Time to back up, export, and leave if you're on mstdn.ca
https://ottawa.place/@stephanie/116267088513251309

If you can't see the above post, here's the CBC article about the person who owns and runs the server.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/inglewood-league-lawsuit-missing-funds-9.7136933

Migration tips:
https://zeroes.ca/@StaceyCornelius/115967726861839689

Edit: These are allegations and there's a state of the instance coming up. I'd err on the side of caution and migrate early, or at least back everything up, because losing an account here kind of sucks.

Stéphanie (@[email protected])

If you're on mstdn.ca, I would save my list of follows/followers immediately and think about moving. The owner is getting sued for over 300K by his community league. I wouldn't bet on the instance surviving this latest thing 😞 https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/inglewood-league-lawsuit-missing-funds-9.7136933

ottawa.place

@mayintoronto

I hate to be "That Guy" but I would remind everyone that these are allegations in the form of a statement of claim, not a finding of fact in a court of law.

As far as I'm aware we do have a presumption of innocence in Canada.

Obviously the allegation is disturbing, but I will withhold my condemnation and won't be moving instances until such time as a finding of fact is made (or at least until we see some evidence to back up the claims).

As for "he's hosting it at home" as some kind of evidence of malice, there was a deliberate and public effort to get mstdn.ca off of "the cloud" and onto Canadian sovereign servers, so I feel like this is slandering someone with their good intentions.

I note, this is not a defence of his alleged actions, merely a reminder of our professed values.

@evdelen @mayintoronto Agreed. This is concerning, but allegations are just allegations.

This is a bit of a shock none the less though, and does give me concern about my data hosted on the servers though. 😬

Sometimes being "that guy" is not fun to be, I've done that a few times on here and been blocked for it, oh well! 🙃

@javensbukan @mayintoronto

Completely agree.

I'm hopeful this is a misunderstanding, or a mistake, not a malice driven endeavour.

I'll definitely be keeping an eye on the matter!

@evdelen @mayintoronto Yeah. It will be interesting to see the details of this case once it comes to light.

I do not understand why an organization would try to reputationally destroy Chad like this though - what's the motive? 🤨

@javensbukan @evdelen idk, it's being reported through the CBC. In previous years, I'd say that CBC did their research, but it's so hard to trust them anymore.

I'm all for giving people the benefit of the doubt, but allegations like that? I'd be inclined to leave.

@mayintoronto @javensbukan @evdelen for me it’s not about the allegations, the court can handle it.

But it’s important to know the largest fediverse instance in Canada is very centralized.

It’s not a separate non profit, all the servers are in his home and under his name (assets), he pays all the bills and collect donations under his name.

So to know that he’s being sued for 300K is important info. It’s all the same bucket. If he loses or have big lawyer fees, this is all the same entity.

@jerome @mayintoronto @javensbukan

You have a point there, and we have the good fortune of a forum being available to answer some of our questions / make some decisions around these issues, specifically the State of the Instance meet up tomorrow.

Personally, if there is a call for volunteers for replicating and distributing the infrastructure I believe I have the skills and resources to volunteer: a fibre connection, backup power, some of the technical skills...

And, institutionally, I agree that it might be time to have a discussion around setting up the mstdn.ca organization as a not-for-profit entity with a volunteer board and some of the safeguards I mentioned before, like 3 signature expenditures.

This is part of the evolution of such communities!

I look forward to the discussion tomorrow!

@evdelen @jerome @mayintoronto @javensbukan I'm really liking this idea of repair over abandonment, perhaps with a non-profit setup. Too bad the state of the instance was cancelled.
@jerome @PhoenixSerenity @mayintoronto @javensbukan @evdelen exactly. Those servers have no protection; they could be seized well before allegations are proven or dismissed.
@deborahh @jerome @mayintoronto @javensbukan @evdelen Chad keeps lying to people (again), trying to provide false sense of unrealistic security. Straight fucking up.