Dan SinkerDec 17, 2022
Newsrooms should not spin up instances for their reporters partially because this is too new to dedicate strapped staff to, partially because layoffs mean reporters would lose their timelines bc you can't migrate posts, partially because newsrooms are *already* not great at social media policies, and mostly because the problem it ostensibly solves, verification, can be done by just sticking rel=me into author pages and letting reporters self-verify super easily wherever they set up shop here.
Show threadDan Sinker

Since this is getting some traction, I'll append with two additional thoughts:

I actually *do* think news orgs should spin up an instance for themselves, because [email protected] looks goofy, but reporters should set up where they want.

And "where they want" shouldn't probably all be on the same server bc that becomes a real tempting honeypot for defederation battles.

Dec 17, 2022 at 1:25pmWeb
Show threadMaria BustillosDec 17, 2022

@dansinker

All superexcellent points.

One thing I didn't realize at first is that you can be on many instances using the same email address. How does this affect your position, if at all?

100% agree there is huge value in splitting up the cost, time and energy required for moderation among many thousands of instances. Maybe this is a dimension of social life that should stay on a human scale, and never be automated.

Show threadDan SinkerDec 17, 2022
@maria I don't think most people want to spend time tending multiple versions of themselves on different instances. But also the expectations of the last 15+ years is not "one social profile for work, one for play" so I think that would be a pretty big shift.
Show threadMaria BustillosDec 17, 2022

@dansinker

Many, maybe most journalists seem to maintain alts for different things already. It might be analogous to email, where you maintain a more polite, professional one, and one for swearing like a costermonger.

I understand many in Mastodonia are on different instances specific to their hobbies &c (I've been on the same David Foster Wallace literature BBS since 2002 !! shoutout to @mattbucher )

Show threadDan SinkerDec 17, 2022
@maria email is the wrong analogy bc none of that is public-facing and also because there are long-established norms of having a "work" email. If we want to build out new norms, that's fine, but that's gonna be a long long long push up a hill.
Show thread"Extinct" OncelerDec 17, 2022
@dansinker I think independent reporters, or reporters who might one day be independent, shouldn't use their "news org" as their host. Also, I do not think corporate instances should be allowed to federate. Or at least not until Mastodon protects itself and us from them.
Show threadDan SinkerDec 17, 2022
@aka_quant_noir there's no "allowing" to federate in this system. You spin up, you connect, you're in. But also I'm curious, what protections do you mean?
Show thread"Extinct" OncelerDec 17, 2022
@dansinker Well there are instances that don't connect to other instances for various reasons. I'm not sure how that works, but that's what I meant. As to protections, I mean both protections against data harvesting and tracking by corporate interests, like finding ways to insert pixels into threads like Facebook does, or ads like Google does, and protection against an instance overwhelming the others or poisoning the well with commercial content. I would like to be able to protect myself by having options to suppress links in my feed, or other non-ascii content, to have a separate feed for boosted content vs original content, for instance.
Show threadDan SinkerDec 17, 2022
@aka_quant_noir I mean a lot of that isn't going to happen at the instance level anyway. If these were my core concerns, I'd be far more concerned about very good client software hoovering up users more than, say the Washington Post starting an instance.
Show thread"Extinct" OncelerDec 17, 2022
@dansinker Fair enough. I just don't want to suddenly find myself in another space unprotected against corporate domination, visible or invisible.
Show threadJacob Kramer-DuffieldDec 17, 2022
@dansinker yup to all that. I have seen some suggestions of unions for writers spinning up instances, which I think would be a good idea generally and also at least a nice *option* for folks to have outside of their current employer.
Show threadAnilDec 17, 2022
@dansinker seems clear that writers’ unions should stand up instances too
Show threadJari PennanenDec 17, 2022

@anildash @dansinker @jeffjarvis In Germany DJU (Journalist Union) does have instance: https://dju.social/about

But it's Germany, they love #Mastodon already.

Mastodon

Die Deutsche Journalistinnen- und Journalisten-Union (dju) in ver.di bietet hier einen Raum für Medienmenschen und alle, die an einem freundlichen und konstruktiven Austausch interessiert sind.

Mastodon, gehostet auf dju.social
Show threadMark VanderbeekenDec 17, 2022
@Ciantic @anildash @dansinker @jeffjarvis
"Malware" according to the birdsite.
Show threadtobieDec 17, 2022
@Ciantic @anildash @dansinker @jeffjarvis I've noticed the German affection for Mastodon. It's amazing to see. Do you have any idea why this is the case? More skepticism maybe about power and capital concentration and more of a willingness to do something?
Show threadJeff JarvisDec 17, 2022
@tobie @Ciantic @anildash @dansinker Its creator is German. That has something to do with it, I think. It's not American.
Show threadTed Curran M. Ed.Dec 17, 2022
@jeffjarvis @tobie @Ciantic @anildash @dansinker Germany/Europe in general has been much more proactive about privacy for years than we are in the US. Our homegrown BigTech industry has altered our culture and laws to create a blind spot around privacy.
Show threadtobieDec 17, 2022

@tedcurran @jeffjarvis @Ciantic @anildash @dansinker This is very true and I think the US is wedded to the idea of the inventor/genius. It's as if Americans are always looking for a latter-day Thomas Edison.

An article like this--focusing on Walter Isaacson's reverence for Musk, Jobs, and Gates--is typical.
https://www.cnbc.com/2022/09/14/walter-isaacson-key-to-elon-musk-bill-gates-steve-jobs-success.html

This personality trait helped Musk, Gates and Jobs succeed, says biographer: 'It's something a lot of these people have'

Biographer Walter Isaacson says Elon Musk, Bill Gates and Steve Jobs share a key trait: “They’re not looking for affection from the person sitting across from them."

CNBC
Show threadtobieDec 17, 2022
@jeffjarvis @Ciantic @anildash @dansinker Oops. I should have known that. Thanks for pointing it out.
Show thread∞ Monkeys on a MastodonDec 17, 2022
@anildash @dansinker That makes sense.
Show threadmcuellarDec 17, 2022
@dansinker 💯
Show threadDiver84Dec 17, 2022
@dansinker I agree
Show threadDaniel SmithDec 17, 2022
@dansinker yep, an ancient precedent would be Usenet, where orgs (such as universities) had top level newsgroup hierarchies. Fast Forward to 2022 :)
Show threadRev. GothAliceDec 17, 2022

@dansinker I've been suggesting to my company to do the same. I mean, we've already got a .cloud domain, why not a .social one? Then we can FINALLY ABANDON THE HALF DOZEN TERRIBLE SOLUTIONS WE'VE TRIED SO FAR.

"Updates from your company!" are the worst e-mails I receive. at least Mastodon lets me filter by content language. (We're a very French org.)

Link-based verification is "okay" (for those technically inclined to check it), but alice@<company>.social is rather harder to spoof!

Show threadenmodo ⚛️ 🧬 🇺🇦 🍉Dec 17, 2022

@dansinker we do however need better support for recovering content. The first server I picked, apparently a good one, died shortly after due to the recent influx.

Everything I'd posted was lost plus my account too which I had not backed up because I'm new. Fortunately because I was new I only lost a few posts and had no big list of followers to recreate.

So be warned it can happen.

Show threadBill Of Earth42Dec 17, 2022
@enmodo @dansinker the German government is getting interested in running instances, maybe the USA could do the same? @potus are you out here?
Show threadFrankie SaxxDec 21, 2022
@dansinker
I think it's reasonable to have a work fedi and a personal fedi (or fedis) just like ppl have multiple email addresses
@Ronkjeffries
Show threadCyber YukiDec 21, 2022
@dansinker So... reporters should set up their own instance each. Interesting... 🤔