Tallish_TomJan 6, 2023
Get On The Blower

In an unexpected turn, we've found ourselves blocking the official #RaspberryPi instance today, basically until they put an adult in charge of it.

If anyone really wants to learn how a relatively beloved and respected brand can burn a staggering amount of good will in record time, @aurynn has written up a very good case study of the event:
https://eiara.nz/posts/2022/Dec/09/a-case-study-on-raspberry-pis-incident-on-the-fediverse/

A Case Study on Raspberry Pi’s Incident on the Fediverse

A short case study covering what happened with Raspberry Pi on the Fediverse.

Dec 9, 2022 at 4:17amWeb
Show threadvirkonDec 9, 2022
@geton @aurynn Thank you for the write up. That doesn't sound good.
Show threadAurynn ShawDec 9, 2022
@virkon42 @geton thank you!
Show threadAnnaDec 9, 2022
@geton @aurynn I find this all utterly fascinating … but must be a lot of work to keep on top of. Much appreciated Blower team!
Show threadLoneRiderDec 9, 2022

@geton @aurynn

Well done. They handled that very badly...

Show threadLee 🌏Dec 9, 2022
@johnk @geton @aurynn
But should they be blocked for it?
I'm not sure on this one.
Convince me I'm wrong....
Show threadAurynn ShawDec 9, 2022
@MrLee @johnk @geton No.
Show threadHope 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 SNPDec 9, 2022
@geton @aurynn I know very little technically about their products, but this was like watching a slow motion car crash. It will be the go-to example of how not to do PR for a very long time!
Show threadPoeticLicenseDKDec 9, 2022
@geton @aurynn
Utterly fascinating.
Show threadNaomi HeartbreakDec 9, 2022
@geton @aurynn and just when I was thinking mastodon is not like twitter, here comes a whole bunch of people congratulating themselves for managing to stamp out someone who made a joke they didn't get. Holy crap.
Show threadBridget ClinchDec 9, 2022

@paranoiapen @geton @aurynn except it wasn't a joke they didn't get, it was praising someone from a hugely problematic institution who cause a lot of unjustifiable and targeted pain towards minorities.

When people pointed that out, they were dicks about it rather than listening.

Show threadGeorge William HerbertDec 9, 2022
@BridgetClinch @paranoiapen @geton @aurynn yeah, wasn’t a joke. Treating it like it was wasn’t appropriate.
Show threadNaomi HeartbreakDec 9, 2022
@BridgetClinch @geton @aurynn by hugely problematic institution do you mean the UK police? Maybe I'm confused.
Show threadBridget ClinchDec 9, 2022
@paranoiapen @geton @aurynn yes
Show threadOlavDec 9, 2022
@geton @aurynn this is an honest question, in case I missed something: are they being defederated for doing something egregious, or simply because they're complete assholes?
Show threadMike [SEC=OFFICIAL]Dec 9, 2022
@olavf @geton @aurynn what exactly do you imagine is the difference between those two things?
Show threadOlavDec 9, 2022
@mike @geton @aurynn the difference being a couple assholes is something an individual should decide. Admin level instance blocking needs to be for egregious reasons. A last resort. Otherwise the Fediverse will actually disintegrate. You might have things okay in your TOS but someone might not like and you're next.
Show threadMike [SEC=OFFICIAL]Dec 9, 2022

@olavf @geton @aurynn what exactly do you think isn't egregious about the official brand account of an electronics company being indistinguishable from a "couple assholes"?

The fedi is working just fine, mate.

Show threadOlavDec 9, 2022
@mike @geton @aurynn they're not actually doing anything egregious though. To my knowledge they're not harassing people. They're not abusing hashtags. They're not even posting disturbing images. They're just (apparently) assholes, which should be an individual opinion since it doesn't really affect anyone that isn't following them.
Show threadAurynn ShawDec 9, 2022
@olavf @mike @geton the best part about fedi is that you’re entitled to find an admin that believes that, and move there.
Show threadOlavDec 9, 2022
@aurynn @mike @geton blocking entire instances because your admin doesn't like them is not the best part of Fedi. I'm not just talking about RPi. admins want t to make their own corner that will get smaller and smaller as they keep ganging up on the s.ite of the week. I suppose I wish them well and come back someday
Show threadAurynn ShawDec 9, 2022
@olavf @mike @geton it works amazingly well for us, and if you don’t like it, you can find an instance that doesn’t defed, so we can defed it for you.
Show threadOlavDec 9, 2022
@aurynn @mike @geton y'all have made your choice, and I think we can agree to disagree. Just don't defederate the instance I'm on for my account
Show threadMike [SEC=OFFICIAL]Dec 9, 2022
@olavf @aurynn @geton I don't agree to disagree. You're just wrong.
Show threadOlavDec 9, 2022
@mike @aurynn @geton okay
Show threadTim Fisher 🇺🇸Dec 9, 2022
@mike @olavf @aurynn @geton Wow. Now who's being the dick?
Show threadMike [SEC=OFFICIAL]Dec 9, 2022

@aurynn @olavf @geton we have the users we have BECAUSE we do proactive work like this.

They are not our hostages, and you're not even one of our community so why are we even having this discussion? Go run your own place however you want and we'll look after ours.

Show threadOlavDec 9, 2022
@mike @aurynn @geton I thought we were talking about the Fediverse in general, but you have your rights and I will bow out now
Show threadTim Fisher 🇺🇸Dec 9, 2022
@aurynn @olavf @mike @geton The irony of this comment is absolutely incredible.
Show threadAurynn ShawDec 9, 2022
@tf @olavf @mike @geton What irony? Instances that don't defederate get themselves on fediblock pretty quickly.
Show threadTim Fisher 🇺🇸Dec 9, 2022
@aurynn @olavf @mike @geton Okay, when two admins don't get along, you believe defederation is the optimal path forward. Anyone that doesn't agree with you should also be defederated. But disagreement is not an isolated condition, it's humanity. The policy that rudeness should be met with retaliation, escalation, and ultimately defederation is just plain wrong. Long term, such a policy leaves everyone as an island. How is that good for Fedi?
Show threadAurynn ShawDec 9, 2022

@tf @olavf @mike @geton The Fedi is a loose federation of networks, not a single network. Anything you see as "the network" is an emergent effect of admins doing a lot of work defederating and cleaning up.

There is no contiguous whole, and never will be.

Admins are responsible to their own users. If they make bad choices and don't moderate properly get their instance defederated, their users will leave.

Show threadmathewDec 9, 2022
@geton @olavf @aurynn @mike What they did was piss off a bunch of admins. If they’d done the same on Twitter and been insulting to Elon Musk, they’d have been banned globally from the service. Here, because of federation, they’re only blocked by some parts of the network. So while you might not like it, what happened here was better than the alternative.
Show threadMike [SEC=OFFICIAL]Dec 9, 2022

@olavf well don't sign up on any of the instances I run then. Problem solved!

If you don't like my moderation policy, you get to fuck off elsewhere or run your own setup. How great is that?

Show threadQueen of AnxietyDec 9, 2022
@mike @geton @aurynn @olavf What do you think is the difference between “being an a-hole” and “harassing” someone? It sounds like “being an a-hole” to you means being free from the consequences of behavior that causes harm to others. If someone acted like this in person, would you think differently of them? Online spaces have generally lacked the ability to implement the same sort of social ostracizing that we might do to someone in person.
Show threadQueen of AnxietyDec 9, 2022
@mike @geton @aurynn @olavf The Fediverse allows us to say “I find this pattern of behavior unwelcome in my life.” You might not find it a problematic behavior, but clearly many people did. I invite you to consider why other people might not be willing to put up with behavior that you don’t seem to consider worth dealing with. Do you disagree with their position and think any negative response to it is warranted?
Show threadQueen of AnxietyDec 9, 2022
@mike @geton @aurynn @olavf If so, would you put up with the same behavior if you were in a store trying to address an issue with a product? If you felt a store employee was being an a-hole, and you tried to talk to them, and they responded with consistently a-hole-ish behavior, would you not be disinclined to shop there? Would you not tell your friends about how awful the experience was? Is your reaction online different than in person?
Show threadQueen of AnxietyDec 9, 2022
@mike @geton @aurynn @olavf If so, that may be because online spaces have been so controlling of what they show you and how unwilling they are to punish harmful acts that everybody just shrugs about it, even with so many stories of cyber-bullying leading to suicide. Please pause and think about these things before continuing to advocate for “a-holes.”
Show threadCellularMooseDec 9, 2022

@olavf
If you don't like the moderation on the instance you are on, you can very easily move to another one that matches your views better. Or start your own.

That way you can decide your own rules, and other people can decide theirs.

That's the beauty of this whole thing.

@mike @geton @aurynn

Show threadJames HenstridgeDec 9, 2022

@olavf @mike @geton @aurynn The normal response to a couple of arseholes on an instance is to report their posts and have that instance's moderators deal with the problem.

In this case, it's an instance with one user and they don't seem to be doing a good job of moderating themselves.

Show threadDave HounslowDec 9, 2022

@geton @aurynn
This is the first toot that I've seen since coming here that's actually angered me.

Reading the toot thread what I saw here was an pile on effectively on an individual because of their previous role as a police officer.

The, perhaps clumsy, responses from [email protected] were largely in defense of an individual that people directly or indirectly were suggesting was a bad actor.

The original pile on very much matters.

Show threadjohnaldisDec 9, 2022
@Thinkfoo @geton @aurynn The “original pile on” was because of how @Raspberry_Pi phrased their post. There’s no suggestion in that post that he regrets his past or is keen to move on from it. Obviously some people *are* going to respond to that in a genuinely childish manner, but the RPi social manager decided to berate and block everyone who responded with “poor choice of words, consider rephrasing” advice too.
Show threadDr Ro SmithDec 9, 2022
@johnaldis @Thinkfoo @geton @aurynn @Raspberry_Pi from what I saw (it might have degenerated) people were actually pretty polite to Toby, who said he was looking forward to doing completely different things to his previous work. It was the tone of Raspberry Pi's original post and subsequent gleeful defence of surveillance, insulting people for even very gentle suggestions that they tone it down, that was the problem.
Show threadjohnaldisDec 9, 2022
@Rhube @Thinkfoo @geton @aurynn @Raspberry_Pi I saw both helpful and worried criticism, but the RPi account claimed it was “bullying [this guy]” when everything I saw (helpful, concerned, or childish) was all aimed at RPi and their decision to hire and publicise like this.
Show thread[email protected]Dec 9, 2022

@Thinkfoo @geton @aurynn

If your former job was building hidden surveillance devices for the police of a country with a history of surveillance scandals you and your employer should be prepared to give a better statement than “chill or block“.

Especially if the company you are working for is sometimes catering to artists and some business partners like Korg do exclusively.

Show threadEniko (moved ➡ gamedev.place)Dec 9, 2022
@Thinkfoo @geton @aurynn idk what thread you read but the one I read started with people respectfully expressing concerns with the post and privacy concerns with employing a surveillance expert at an electronics development firm, followed by the rpi social media person being dismissive and insulting in addition to blocking people respectfully bringing these concerns. The pile on came /after/ the rpi tantrum, not before, and I feel like that's an important distinguishing factor
Show threadRyan Makes, DreamscaperDec 9, 2022

@geton @aurynn outstanding! Thanks for the good article.

Raspi is over now (and they're always out of stock anyways) so what's the Free and Open replacement?

Show threadAurynn ShawDec 9, 2022

@ryancoordinator @geton thank you!

Uhm, no idea! 😅

Show threadAnsel HalliburtonDec 9, 2022
@ryancoordinator @geton @aurynn It's a little bigger, but I put Linux on a second-hand very corporatey small-form-factor PC that was only $50. Works great. Not a direct replacement obviously (no GPIO for one) but good for some applications and cheap.
Show threadMilennialZeroDec 9, 2022
@geton @aurynn Excellent. Good analysis.
Show threadAurynn ShawDec 9, 2022
@MilennialZero @geton thank you!
Show threadmathewDec 9, 2022
@aurynn @MilennialZero @geton One minor issue: I think it would be good to explain that the UK police have a history of carrying out surveillance on peaceful campaigners, immigrant groups, and even elected MPs who are on the left. Readers might imagine that UK police surveillance is against criminals and terrorists, and not understand the objections people had to the original announcement.
Show threadAurynn ShawDec 9, 2022
@mathew @MilennialZero @geton As I live in Aoteraroa New Zealand, I didn't have that context, but that's helpful to know, thank you!
Show threadEd SuominenDec 9, 2022

Thanks @geton for pointing out this brilliantly written account of #fediblock in action by @aurynn

I’m a #twitterrefugee and liking it here more all the time. It’s the best of the old-school early #internet without the dial-up modem part.

Show threadAurynn ShawDec 9, 2022
@edsuom @geton thank you!
Show threadHoldfastDec 9, 2022
@geton @aurynn
I would say that the need for an adult is the main thing. I really don't think that the original remark was offensive, just silly
Show threadMichalis KamprianisDec 9, 2022
@geton @aurynn that is interesting, but what exactly does blocking achieve? And how is this more adult behavior than the one demonstrated by the raspberry team?
Show threadTim Fisher 🇺🇸Dec 9, 2022
@geton @aurynn Don't you find it a little bit weird that according to the Fediverse, pre-Twitter humans agreed on everything and there was only peace & harmony? That it was Twitter that ruined this paradise? It's just weird to me every disagreement that originates in the Fediverse somehow is the fault of Twitter not moderating itself.
Show threadTiesa MeskisDec 9, 2022
@geton @aurynn I was saddened to block their server, but it did turn me onto Pine SBCs and I feel like I found a new friend.