Don't like strangers busting into your mentions to give unsolicited opinions?
This could be solved if the Fediverse had better comment controls.
You should be able to make a read-only post if you want.
And you should be able to make a public post that's only writeable to followers.
You should also be able to lock a thread if it becomes a vector for abuse.
"Just make locked posts" is the worst response to this because that so-called "solution" basically tells people to reduce their visibility.
Many people don't want their visibility to be reduced.
However, they want a reduction in harassment.
In fact, much of the "I don't want search to exist" crowd exists due to lack of comment control.
People don't want to be found on search because they can't control the potential replies that might occur through a search vector.
I know this because plenty of the anti-search crowd wants public visibility -- but they don't want harassment.
No, a public post doesn't mean "talk to me".
Public means "publicly visible".
It's about being *read*.
Reading is different from writing.
Just as there's different settings for visibility, there should be different settings for replying.
On Mastodon, there's different visibility settings. They are:
* Public
* Unlisted
* Follower-only
* Mentioned people only
I think you could largely apply this to reply settings as well.
Except, reply settings could be:
* Public
* Local-only
* Follower-only
* Mentioned people only
If there were a way to prevent comments through search results, that would be good too.
It's funny. Regarding potential comment control on the Fediverse, people who are "pro" and "con" tend to be divided along gender lines.
Dudes tend to not want comment control 🤔
But there's a lot of women who very much want this feature. Many of them are DMing me privately to express support -- and that should tell you everything.
But seriously, the reply guy problem on Mastodon is embarrassing.
And it really puts a dent in the whole argument that Mastodon has got rid of social media toxicity.
Of course, that's not true. People have been complaining about reply guys for years.
It's becoming so bad that "Well, akshually..." has become a Mastodon stereotype.
This is why it's better to have more moderation tools, not less.
A few fellows are telling me that they don't appreciate the term "reply guys" due to this being needless genderization of the actual problem.
But this ignores that harassment is a problem that disproportionately affects women online.
And I don't want to ignore or diminish that problem.
@atomicpoet
The genderisation isn't "needless' if it's a statistical fact.
If you're a guy and don't want this description to apply to you, then be kinder & more considerate than this in your comments. But you need to _be_ it before it's recognised, and performative consideration done solely for social recognition will only count against you. The consideration needs to be truly authentic. Sorry.
Please don't shoot the messenger. :/
@haelos I'm not taking anything out of context. In fact, I screenshot the whole post.
The guy wrote "I'm literally entitled to harass".
@haelos He's simply wrong.
Harassment is harassment, and it's not up to him to decide who has the right to feel harassment.
And he's certainly not entitled to harass.
@haelos Everyone can read in black and white what he means.
I reject the premise that the word "harassment" means anything other than harassment.
@haelos
Either I misunderstand how the function works or we're misunderstanding each other.
Muting a thread stops me from seeing notifications for the thread. Muting an individual means I no longer see their content. It does not stop the user from participating in the conversation and posting further comments that are seen by others.
Hence my analogy of a blindfold and earmuffs that means I and only I stop hearing that person. I'm simply no longer aware of their existence in my house (my thread/discussion), but they're still at the party and able to converse with everyone else there.
@haelos this is the sequence, outside of my particular view (not logged in anywhere), that anybody who drops into the thread sees. Your convo with OP started around https://mastodon.social/@atomicpoet/109972804870877889 (first screenshot), which is the URL visited for everything I'm describing here. There's the chatter between the two of you next. If I join the party there, and follow the conversation, I see the full thread of conversations from there on (third screenshot) which will include this post I'm making here.
If OP mutes the thread or mutes your account, how does that dynamic change? Is there still an avenue for users other than OP to continue to see your further comments coming from the context of the original thread? If so, from a user controls behaviour that's a crap experience.
@Natanael_L @hugo No, I understand FOSS. Fediverse is the dumbest word I've ever heard and the fact you people use it unironically to describe your tech is sad and pathetic. I've never even looked up a single thing about how this place works.
Renaming basic things that already exist to convoluted bullshit is a pretty big problem with every new tech that comes out.
Probably explain why I prefer literally anywhere else and how it took so long for me to get here.
Tldr: cry some fuckin moré, kiddo
@haelos @hugo Tldr I can tell you never looked up a single thing about how this works.
The current activitypub model (fediverse) is essentially a gossip protocol. Muting people or banning them from one server has no effect beyond your local view. If some asshat stalker comments on your posts and you block them, your friends can still see their replies here. That's a problem. If you don't understand why that's a problem, you're part of the problem.
@haelos @hugo you also have a ridiculous view of human interactions, beyond the deep misunderstanding of how federated communication works, so I'm not going to waste much time trying to convince you.
The fact that you call normal interaction with friends "instigation" when some idiot comes searching for posts to reply with hate to makes it blatantly clear that you do not have any interest in healthy online communities.
@atomicpoet "I can be a real shitbird if I want, you have the tools to mitigate that on your end" is such a weird hill to die on.
I kinda get when people zealously think they're objectively correct and everyone else is wrong- that's a pathology I can at least understand.
But why put so much effort in to the argument of "I can be as nasty as I want because it is possible, and the burden is on you to deal with it" when you could just like, not be such a sack of shit.
@GamingGhosti That guy is a self-described journalist. He knows how to use language.
And harassment means harassment.
How about: if you started a thread and you block someone, (s)he should be eliminated from the whole thread...just like as if it were "your townhall". - People misbehave, you have them thrown out.
@HistoPol @MetalSamurai @atomicpoet it works well in small threads, it breaks in larger threads.
I've suggested elsewhere a similar model where you can essentially "interleave" multiple threads via links / references / mentions, so the original thread can be "curated" as desired by OP without inhibiting further conversation by others, since the thread can be "forked" and forks can be discoverable.
@HistoPol
but you can and should report the person to the admin or moderator of your instance. They can ban the person and delete the posts.
I agree, however as @MetalSamurai correctly pointed out, this is more about curating my posts as well, so to speak. Also, I am afraid once the trolls set in en masse, like on the Birdsite, admins will likely be overwhelmed with content-moderation.
At some point, #TwitterDown will be somewhat permanent. This will probably be another major inflection point that might trigger this, extreme growth making the #Fediverse an even more interesting target.
This might prevent this.@atomicpoet
@HistoPol @mycelium @atomicpoet
And earlier today I came across a thread where exactly this has happened. A responder with (what seems to me) a bad faith response, blocked by the original poster, but still visible to us.
https://universeodon.com/@DayWalkingRedhead/109973884721804835
“If I’d been alive in the 30s, in Germany, what would I have done?” You get to answer that question right now, in the US. Teachers, HCW, mandatory reporters, anyone in a position of trust… Will you be a Good German and turn them in to be arrested, taken from their families, sent to prison camps, and killed? Or will you keep their secrets, and risk your own career, home, prison? Will you risk your kids being taken by the state and handed to fascist foster families? Decide. We’re here.
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