Mastadon being decentalized means instance admins and moderators bear financial and labor burden of hosting, maintaining, moderation (not Mastadon)
Like you pay for growing phone storage space, admins/mods of instances cover cost increases with each new member’s presence (like Discord)
The cost burden is not fixed, and can be a lot for big and small communities depending on member size, community engagement, if instance owners can afford costs (even if you donate)
#1/ 🧵 #FediGuide #Fediquette
No one on any social media platform has a right to an account
It costs every social media platform to host a user and their content
But with centralized social media, the platform eats costs (with ads, selling your data to third parties, etc)
With decentralized social media like Mastadon, your community on your instance may donate to maintain the instance (thanks to those who do!) — if donations are short of costs, admins/mods pay
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This is why it’s vital that instances (especially big ones or even small ones with very active members who post a lot) have solid admins and mods willing to upkeep maintenance:
instance upgrades, financial updates and reports, moderation tools, increasingly more difficult new member analysis in the age of AI and increasing scams/bad actors (and bad actors attacking marginalized communities, which alone is a huge burden for smaller instances), and more
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If the ratio of members to admins/mods exceeds a certain threshold (and especially if members post a lot and/or generate a lot of moderation reports) it can take more money, time and labor to maintain and moderate an instance than you may imagine
This is especially the case for members violating rules and not being intentionally mindful of the community costs of their presence and violations
What does this look like in action? Great question, thank you for asking
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Admins and mods (not Mastadon) make and uphold instance rules and moderation to reduce conflict and maintain safety
This is financially (not just legally) smart
When a member violates rules, that member may generate more engagement responses and resultingly more moderation reports — increasing financial and labor burdens of admins and mods (with less money, time, ability to focus on other tasks)
Intentional community is awareness of costs we bring to communities
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Members used to heavily posting on centralized social media platforms may not realize doing so on their Mastadon instances costs admins and mods more money, time and energy via increased demands on storage, bandwidth, and server processing power
That doesn’t mean we don’t want you to be here or post! It just means your admins and mods appreciate intentional posting (focused on community needs or news, not just ourselves) and donations that help the community exist
This is why it’s a smart business and safety decision to limit or suspend members violating rules and requests from admins/mods on different instances, who try to create instance wars and safety problems:
pitting communities against each other
migrating to new instances to post about ex instances
wanting instances to not use critical moderating tools like rules, strikes systems, admins/mods communicating issues across different instances, suspensions, defederating
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The above activities can lead to instances:
shutting down due to legal issues (why defederating from instances is vital, given different international laws)
running out of money to run the instance (especially if donating members quit due to safety issues)
admin/mod burnout and difficulty recruiting volunteers (most instances aren’t big enough to generate profit to financially pay off as a job; those that are, only some are paid, others volunteer)
If you don’t want rules, moderation, defederation (protecting everyone and the instance itself) and don’t realize you’re joining communities that run higher costs because of your presence
Mastadon (or other decentralized platforms like Discord that function similarly) may not be right for you
Even if you donate to instances, you may cost instances more
One bad actor heavily attacking Disabled.Social cost a community fundraiser event — we can’t do it all
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I hope this thread helps members understand community needs and costs, and helps people stay mindful and intentional on instances
Many admins and mods run at little to no profit — we’re just people with all sorts of life events and struggles, managing instances with little to no help from Mastadon
It’s not just your report or feedback — it’s hundreds to thousands each week or day
We’re happy to have you! Please keep in mind community needs while you’re here
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Due to most governments largely giving up on dangers of Covid and Long Covid to disabled people (and how Covid and Long Covid cause, worsen, reactivate other infections and health events equally or more dangerous to disabled people)
Plus global rise of ableism and eugenics in the past decade
Many disabled people primarily or only have online communities to help us
Even if you’re not a Disabled.Social member, please donate to keep our community running: https://www.patreon.com/disabledsocial
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Emily Johnson