have an old or secondary base somewhere, and also you go check out your friends' bases and get to see where they set up!
Show threadslootNov 27, 2022
@nathan what's to stop the nazholes from just creating an account on a different server/instance and continuing to harass the same person/group? Isn't that an unwinnable game of whackamole where the winner has the most stamina?
Show threadNathan 🏳️‍🌈Nov 27, 2022

@sloot Apply the same logic to centralized websites and you still have the same problem. The difference is the community looks out for people instead of some low paid content moderators who aren't allowed to go off script.

My post is about people joining from Twitter, not reading the rules, getting banned, and then tweeting "I got banned from Mastodon".

Show threadslootNov 27, 2022
@nathan sorry. What you wrote was great, and made a lot of sense. It just made me realize that this discussion of banning bad actors doesn't seem to take into account that people can just join a different federated server.
Free anonymous email accounts means that this has always been a problem (even on centralized services).
ig has an option to also block any new accounts the user creates, but that's probably based on honesty and using a central email address for everything.
I like Mastodon and want it to work, just problem solving through the creation of many accounts.
Show threadNubblyciousNov 30, 2022
@nathan I just call it Reddit, but with greater subreddit autonomy.