Yesterday was my first bad day on Mastodon, and what happened to me could happen to you, so let me explain what went down, and how I got blocked by a lot of people.
In March, I wrote a post critical of Musk (picture 1). I then asked another Mastodon user (Harriett) whom I have found friendly, if she would help me translate a Danish phrase to English, and linked to the Musk post where the phrase would be relevant.
But yesterday — 4 months later — that blew up in my face. Here is how…
1/7
You see, yesterday someone discovered that my old post requesting translation help had been mirrored onto Bluesky by the so-called bridge system. And that system had made the VERY unfortunate error of removing my link to the context about Elon Musk, and instead now linked to Harriett's profile page.
So it now looked as if I was not talking about Elon Musk, but talking about Harriett (see picture) — as if I was making fun of this Mastodon user behind her back on Bluesky.
2/7
A person saw this unfortunate mishap on Bluesky and rightly found it suspicious looking, so that person then warned Harriett about it. She then got upset thinking I was making posts ridiculing her on Bluesky, blocked me, and then wrote about this to all of us here on Mastodon.
I have no hard feelings about that, because the technical glitch really made it seem like I was a bad person.
But then more people got upset, and a whole thread formed where people agreed I should be blocked.
3/7
And while all of this went down, I was not even here. Because yesterday I hosted a party and was preparing dinner and entertaining guests here in Denmark.
Then late in the evening when the guests went home, I sat down to check in on Mastodon, and all of hell had broken loose.
Because everyone was thinking the Bluesky post came from me, the famous profile Gottalaff now entered the discussion which amplified it to her 33,000 users, and even more people blocked me, called me out etc.
4/7
The only person who stopped to check if all of this was really true was @Gargron. And he wrote a very helpful post explaining that the bad post on Bluesky was created by the bridge system, which had linked to Harriett's profile and thereby changed the meaning of my original post.
But Gargron's post was very technical, and I am not sure everyone understood it, and I was still getting angry responses, and more people blocked me.
So I was very sad to discover all this late last night.
5/7
But here is the lesson we can all learn from this: If you see something strange where someone suddenly seems to change their behaviour and do something malicious, it is important to ask questions before concluding what is going on.
In this case, a post which seemed like it was written by me was actually altered by an IT system that I have never given permission to do so — and it now seemed like I was spreading hatred.
In conclusion: I blame no one for this incident. I fully understand…
6/7
… why someone saw the Bluesky post and wanted to warn Harriett. I fully understand how Harriett could feel shocked that it looked like I was talking about her on another platform. And I fully understand how Gottalaff would amplify that and try to stop me from harassing Harriett.
So please, do not send any negativity their way. Let us just all learn from this:
Never jump to conclusions about other people. If you see sudden strange behaviour from someone, ask questions before concluding.
7/7
@randahl fyi - some of the people in the discussion aren't actually angry over the misinterpretation/changing of the original post, but the fact that the post appears on Bluesky with photo and bio of the user in question ("doxxing").
... others are angry because they believe you don't care about the fact that her details appeared there but only worry about your follower count - while I think it's obvious that what upsets you is being presented publicly as a bad actor.
The awesome @Em0nM4stodon is PSAing about the first case here: https://infosec.exchange/@Em0nM4stodon/114870842797314328
... as for the second I think it's just fallout. Once people get the "bad actor" impression everything else will be interpreted that way as well.
ALERT for Bluesky Bridge Users 🚨 🦋 If you are using a Bluesky bridge on Mastodon, DO NOT TAG Mastodon accounts in your posts without prior informed consent from this person. This could end up showing a preview of this person's profile picture and bio on Bluesky without their consent. Additionally, be careful about how the upcoming Quote Post feature could behave with Bluesky bridges. Some of us don't want our information shared with commercial platforms like Bluesky, and have not consented to this bridge. This practice can even **endanger** some Fediverse users. If you have chosen to share your own data with commercial platforms, make sure you leave the same choice to others. This is important. #Privacy #Mastodon #Bluesky #BlueskyBridge #Fediverse #Consent
@troed @Em0nM4stodon I really don't want to interfere in this situation and won't beyond making the following point, which I hope is helpful to Harriett who I care about and for the general good. My interpretation was that the doxing element caused the greatest distress.. something which I fear may have unfortunately been repeated in the explanation thread above. Perhaps don't repost that screenshot @randahl ?
Peace ✌️
@greenseer @troed @Em0nM4stodon
I understand your concern, and I have now blurred the post to avoid triggering a repeat of the bridge problem.
@kuprijanko @randahl @greenseer @troed @Em0nM4stodon
Yep. The preview is cached.
You could try deleting the post, but I doubt that will matter to Bluesky.
We are on the same page. The problem was that the bridge software did not follow links properly.
It chased a link that was not needed to be searched.
@numb_comfortably @SpaceLifeForm that’s so much against the core value of consent on Fedi I don’t understand how these bridges even continue to be permitted, let alone used.
I certainly don’t want an independent copy of my posts copied to a different platform, especially not one like that.
@mirabilos @numb_comfortably @SpaceLifeForm
Hmm. This has me leary of bridges now. I will reconsider whether I wish to follow anyone at all on Bluesky.
@bruce @mirabilos @numb_comfortably
ConfortablyNumb is is apt handle.
Is there a RobotsTxt handle out there?
Not going to look, won't follow. /s
@numb_comfortably @bruce @mirabilos
All in the spirit of @lowqualityfacts
Strange. I had an unusual situation from a misunderstanding but it didn't involve blue sky.
I concur that if an account suddenly seems critical/harsh/rude and it is not known to happen before, please consider asking and giving the benefit of the doubt or at least an opportunity for explanation.
Someone who I followed for a long time got very upset with me and I assume blocked me because they didn't like my reply to her post. I thought I was agreeing with her and expressing exaggeration with others who don't understand what she was saying. First, she was responding to a post saying the same thing we were both saying but that original post had words I had filtered. I tried to respond with apologies but she said if I had only checked her account I would know she was on the same team. And a few other minor criticisms and unfollowed and ghosted me.
I don't understand not taking the time to ask because posts require interpretation of tone and technical support sometimes.
Sorry this happened 2 you
@Adventurer @randahl This says more about Bluesky users in general, and also of the poor level of technical knowledge among them.
I do find the BlueSky bridge helpful. NAFO/Ukraine content I follow travels across it and I also have some fellas who follow me from over there.
But the social media environment in USA is toxic. Highly transactional, ragebaity & easily offended. It’s a function of the socioeconomic reality over there, not our fault.
@randahl Now I wonder whether it has been resolved and you've been in contact with Harriett (and Gottalaff) to get it sorted.
Perhaps a different phrasing of your original question to Harriett would have helped; it is a bit blunt and can be interpreted differently than you meant it to without the proper context (which indeed happened, as you meticulously explained above).
But that latter part is water under the bridge now, of course 🫤
@randahl you have one of the more non-dramatic accounts on here. Anyone who blocks you over a misunderstanding like this isn't really your audience anyway.
I've been a main character on Twitter once before (also for a misunderstanding). I know firsthand what an unpleasant experience it is so I'm always sorry to see someone get piled on who doesn't deserve it.
I suspect a lot of the accounts that piled on me couldn't even remember they did it. They were just playing a game of monkey see monkey do. Their friend was angry at me so they came at me to support their friend and promptly forgot about it.
@briancs That's what I understood as well.
As I said, on bsky the context of his question and mention was missing (as you can see in the screenshot Randahl tooted), and therefore it seemed a rather blunt question directed at Harriet. That's why I suggested a different phrasing.
Of course it won't be of use in this case, but could perhaps prevent misunderstanding in the future, especially with messages that are bridged to bsky.
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Perhaps a different phrasing of your original question to Harriett would have helped; it is a bit blunt and can be interpreted differently than you meant it to without the proper context (which indeed happened, as you meticulously explained above).
But that latter part is water under the bridge now, of course 🫤
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Definitely so, on all counts quoted above.
(I would say "way too terse", rather than "a bit blunt", but that is just copyediting.)
@peturdainn The trouble here is that how can a regular user "double-check" something that they aren't using in their post, such as a bridge account that's re-posting things? Sometimes, there are unforeseen issues.
Other than doing the sensible thing and blocking the bridge? I'm not even sure if that would work. I'd love to just opt out of the thing so that my posts CAN'T be shared and I can't be tagged on BlueSky.
What a terrible fiasco!
I have followed all three of you for a long time - and quite enjoy all three of your contributions. Such a shame.
And what a technical glitch. I can see the bridge dropping the Musk link. But to add content by embedding the profile.... Why would it do that? It would never have occurred to me if I saw the post.
@TCatInReality I think this happened because I am using Harriett’s handle in the post where I ask for translation help. We see that as a handle here on Mastodon, but down below it is really a link to her profile. That link was then carried over, and the system then thought it should make a preview of that link instead of the right link (about Musk).
It is a programming error, and someone need to fix their code.
Sorry that no one was able to be the Voice of Reason and Due Process for you. I no longer see your posts daily, but even I would have been able to judge that it would have been out of character for you, not representative of your general motives.
This is what we get when amygdalas are allowed to handle complex reasoning. Judgement is rendered before facts are known, because that is how emotions are tuned. Guilty before proven innocent (by drowning). That is our real system of justice.
Randahl Fink
Bec
Jennifer
mirabilos
Martin
𝔼k 𝓋ℴ𝓃 𝕂𝔫ä𝔭𝔭𝔢𝔫𝔟𝔢𝔯g
Troed Sångberg
Dionne (Greenseer) 🩷🐈⬛🏳️⚧️
Alexander Kuprijanko
SpaceLifeForm
Comfortably Numb
Bruce Heerssen
Ryan Barrett
UkeleleEric
Adventurer She/Her
Toni Aittoniemi
Laurens 🐐
Sheldon
Brian Stafford
Vassil Nikolov
petur 😶🇺🇦🇵🇸🇹🇼
xinit ☕
Cluster Fcku
ouroukaye
TC Won't Give In To Lies
rick
.
Rihards Olups
Court Cantrell prefers not to
JWcph, Radicalized By Decency
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