How (racist/sexist/whatever) harassment on Mastodon works:
1. Harasser replies to their target's post, with the reply set to "followers only", saying the most vile stuff you can imagine.
2. All the harasser's followers join in on the harassment, posting more vile stuff.
3. Nobody but the target and the harassment crew can see the vile stuff that was said.
4. Target is traumatized. Nobody else can see why.
5. Everybody says "I don't see it so it's not happening."
"But Dave, why don't they moderate?"
They do. The harassers spin up new instances to get around block lists.
"But Dave, why don't they show the receipts?"
The brave ones do, when they have the energy. It invites a huge amount more harassment, so showing receipts *always* causes psychological damage.
Some folks are willing to tank that damage to get the word out. Most people understandably just want it to stop.
Addendum to this (thanks @flippac !): the receipts a victim of harassment could show won't help stop anything, it's all sock puppet accounts. The most information they can share is "see look, this *happens*. It happened to *me*."
Which, let's be honest, isn't that useful in the white supremacist patriarchal world we live in. A few new people will learn to believe the victims of harassment. That's not much return on investment when the cost is needing more therapy.
Dave Alvarado
Light