EVHasteJul 14, 2023

The #Bluesky community is on strike, in protest of “free speech” moderation policies and refusal to prevent or remove #racism.

The inciting incident this time: users signing up with the n-word in their usernames. Using the word “cracker”, however, was a bannable offense.

Bluesky has not responded for over 36 hours as of writing. Devs are blocking protestors. Timelines are filled with variations of:

“No more normal posting until my Black friends and family are safe.”

#social #tech

Show threadEVHasteJul 14, 2023

It is beautiful to watch folks organize spontaneously around this. There are some really novel techniques being used that I have not seen before.

Shitposters and sex workers blurring their posts and withholding lewds, if only there was a safe platform to post them. Quote chains of people asking the devs to block them too in solidarity. Users building custom, public mute lists to block out fascists and protect marginalized communities.

The devs are liking nazi callout posts & posting on Twitter

Show threadEVHaste

But I would also like to take a second, before you enjoy too much schadenfreude, to point out that by and large PoC communities also are not safe on Mastodon.

A huge amount of the feedback being levied on Bluesky’s lasseiz faire moderation policies also apply to us here.

I have very little faith Bluesky will improve, but we still could.

Jul 14, 2023 at 8:39pmMastodon for iOS
Show threadpollute_my_lungs 🚎🏳️‍🌈Jul 14, 2023
@Haste I think BlueSky is finished with Threads being recently launched. And if they are going to embrace bigots, then there will be less of a reason for a leftist to use it.
Show threadEVHasteJul 14, 2023
@pollute_my_lungs I miss forums.
Show threadJulian LamJul 15, 2023

@Haste @pollute_my_lungs hopefully I can help! I'm slowly bringing @nodebb to the Fediverse 🙂 forums never left, they just took a sideline for a bit.

It's high time for a resurgence.

Show threadpollute_my_lungs 🚎🏳️‍🌈Jul 15, 2023
@devnull @Haste @nodebb very interesting. I'll check it out!
Show threadJi Fu (Domestic Terrorist)Jul 28, 2023
@devnull @pollute_my_lungs @nodebb @Haste are you familiar with #LemmyBB? github.com/LemmyNet/lemmyBB
GitHub - LemmyNet/lemmyBB: A federated bulletin board

A federated bulletin board. Contribute to LemmyNet/lemmyBB development by creating an account on GitHub.

GitHub
Show threadMiranda GrayJul 14, 2023
@Haste I will miss the parts of Black Twitter I saw (whether I understood or not). I want an intersectional discussion in a safe space. I will also admit I see a great need for private moderated spaces I should be excluded from.
Show threadLesbineer ​Jul 14, 2023
@Haste isn't the issue that all the servers have seperate rules and shit, you'd need to get a common guideline set up.
Show threadJames EndicottJul 15, 2023
@KitCatalina @Haste

There sort of is. Several of the biggest ActivityPub using servers have been defederated either voluntarily (like Gab and Truth Social) or involuntarily (like Pawoo). Maybe there needs to be a subset of the Fediverse that uses whitelists instead of blacklists with much stricter criteria, such as only federating with other servers sharing that whitelist at a minimum?
Show threadGoldaJul 15, 2023
@o76923 @Haste @KitCatalina yeah, i like the idea of many more small opinionated spaces, one problem is the exclusivity tho and people with no network can't ever break in
Show threadMinisterofimpedimentsJul 14, 2023

@Haste there is one critical difference between the two platforms.

Here ignorant racist assholes are simply ignorant racist assholes.

There ignorant racist assholes drive “value-added platform engagement”.

When they make money from your pain it’s not a bug…it’s a feature. Just like Facebook.

Show threadDameJul 15, 2023
@ministerofimpediments @Haste This is not true at all
Show threadMinisterofimpedimentsJul 15, 2023

@dame @Haste Yeah, its a safe bet to be true.
If I was one of those people I could probably the same ass both here and on Threads. So a wash.
Assuming you can block/report as effectively there as here. (A guess).

However, what is not likely here is my bullshit randomly showing up in your feed in front of the people you follow because a whole bunch of other idiots and an algorithm like it. Inevitably that same bullshit will be parked right next to an Adidas ad soon enough.

Show threadElizabeth Tai | 戴秀铃 🇲🇾Jul 15, 2023
@Haste about what you said about POCs not feeling safe here. I have to say you are right. I get anti-China sentiments sent my way at times. And people not understanding that my values are not typically Western, even if I may sound and behave Western.
Show threadProtectiveHenJul 15, 2023
@liztai - so sorry you are experiencing this. If there is anything others of us can do to help with this situation, I'm happy to be of aid. I guess because I use this site more for gathering/sharing info vs. more indepth conversations, I have not seen racism arise in conversation threads - only seen people I follow share their experiences. I would like this platform to be free of hate and better moderated. Thank you for sharing your experience.
Show threadjeSuisatire neindochohh ᘛ⁐̤ᕐᐷJul 16, 2023

@bok_bok_ba_gok @liztai

Toke me a while to realize the claim by PoC that any kind of harassment is not seen out here like on tw because you don't see the whole conversation string.
The layout is different and our call to setup own instances is not well understood/taken as people are not used to decentralization and the feature it implies. fediverse and mastodon are understood as one monolitic thing but they aren't. It takes time to build this up and "divide" the scenes.

Show threadProtectiveHenJul 16, 2023
@jesuisatire @liztai Thanks for this- another layer to understanding this platform!
Show threadMeskeJul 15, 2023
@liztai @Haste So sorry
Show threadElizabeth Tai | 戴秀铃 🇲🇾Jul 15, 2023
@meske6 @Haste I don't blame them really. It is a cultural and Western bias, ignorance. And maybe I should've kept quiet, but I couldn't help but correct incorrect assumptions about China, and try to educate them about China's cultural differences. But anti-China sentiments are being spread by Western media so... they can't see it, I guess.
Show threadEVHasteJul 15, 2023

@liztai I’m really sorry to hear that (but also completely unsurprised). You shouldn’t have to deal with it.

I don’t run any communities or have much influence, but if there’s anything I can ever do to help toss a fascist directly into the sun and make the mastodon more safe and pleasant for you and your network, let me know.

Show threadMasterEmitJul 16, 2023
@liztai @Haste I really would love to understand, why PoC and other groups preferred BlueSky over Fediverse and why Twitter in the past was better for these groups. In my view, what of course has a completly different reality, the Fediverse is the better place to build safe spaces. Of course not the whole Fediverse itself would be a safe space, but parts of it can be. Was Twitter in the past a safe space? Was BlueSky in the beginning one? If there is or was a discussion - I would love to read.
Show threadElizabeth Tai | 戴秀铃 🇲🇾Jul 16, 2023
@masteremit @Haste Basically, it had more diversity and less groupthink. Mastodon is lovely, and being more North American and European has its downsides for folks like me. For eg, Americans and Europeans have a particular way of thinking of China. As a South-East Asian smushed between both China and the West, we understand China And the West. For one, I am alarmed at the ignorance being displayed and try to educate ppl.
This often results in them accusing me of being pro-China when I am not.
Show threadElizabeth Tai | 戴秀铃 🇲🇾Jul 16, 2023
@masteremit @Haste imagine having to always defend your Pov, and having your opinions dismissed just because your ideas or opinions do not conform to a Global North pov.
It gets extremely tiresome.
And we end up retreating to our spaces to talk to people who don't challenge everything we say.
I don't know if other #TootSea folks feel the same way, but I do because I actually bother to engage.
I really shouldn't tho. 😂 It is a pointless exercise.
#SouthEastAsia
Show threadMasterEmitJul 16, 2023
@liztai @Haste I can not feel but absolutely understand your trouble. Maybe Twitter was better because it had more time with growing and getting the diversity it has had for a time. Hopefully this will be the same one day with the Fediverse if we all work on that. But I also understand, that this is exhausting. I just do not believe, that BlueSky is really an alternative, or nowadays Threads. But I may be wrong. Would be so much easier if people would be different and just accept difference.
Show threadElizabeth Tai | 戴秀铃 🇲🇾Jul 16, 2023
@masteremit @Haste I believe the same. But I know Malaysians. Facebook and Instagram - they already have it, so if Twitter falls, they would go to Threads first. Tho I don't think BlueSky is a really popular choice.
Show threadDameJul 15, 2023
@Haste Thank you so much for saying this. I’ve seen people call out BlueSky & others as if this places hands are clean. Particularly Mastodon has a very bad reputation when it comes to gatekeepers, reply guys, racism, nazis, cp & lolicon. There’s a great deal to fix
Show threadLAURENJul 15, 2023
@Haste
Bluesky is one server. It is not decentralized and those people have no place else to go...the entire point of the Fediverse. Jack wanted to write his own protocol. Jack did this and those people are in a walled off garden pleading with devs who have been compensated well enough to not have a budget for a T&S Department. Jack is a free speech absolutist like elon. BTW, guess where Jack is everyday. He's not putting one more dime into this.
Show threadJohn M FloresJul 15, 2023
@Haste So how do we do this? What kind of organization do we need to build?
Show threadEVHasteJul 15, 2023

@JohnMFlores I admit I do not know. I think the right path would be to listen to those communities about what they need, and allocate development resources directly to that.

Because I don’t think I’m qualified to declare a solution, as a white person. I don’t want to take up all the air in the room.

Instead, I’d be happy to work on and implement the tools those communities identified.

Show threadRage Rumbles 🏴‍☠️🫂 🔞Jul 15, 2023

@Haste The lesson here is very simple (and often repeated): never expect ANY commercial social media to be fair, equatable, just, honest or decent.

Its about making money. And thats all.

Show threadJi Fu (Domestic Terrorist)Jul 28, 2023
@autoerot1ca @Haste simply being a money sink-hole doesn't mean it is going to be either though.
Show threadtextcontainerJul 16, 2023
@Haste Bluesky is a trap, Musk and Dorsey are playing in the same team. I would prefer to make Mastodon a safer place, because the potential of the free federated web is great.
Show threadJi Fu (Domestic Terrorist)Jul 28, 2023
@Haste a lot of that has to do with your personal choice to be on the largest #Mastodon instance, which by its sheer size and influence will never be able to be a safe space with in the #fediverse, rather than a proper #fedi instance. Looking soley at yoru keywords
Show threadEVHasteJul 28, 2023

@fu Thanks for the feedback, friend. :)

I do not doubt that the main mastodon.social instance is especially troubled in this way. My personal observation has been that even choosing a smaller instance doesn't necessarily help, since all it will take is one .social user boosting a post to attract the same audience.

This is a problem inherent to the culture more than the technology, in my opinion.

Side note, I didn't understand your observation about my keywords.