Heliomass has movedSilence is deadly.
Jean-François Mezei@heliomass While I can understand remaining silent on the accusations against him, if a legal process has been undertaken (lawyers would require this), it should not prevent a statement on continued availability of the mastodon service, especially a generic "anonymous" news message that isn't signed by the individual involved.
@jfmezei To be clear, I’m referring to silence on the state of the instance only.
The rest isn’t my business and I wouldn’t want to wade into any of it.
@heliomass Well it is in a way your business. Since the instance is runned by a dude with no incorportation, whatever happens to the dude happens to the instance.
But could still issue a message that the instance is safe, and that the Mastodon standard of 30 day warning prior to instance shutdown will be honoured if it comes to that. And hint that the state of instance is delayed pending outcome of attempts to transform/transfer instance.
@jfmezei Yeah. But my worry is the uncertainty is causing people to jump ship. That diminishes the instance even if its future is safe.
@heliomass I agree. the uncertianty is what is hurting it. There are ways to reassure users without making any statement that cound be used as evidence against him in the legal process.
Based on the message he briefly posted which showed much hatred against him, I could understand if he just gave up. When you are a volunteer running such a service, you are fueled by encouragement and knowing you are helping many happy users. But if all he gets are hate messages, he could just give up.
@jfmezei I didn’t know about that. That’s pretty awful.
erinWe don’t know what kind of “hate” he is or was getting. I don’t doubt there was some, however every public comment under that post before it was deleted was either in support, or in support with a request for accountability and assurance during this time. The post did confirm he would honour the Mastodon covenant (90 days notice) however the message in general came across weak, and too centred around his personal feelings. People are also questioning whether, if in a situation where criminal charges are laid, if he would be able to honour the covenant if servers are seized since they are in his personal possession.
@heliomass @erin do we know this is criminal vs civil ? I just read the community association had gone to court. And innocent until proven guilty.
Put yourself in his shoes. Life is instantly devastated by accusations made public before a court renders judgement. Yes people wanted to know about the mastodon instance but his priority would be his life and all the insults thrown at him.
Put yourself in his shoes. Life is instantly devastated by accusations made public before a court renders judgement. Yes people wanted to know about the mastodon instance but his priority would be his life and all the insults thrown at him.
@jfmezei It's civil. From what I understand, the organization is trying to recoup their money in civil court, and is waiting the outcome of a forensic audit before authorities determine if criminal charges are going to be laid. That's why I said "if criminal charges are laid". He IS innocent, and it's for the courts to decide.
I don't envy the position he is in but that doesn't negate his responsibility to the mstdn.ca community. The suit was filed over 2 months ago and it's been public for almost a week. As it sits, we have two now deleted posts from him, no updates to the MSTDN.ca updates page or from any moderators, a cancelled "state of the instance", and the zero communication have people rightfully questioning the longevity and security of the largest Canadian Mastodon instance that is at the helm of 1 guy. A PR message to the MSTDN.ca updates page from a moderator acknowledging that Chad is taking time away, who to reach out to in the meantime, and confirming there will be more communication in the future, would go a long way right now.
@erin @heliomass I dont think he “owes” users a message. He runs mstdn as a volunteer. It isn’t à business. Having said that, mstdn.ca had become important to many so they came to trust the service and lack of communications creates a big void. He has the means of having unsigned status message giving users thé time of day on short and medium term availability of service. Such need not discuss his personal life or create legal problem.
@jfmezei just to be clear I didn’t say personal statement, I’m not looking for him to create any more legal issues for himself. Volunteers, such as boards, are accountable to their stakeholders such as donors. Nothing is legally binding in this case, so no, the instance admin team technically owe no one anything. However, he said he’s taking some time away (in the deleted post) so an “out of office” posted by a moderator is not unreasonable in the interim imo. @heliomass
@erin @heliomass The problem with the lack of a "mstdn continues to function as usual", or even a "you now have 90 days to reach mininum safe distance on another instance" message is that it leaves people wondering of possibility of instant instance disappearing.
Whatever legal trouble he may be in, he knew about this prior to the planned state of instance. My thinking is that itis the backlash from people sneding him insults/threats once article went public that got him out of limelight.