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 SinkerDec 17, 2022

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.

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 Sinker
@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.
Dec 17, 2022 at 1:41pmWeb
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.