Kathryn TewsonDec 12, 2022

The different Twitter-exodus social-media platforms as if they were neighborhoods, so far:

Mastodon/the Fediverse: the neighborhood around a university with a ton of cool houses full of cool people, but half of them are out of milk or toilet paper or both

Post: giant gleaming planned community with nothing walkable and a dubious HOA

Hive: initially-kickass converted warehouse that turns out to have two toilets and one exit and no fire suppression

Show threadDanDec 12, 2022
@kathryntewson or in internet terms:
Mastadon: a PHPbb forum that most of your friends are on, with strange rules that befuddles newcomers but has a friendly group of kids who help people get through it.
Post: Your ISP tries to setup an AOL competitor
Hive: That guy in ‘99 who still runs a dial-up only BBS and has some very specific feelings on aluminum fil and it’s ability to protect from EM waves.
Show threadKathryn TewsonDec 12, 2022
@Danielsand I worry about volunteer-only moderation and scaling. Moderation at scale is hard, punitive work that nobody can do without risking permanent trauma (not kidding) and that’s not something we can institutionally expect people to do for free.
Show threadDanDec 12, 2022
@kathryntewson absolutely. It’s why this really does feel like a Forum to me (or Reddit for today’s kids). Some federations are doing a great job, others…not so much. But in any way it only works for small communities.
If Mastadon wants to grow to truly be a big player, it needs to centralize moderation and built a T&S team of true experts. Hopefully by poaching the fired Twitter people.
Show threadTim PalmerDec 12, 2022
@Danielsand @kathryntewson
Yeah, no. There is no “Mastodon” to want or need or centralize anything. I’m fine with whatever it becomes as long as a “Mastodon” than can want or need or centralize doesn’t appear. It’s a decentralized federation and that’s it’s strength.
Show threadDan
@timpalmer @kathryntewson I hear you. I’m on the fence. I think that to truly grow they need to figure out proper moderation. Because they will find themselves with an influx of Nazis at some point. Especially when Twitter dissolves.
Dec 12, 2022 at 5:37pmWeb
Show threadDanDec 12, 2022
@timpalmer @kathryntewson If this was a collection of isolated communities they can get away with volunteer moderators. But the fact that you can cross servers and be a part of any discussion complicates it significantly.
Ex: Bob turns out to be a milkshake duck. How is that handled? How can you prevent him for harassing everywhere if it requires each federation to ban?
Mastadon as a service needs clear policy answers and volunteers won’t ever provide that.
Show threadTim PalmerDec 12, 2022
@kathryntewson @Danielsand
Speaking only for myself and looking at the track record of for profit companies’ centralized moderation, I’m very happy seeing what the fediverse grows into. I have more faith in the actions of many people working towards related goals than any single organization.
As for the duck, individuals block him, and if he pisses enough people off, his instance gets largely defederated. Maybe he winds up in his own pond of a few instances.
Show threadKathryn TewsonDec 12, 2022
@timpalmer The worse problem is that in order for Bob's milkshake duckery to be dealt with, someone has to look at it. At scale, that means you get people who spend 8-10 hours a day, every day, looking at horrific content. It's bad for people; you can't expect them to do it for free.
@Danielsand
Show threadKathryn TewsonDec 12, 2022
@Danielsand The nazis aren't going to be the worst of it. the CSAM is. @timpalmer
Show threadDanDec 12, 2022
@kathryntewson @timpalmer oh absolutely. I hope that the people behind Mastadon are giving Federation operators legal training for when that occurs.