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.
Would this change (in the code/design) be helpful, do you think: for posts that are in reply to something, give the original poster the ability to {reveal publicly, if non-public} and/or {completely delete, for everyone} those replies.
Maybe someone has come up with a better idea, but that's what comes quickly to my mind.
@dave @woozle @flippac already suggested in 2023, but shot down by people who are not being harassed. 😑
Pitch FollowersOnly toots should NOT be visible to any non-follower mentioned in the toot, even if their handle is explicitly mentioned in the toot. Scenario : @[email protected] toots followers-on...
I'm not sure that's the best solution either -- though I see no reason why it couldn't be a per-post or per-user option.
I'm sure that'd get shot down, too; there's been a lot of "not invented here" syndrome at Masto Central. Maybe now that it's under new(ish) leadership, they'll reconsider some of these decisions?
Failing that: one of these days, I will dig into the code...
Dave Alvarado
Woozle Hypertwin
Philippa Cowderoy
eobet