Kit Rhett Aultman@epilanthanomai #SignsAndCodes I woke up to multiple follows from the instance "soc.ua-fediland.de" this morning. One of which, "@[email protected]" contained Ukranian neo-Nazi imagery. The other two featured the names of weapon systems. Instance rules in translation smacked of "free speech zone" stuff. I have strong sympathies for Ukraine, but this is way over the line. I'm defederating the instance and any users here are welcome to appeal that to me.
@epilanthanomai #SignsAndCodes Actually, looking at the instance from my alt-accounts, it doesn't appear to be wall-to-wall Azov material, and I don't want to cut off a Ukrainian-speaking instance unless we must. One of our users is my dear friend @scalene who may be impacted by cutting off federation to a Ukrainian instance. So, I'm willing to consider removing the block if it's too heavy a moderation tool.
Masha Medvednik@roadriverrail @epilanthanomai ok I need to get up to speed to the context of this thread. What’s an instance? And what do you mean by wall-to-wall Azov material? Would love to understand the key issues in this debate. Pls and thank you!
@scalene @epilanthanomai No problem. This morning, I woke up to notifications that I was being followed by three accounts from the soc.ua-fediland.de instance. These included "Ukrainian_Patriot", "glory_Himars", and "Javelina". All mass-followed multiple accounts here, consistent with bot/troll activity. "Ukrainian_Patriot" also had a banner pic of soldiers apparently holding flags with swastikas on them. Out of an abundance of caution, I blocked the whole server, but I can undo that.
I Forget@roadriverrail I get a 404 when I go to those three account pages at that instance. Possibly they've been shut down?
@epilanthanomai I'll believe that. That's enough proof to me that someone is at the wheel.
@epilanthanomai @scalene #SignsAndCodes I have removed the full instance block and we'll take a policy of going after individual offender accounts in the future. Thanks for the patience and discourse. This is why we have an open process here.
@roadriverrail @epilanthanomai ok thank you for explaining. Yea, certain details in the names alone make me feel uncomfortable… this [how Mastodon community networking works] is all new to me, but malicious trolls and bad online actors are not! I do hope to connect with fellow Ukrainian weirdos on here at some point so I appreciate the consideration! And for taking swift action.