GinaJun 1

I'd hereby like to introduce you to your new #Fosstodon mod team: https://hub.fosstodon.org/team/ !! 🎉🎉 These are the volunteers that keep our little corner on the #fediverse safe, inclusive and fun:

@btp
@Nujtag
@jannem
@el_on_libera
@chrisafk
@jimsalter
@fivespeed
@julianfairfax
@artfulsodger
@thewk
@emneo
@Anachron
@tobtobxx
@krisfreedain
@fedops
@nyx
@calharding
@tsvenson
@emanuel

They'll join our senior mods @joel and @ru. New mods will discuss reports with senior mods before taking action.

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The Team | Fosstodon Hub

A list of the Fosstodon team members and their roles.

Show threadGinaJun 1

In total #Fosstodon will have 21 moderators. 🔥 See pics below for stats on our gender and location distribution.

We know it's a big team. This was intentional, so that modding can be a parttime activity and mods can take breaks whenever they want. Life should always come first.

Your mods have the best intentions and are committed to being kind, giving the benefit of the doubt, preventing harm, and communicating. Still, they're new. Mistakes *might* be made. Thanks for understanding 😊🫶

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MolytovJun 2
Show threadvantiss
@Gina wait, after everything that happened, you decided to bring the person who wrote this fashy, radical centrist screed embodying the "horseshoe theory" ethos onto the mod team?? I'm deeply confused how this person could pass the smell test when you're trying to get a fresh start
Anachron :void: (@Anachron@fosstodon.org)

Here is my statement about #fosstodon, #afd #maga #Fascism and alike. https://blog.cron.world/article_12.html Maybe people will figure out how to read this wrong or rub it into my face. Truth is, I don't care. There was a time where this view was sane and "normal". You didn't even have to write it down because everybody knew it was considered the norm. But where are we now, having to explain all of this again? Edit: Things have changed: https://fosstodon.org/@Anachron/114612549460377185

Fosstodon
Jun 1 at 9:45pmWeb
Show threadDavid GerardJun 1
@vantiss @Gina lol amazing and yet totally expected
Show threadmathewJun 1
@davidgerard @vantiss @Gina The random words in monospace give it a real Robert E. McElwaine flavor.
Show threadLudic 🧛Jun 1

@vantiss @Gina I don't have context on moderation, Mastodon instances, whatnot, but HOO BOY that really reads like the stereotype of the Reddit moderator wrote it.

Honestly wild to say that the real fascism might be anti-fascism, which sure, you know, could happen in another universe. But in 2025, people are definitely not scared of traveling to the States because of the far-left. I can't imagine what would possess someone to write the article above.

10/10 greatly enjoyed.

Show threadschrotthaufenJun 1
@ludicity @vantiss @Gina Unbelievable… The AfD has been classified a far-right extremist (in other words fascist) party BY THE OFFICE FOR THE PROTECTION OF THE CONSTITUTION, and that person really says to not ridicule them, and not call a spade a spade? And believes in debunked horseshoe theory, and didn’t understand Popper’s tolerance paradox (which isn’t really paradox if you think about it in terms of social contract)?
Show threadLudic 🧛Jun 2
@schrotthaufen @vantiss @Gina I will tolerate anyone except people who are intolerant of intolerant people, recurse ad infinitum
Show threadMaeJun 1
@vantiss @Gina

> To be even more frank, we only have two groups:

> Far left+right wing
> Everyone else
Show threadjackJun 1
@vantiss @Gina _abundantly_ time to #DefederateFosstodon
Show threadEmmy, GendermancerJun 1

@vantiss @Gina I'm in no mood for this kind of thing right now. I had to stop in the middle. This is not "normal" as they claim, it's enabling. This person doesn't know anything about what they're riffing on. To me, they don't sound centrist or fascist, just confused and ignorant. It's plainly obvious that they have no background in most of what they're complaining about. The part I specifically had to stop at was "Fake tolerance." This person is clearly not equipped to handle the types of threats and harassment aimed at marginalized people, and they're certainly not equipped for keeping a place from becoming "the nazi bar."

The main problem with that in this case is you are guaranteeing that they will repeat the mistakes of their predecessors. The stuff that person has written out sounds *extremely* familiar.

Show threadd@nny disc@ mc²Jun 2

@sillyCoelophysis @vantiss @Gina EDIT: i was way too jumpy, see her reply here: https://hachyderm.io/@sillyCoelophysis/114610971863002120 leaving these posts here for context but they were not necessary

since you decided to make a public reply here, i would hope you are familiar with the reason fosstodon needed to do a rebrand in the first place, their response, and how gina has followed up to feedback from people who want to know their server will not be known as the nazi server. there are several people you know that you could have asked for further context—i wouldn't have boosted vantiss's post if i were not extremely confident of her appraisal.

Emmy, Gendermancer (@sillyCoelophysis@hachyderm.io)

@hipsterelectron@circumstances.run @vantiss@treehouse.systems @Gina@fosstodon.org to be clear, I meant I was in no mood for the writing at the other end of that link, but not as a message to vantiss. I only used that phrase because I'm just sick of low-effort "why can't we just go back to how things were before I had to hear anything about marginalized communities" screeds. This person just has no business being a mod in a space like this (or really any other space imo), especially in the wake of this. I had a really good idea of how this fosstodon thing would go as soon as it happened, because I've seen this from the vantage point of having been on here for a few years now. I definitely support deeply vetting the people they're replacing the old team with, and I support open analysis and criticism of the decisions that have been made thus far. I was trying to say that the writing suggested this mod would end up being as problematic as the ones they were replacing. I really hope I didn't come across as "why are you still talking about this" or anything. I am happy to edit or remove my posts if I've brought the conversation down rather than contributed anything.

Hachyderm.io
Show threadd@nny disc@ mc²Jun 2
@sillyCoelophysis @vantiss @Gina the people in this subthread (including me) have seen programming communities torn apart by a spectrum of outright nazis, ones who hide it better, and their collaborators who simply think people are making too much of a fuss. you are being taken for a ride and we have all spent a great deal of effort and patience to not make this determination hastily.
Show threadd@nny disc@ mc²Jun 2
@sillyCoelophysis @vantiss @Gina let's talk about it, but understand that we need to be very public and vocal about this because people trusted fosstodon and they need to know what behavior the mod team will continue to enable. this is not demonization of individuals to smear them specifically—this is specifically identifying someone being granted moderation powers stating that they will not protect anyone because they think moderating is essentially the same as nazism (it's a paraphrase. so sue me.). when someone is being granted mod power, it deserves analysis, particularly since that is the single issue that caused two fosstodon admins to leave.
Show threadEmmy, GendermancerJun 2

@hipsterelectron @vantiss @Gina to be clear, I meant I was in no mood for the writing at the other end of that link, but not as a message to vantiss. I only used that phrase because I'm just sick of low-effort "why can't we just go back to how things were before I had to hear anything about marginalized communities" screeds. This person just has no business being a mod in a space like this (or really any other space imo), especially in the wake of this.

I had a really good idea of how this fosstodon thing would go as soon as it happened, because I've seen this from the vantage point of having been on here for a few years now. I definitely support deeply vetting the people they're replacing the old team with, and I support open analysis and criticism of the decisions that have been made thus far.

I was trying to say that the writing suggested this mod would end up being as problematic as the ones they were replacing. I really hope I didn't come across as "why are you still talking about this" or anything. I am happy to edit or remove my posts if I've brought the conversation down rather than contributed anything.

Show threadd@nny disc@ mc²Jun 2
@sillyCoelophysis @vantiss oh i'm so sorry. thank you so much for your thoughtful response but this was on me. didn't mean at all to cause you further stress at this moment. i should have trusted you.
Show threadd@nny disc@ mc²Jun 2
@sillyCoelophysis please feel free to disengage and i will edit my reply to link to yours (edit: done) so nobody else makes my mistake. ❤️
Show threadEmmy, GendermancerJun 2
@hipsterelectron thanks, and sorry for being so vague to begin with! I edited my first reply to clarify a bit. Hopefully that helps! I'm in kind of a foggy headspace today. I def should get off the Internet for a bit and have some dinner and maybe some caffeine. 😅
Show threadEmmy, GendermancerJun 2
@hipsterelectron @vantiss @Gina I just reread what I wrote, and I didn't realize how vague it sounded. My bad! I definitely don't think the folks analyzing and criticizing the fallout and the responses/rebrand are wrong, and I don't think most of what I've seen from the critical side has been unreasonable. I think there has been an incredible amount of patience from the community members that are trying to encourage inclusion and safety and reject nazis.
Show threadTiTiNoNero Jun 1
@vantiss

That's a good point. I've read that text, and it's fascist. That fascism, so deeply rooted, that you can listen or read that person missing the point so many times it makes you wonder if actually it's you that are getting it wrong. Then you read it again and you clearly see that person saying that if you harass fascists because *now* you are part of the majority, you are a fascist worse than anyone, and that when you say tolerance you mean suppression. God, did any of you ever read 1984???

So actually @Gina are you there on you own will, agreeing with this worldview so much, or you are just there whitewashing the fash, holding them a beer until they finish peeing?
Show threadsoaprootJun 2
@vantiss @Gina I'm a little confused about how the author of that would also sign on to https://hub.fosstodon.org/coc/ but hey I'm pretty far from this whole thing and I guess am willing to see how this all works out and whether the team suceeds in upholding that Code of Conduct which seems like it describes the standards you'd expect
CoC | Fosstodon Hub

Guidelines on how we expect our members to behave.

Show threadOrb 2069Jun 2

@soaproot @vantiss @Gina

Fascists don't care about their oaths, you know - they've already pledged their hearts to their wretched idea of a "higher truth", and they'll say whatever the fuck they have to in order to get there.

Show threadMidgePhotoJun 2

@vantiss @Gina
"Radical centrist" is an oxymoron.

I've not read the article.

Show threadαxel simon ↙︎↙︎↙︎Jun 2
@vantiss The post is gone, interestingly. Also, for those who haven't followed, is there a summary of what happened on/with Fosstodon?
Show threadvantissJun 2

@axx oh, so it is

here's an archived version

https://web.archive.org/web/20250601200137/https://blog.cron.world/article_12.html

Politically correct #1