As the person that founded the most high profile Black instance in the fedi and still develops safety tools for this environment, there is still a lot of resistance in the fedi in accepting how massively it failed Black and Brown internet folks.

I don’t mind the technical discussions between ATProtocol and Activity Pub because they both have stuff to learn from each other, but the fedi damaged reputation isn’t due to technical concerns.

The fedi has a *terrible* reputation to the point people are choosing a corporate option they know is bad over a free one.

Folks really need to think about what that means.

I regularly talk to folks who left the fedi and they *consistently* say the bigoted harassment they faced on the fedi is the *worst they’ve experienced* online. These aren’t people that are unfamiliar with how digital communities work. These are veteran digital citizens that are accustomed to bad faith engagement on the web.

Fortunately, the rise of Blacksky and other independent installs are rendering Bluesky irrelevant as it continues to enshitify, but the fedi needs to accept its utter failure in regards to safety and moderation is a central reason why we are talking about Bluesky at all.

I do believe it’s possible for the fedi to still be a major player in social media.

But it has to be real about why many people believe Bluesky is the lesser evil.

@are0h

if i may ask, can you elaborate on how badly fedi as a whole has failed black and brown communities?


#percy.txt #this-is-not-intended-to-be-a-bad-faith-question #i-genuinely-want-to-know-more-so-that-i-can-try-and-make-things-better-for-others.

@pelontrix I’ll chime in: Fedi design means that not every user can see every post. If a black person winds up on a poorly moderated instance, they will get flooded with nazi, hateful shit. When they try to tell other people about it, those folks say “what are you talking about, I don’t see anything” because those other folks are on well moderated instances.

Instead of prioritizing tools to combat this problem, folks said “oh, this is just how it is, pick a better server”

@crazybutable @pelontrix I can see how that's an issue.

I struggle to come up with tools to combat this problem. Tools to deal with general harassment are quite well developed imho, a.o. given the large trans community that sought refuge on the fediverse.

So I wonder how the experience is different for one group compared to another marginalized group. Bcs, as you say, I do believe the issue is there, but I cannot see it due to the server I'm on. Honest question, trying to understand here.

@JorisMeys @pelontrix white trans communities can be a source of bigotry. If that sounds preposterous, ask why these communities have no black trans members.

I don’t have time right now to get to the details but I’ve been around the Fedi long enough to see white trans communities melt down when confronted with evidence of how their actions are harming black Fedi members. They take mild criticism as an affront to their fundamental identity and it turns into an entire shitshow

@crazybutable @pelontrix oh, I'm well aware trans people are people (and hence susceptible to the same flaws as everyone else ;-) ). I was just curious how the toolset that serves them well, doesn't work for black fedi members.

Or otherwise, what tools would the black community need to find themselves a home on the fediverse?

Thanks much. I'm probably gonna see if I can't follow that user (provided mastodon doesn't throw shenanigans) - their post on this is very enlightening.


#percy.txt
@JorisMeys @pelontrix only bringing that up because you wanted to know the difference between how minority communities see the Fedi. Not all trans communities are like this, obviously. It’s complicated.