Panos Damelos (@panos)

When I first came to the #Fediverse, I stumbled upon the idea that #QuotePosts (or #QuoteTweets or #QuoteToots or #Quotes) are inherently toxic as a feature. At first I thought it might hold some truth; the more I come to think of it, the more I find the idea absurd. Yes, that's a strong word, but let me explain. You see, many posts (if not the majority) on <i>any</i> social platform are links with a comment. A youtube link. A link to an article. A link to a blog post. Nobody considers this function "toxic" by design. And this is essentially what a #QuotePost is, as well. A public post in a microblogging platform is... a public microblog post. The idea that it's perfectly fine to post links with blog posts outside the fediverse with a comment, but not links from microblog posts inside the fediverse with a comment, simply makes no sense. This becomes more obvious if you consider <i>the same exact feature</i> on facebook. You can "share" a facebook post, either with a comment or without one. It becomes a new post with its own comments. Nobody (afaik) has claimed that Share on Facebook is a "toxic" feature. You don't see anyone complaining about it, or asking Facebook to remove this functionality. The complaints about quotes is a Fediverse peculiarity. Why? This is a Twitter problem. If Twitter is a toxic community, which permits -or actually promotes- toxic behaviour, and users utilize #QuoteTweets for that, it's not an inherent problem of the feature. We can post links to public content with comments all day and not be abusive. That's what quotes are. So the problem is not #quotes. The problem might be the idea that the #Fediverse should replace #Twitter. If you see the Fediverse as the new Twitter, it's an easy mistake to blame its features for its negative aspects. But abusive and toxic behaviour is a matter of moderating, not of features. You can be as abusive as you want without having quotes. Having the ability to quote a post is not what will transform you and make you act like an asshole. The Fediverse is not, and should not be, a Twitter replacement. We can be better than a for-profit public arena. And you can quote me on that. :blobbonedealwithit: