a mastodon.social user walks into a bar. the bartender says The original server operated by the Mastodon gGmbH non-profit

(hint: click "open original page")
@mia wait a second
@mia oh that's so smart
@mae help i don't get it
@faye the post's content is generated dynamically based on the instance that's fetching it

@mae @faye This... this should not, at all, be a thing.

This breaks the system.

For the first time ever, I'm going to block a domain, and it's going to be that one.

@mattblaze @gruber @hachyderm @Gargron

@apicultor @faye @mae this is literally just an innocent and fun script, is that dramatic a reaction really necessary here?

@robustjumprope @faye @mae Yes. Yes, it is.

This is something which should not be done.

I need to be able to trust that the content of a toot is the same as everyone else sees, and that the edit history reflects reality. Break this social contract and I am out; there is no second chance.

Thus, instant domain banhammer.

@hachyderm @Gargron

@apicultor @robustjumprope @faye @mae okay I’m actually going to take your point at face value here.

You don’t need to have read Du contrat social by Rousseau to understand social contracts, but it helps. Your point is fundamentally invalid because there is no social contract. What contract do we have between each other?

You have no rights to see my posts, nor do I have any rights to see yours. You have no rights to federate with my instance, nor does my instance have any rights to federate with yours. There is no social contract because there are no social obligations. There are only social privileges — federation is a privilege granted by honour.

You are clearly confusing a “social contract” with the concept of “social norms”, which refers to the cultural and social mores of a group. Whether this behaviour breaks social norms is one that is debatable, but since a social norm depends on person to person, this is where you may have a point. However, social norms does not a social contract make.

If we want to consider social contract theory more closely, then the only “social contract” on the Fediverse is that between yourself and your Instance administration. But even that is not a social contract — that is a literal contract that you have agreed to with your administration.

Furthermore, a social contract in a true sense refers to the rights and obligations of a person as part of a governance group. If you do not abide by the laws of the land, for example, then you have broken the social contract between yourself and The State, and therefore end up in prison.

To really conclude, however, that you’re totally fucking wrong: a social contract is between a governing body and the governed. There is no governing body on the Fediverse. There is no social contract because rights are not federated, only privileges.

And even so, a social contract between the governed and governor is not a true contract because you are forced to abide by it and cannot escape it.

Ergo, you can log off any time, mate, and I suggest you do.

@yassie_j holy shit yas is smort
@kdj8 thanks!

@yassie_j @kdj8

...and after the kerfuffle dies down the patrons solemnly say 'one of us' and tip their glasses in unison