PuddinDec 30, 2022
Ricardo Harvin

Hey kids, I hate to share bad news but the racists are here. Still low-key, but definitely seeing more of them in the last several days.

Just blocked one who's doing a year-end rundown of his social media apps like Parler, Gettr, and Gab.

Another block today was a supposed Ukrainian arguing with several Black people and using "pidgin" English in their bio where they explicitly state they're neither Black, nor African.

Not yet overt, but the wave is clearly here.

Be prepared, Block liberally.

Dec 29, 2022 at 9:38pmWeb
Show threadRicardo HarvinDec 30, 2022

I have never trended on any platform before.

I'm just happy that my first time is not for being the (or a) main character (no one could top Andrew Tate today 🤣)

So the Trending function *does* work in #Tooot, which I checked again so I could disparage it for consistently featuring stale content as trending 😬

#HumbleBrag let me have this.

Show threadJasmine 🏳️‍⚧️Dec 29, 2022
@ricardoharvin Yup! Transphobes too. Quite a few “just joking“ types.
Show threadRicardo HarvinDec 29, 2022
@womanontherun Yeah, I blocked one yesterday over their bio.
Show threadJasmine 🏳️‍⚧️Dec 29, 2022
@ricardoharvin When I was younger I was very much that which does not kill you makes you stronger. But, I don‘t want to be stronger. I just want to be left in peace.
Show threadRicardo HarvinDec 29, 2022
@womanontherun "I'm too old for this 💩" is my mantra.
Show threadAmandaDec 29, 2022
@ricardoharvin @womanontherun Swedish mastodon just had its first major fediblock conflict around some of the local mainstream fash-type people showing up on one of the big generalist instances and the admin doing the usual “well they haven’t threatened to murder anyone yet!” Free Speech crap so I can confirm your observations I guess
Show threadRicardo HarvinDec 29, 2022
@amanda @womanontherun Yes, this is the kind of trend I'm seeing.
Show threadJasmine 🏳️‍⚧️Dec 29, 2022
@ricardoharvin Pretty much 👵🏻
Show threadSherri G., PhD ♿🌈Dec 29, 2022
@womanontherun
Okay this is truth right here. That's all I want too. Thank you for this.
@ricardoharvin
Show threada.AlbiDec 30, 2022

@womanontherun
Abso-fucking-lutely this.

Can I boost this?

Show threadSherri G., PhD ♿🌈Dec 29, 2022
@womanontherun
Been on the lookout for transphobes too. I hate the "just joking" types for sure.
@ricardoharvin
Show threadHaplogroup News    Dec 29, 2022
@ricardoharvin

Oh yes. They are here and always have been here. We aggressively defederate their servers once we ID them.
Show threadRicardo HarvinDec 29, 2022
@HaplogroupNews I'm not talking about servers, but individual accounts on my server, and other large instances.
Show threadHaplogroup News    Dec 29, 2022
@ricardoharvin

Right. If it is a reputable server, report them. You may need to briefly explain in the report why using someone else's dialect is racist. It seems obvious and overt to me though.
Show threadRicardo HarvinDec 29, 2022
@HaplogroupNews That's exactly what I'm doing. I know how to deal with racists, I have 64+ years experience.
Show threadBonnie SchwertnerDec 29, 2022
@ricardoharvin I block all hate.
Show threadRicardo HarvinDec 29, 2022
@schfinkes This is the only way.
Show threadShield MaidenDec 29, 2022
@ricardoharvin I'd so love a little counter against my block list and then a nice emoji of a firework when I hit say my first 1000...
Show threadWar on the Castle, Peace in the Valley🛡️🍉🇵🇸 🏳️‍🌈 🇺🇦Dec 29, 2022

@ricardoharvin

Re: "the racists are here".

They have been all along. Most of the harassment has seemed to be coming from sites in the #fediverse which are not party to the #MastodonCovenant but I believe you that there may be some now infiltrating Mastodon instances.

BTW there is a #disinformation tactic in use of trying to portray #Ukraine and the #Ukrainian cause as some kind of #racism based on a bunch of lies such as the canard that Ukrainians are "blue-eyed blonde" racists when historically #Russian chauvinists and German Nazis tried to portray Ukrainians are "dark" and dubiously even "white". Not to mention that the #1 criminal promoter of racist movements and ethnic strife is #VladimirPutin who is behind a systematic effort to weaponize #immigration conflict and #nativism world wide.

Show threadMoondoggieDec 30, 2022
@theghostoftomjoad Was just thinking what better way to push Putin's (the actual fascist) lie that he only invaded Ukraine because they're Nazis than to have trolls pose as Ukrainians and spew racism.
Show threadNeil Federspiel 🇨🇦Dec 29, 2022

@ricardoharvin

Standing by at the ready.

@JonChevreau

Show threadBellis ColdwineDec 29, 2022
@ricardoharvin I just blocked an evangelical Christian attacking me for having a cat instead of kids. Yes, I'm serious.
Show threadRicardo HarvinDec 29, 2022
@BellisColdwine I... 🤷🏿‍♂️
Show threadAmandaDec 30, 2022
@BellisColdwine @ricardoharvin as someone with a four month old and a one and a half year old dog, aka the inverse of that; not a bad call
Show threadEl DuvelleDec 29, 2022
@ricardoharvin
We can also report them right?
Show threadRicardo HarvinDec 29, 2022
@elduvelle Yes!
Show threadSteve WilliamsDec 30, 2022
@ricardoharvin And report? Is that safe to do here? How anonymous is the complaint?
Show threadIrvin LinDec 30, 2022

@blabberlicious reports go to the admin of YOUR server. The admin of your server will know who you are and who is reporting. But the person you are reporting will not know.

You also have the option of also reporting to the admin of the server the person is on. I believe your identity is not given to that admin, nor will the person be told who you are.

But I’d love to hear confirmation from #admins about anonymity of reports. I might wrong?

@ricardoharvin

Show threadSteve WilliamsDec 30, 2022
@eatthelove thanks for the clarification.
Show threadRicardo HarvinDec 31, 2022

@blabberlicious I always do when it's *clearly* racism.

As I stated, it's not always so but, as a 64 year old Black man in the U.S., I know it when I read it.

And I've read reports from Black people who've been kicked off of instances for reporting racism, and I don't want to overwhelm my mod.

I don't think they'd ban me for reporting racism but, again, with my life experience, I don't want to push my luck by "overreporting".

Show threadUnprecedented 2023Dec 30, 2022
@ricardoharvin Oh boy. I came across one who did not appreciate my support to Ukrain. Looked at the bio and quickly blocked it. It is unrealistic to think the haters will stay away.
Show threadMister ShadeDec 30, 2022
@ricardoharvin The far-right religious lunatics have arrived here as well. They’re allowed to blurt their nonsense, and I am also allowed to block them.
Show threadPatty KimuraDec 30, 2022
@ricardoharvin Just came across a Bro with 1200 followers. He calls himself an American Liberal with every hashtag he could appropriate. Not an American Liberal.
Show threadAdrianne L. WatsonDec 30, 2022
@ricardoharvin Thanks for the heads up. Report first then block the racists! I pinned on my timeline that I have no tolerance for racists & they will be blocked. I’m not surprised they are coming here because most of us left the bird. So they came here to taunt us instead.
Show threadLucius Annaeus SenecaDec 30, 2022
@ricardoharvin Zero tolerance. One troll post and they're out.
Show threadRDS (shawphd on Twitter)Dec 30, 2022
@ricardoharvin @Annaeus Some I’ll even block before that, based on what I find on their profile!
Show threadLucius Annaeus SenecaDec 31, 2022
@shawrd773 @ricardoharvin
I do that too... I popped on the old bird app today and just blocked a few dozen obvious racist trolls. They are easy to find. All I do is look for a post by some respected progressive figure and they are attracted to those like flies to dung...
Show threadCreatrix TiaraDec 30, 2022
@ricardoharvin they've been here from the beginning, I got my first wave of virality here back in 2017 coz I got harassed so hard by an instance full of them
Show threadRicardo HarvinDec 30, 2022

@creatrixtiara I'm talking individuals *across* instances, not from specific instances.

Racists have always been everywhere, I am seeing more frequent examples that are much less subtle than mass attacks.

Show threadCreatrix TiaraDec 30, 2022
@ricardoharvin yeah, that's always been a thing here too alas
Show threadAbuela 🪁Dec 30, 2022
@ricardoharvin We must be vigilant.
Show threadrazorsmileDec 31, 2022

@ricardoharvin

Not surprising. Those folks don't get their jollies by being racist amongst themselves; they *need* victims/targets, the inexorable bullying impulse won't let them do otherwise.

They were always going to follow you here.

Show threadRicardo HarvinDec 31, 2022
@[email protected] Yes, yes you were.
Show threadSoloflow / killerklownDec 31, 2022

@ricardoharvin not trying to defend the pidgin user you mentioned, but on a strict linguistic definition, a pidgin does not have to contain any African roots.
There is for example a pidgin based on English and mandarin that was long used in Singapore.
Just for your information.

And I love pidgins and their transformative process into a full blown language (a creole, then. Also not strictly bound to African roots)

Show thread"Extinct" OncelerDec 31, 2022
@ricardoharvin And report ruthlessly. Get them off Masto instances that we can't block.
Show threadAnnaIrac ☮️🫂🕉️🏳️‍🌈Dec 31, 2022
@ricardoharvin puke
Show threadRolandCuthbertDec 31, 2022
@ricardoharvin But they cannot thrive here. On other platforms, they create conflict to drive conversation and clicks. That doesn't work on Mastodon. There are too many places where we can have constructive conversations
Show threadHbardellJan 2, 2023
@ricardoharvin will do
Show threadCatherine is not complacentJan 2, 2023
@ricardoharvin got my first “but actually” post the other day.
Show threadDebbie WadeJan 2, 2023
@ricardoharvin thank you for the warning
Show threadShell SheddyJan 2, 2023
@ricardoharvin
Had someone challenging me about posting a reference post about Concentration camp origins in USA w/Native American incarceration--
Native American Concentration Camps were noted by Hitler(he also appropriated double bolt for the SS gestapo&the Swastika from honored Native symbols)
&she was "gatekeeping "or dogging me about about simply noting it;told her I was just sharing a simple reference post&could not condone continued erasure of my ancestors-
Surprised I had to block her!
Show threadRicardo HarvinJan 2, 2023
@ShellSheddy Hitler also used our Jim Crow laws as a model for the antisemitic Nuremberg laws.
Show threadMissyintheDot↔️Jan 2, 2023
@ricardoharvin discourse.tv which has at least one instance here on Mastsdon is pushing the right wing anti LBGTQI slurs. Be ready, mods and admins.
Show threadNosaj  Jan 3, 2023

@ricardoharvin

While blocking is a good tool, if you're using the web interface I also recommend Reporting egregious breaches, both to your local moderation team (the default report) and also forward the report to the instance the perpetrator is on (an additional checkbox on the web interface).

This allows for the both your moderators and the other servers moderators to be made aware of the bad behaviour of the user. To be fair, your moderation team probably can't do much about the user on another server, but they can monitor the other server's response to the bad behaviour. If the other server takes no action, that is a statement in itself.

Community responsibility builds better communities. Blocking so you can't see them doesn't stop the underlying problem, which is the problem user.

#KeepFediverseClean

Show threadRicardo HarvinJan 3, 2023
@nosaj Why would you presume I wouldn't report and haven't reported *egregious* breaches?