6 ms·

Great! This server isn't for you then. Find another one.

lokedhs 4y ago
There are plenty of instances who makes it a selling point that they don't block anything. If the have free speech in their name, you can assume that's the case. The end result however is what you'd expect and the experience on those instances are very different from what you see on the more mainstream ones, and most people wouldn't like it.
- DocTomoe 4y ago
  Also, there are instances who deliberately block such servers, because in some circles, human rights like free speech are somehow considered evil.
  - wizzwizz4 4y ago
    A few do. Mostly, though, those servers are blocked because of continued harassment from their users. https://xkcd.com/1357/ https://xkcd.com/1357/ comes to mind. Some of the "free speech", "low-moderation" instances have self-policing communities. Others are full of neo-nazis. Yet others are run by bigots and ban anyone who objects to the hate and vitriol. They are not all the same.
    - DocTomoe 4y ago
      That was the comic that made me lose respect for Mr. Munroe, because he is too intelligent to miss the point so badly: Free Speech is an age-of-enlightenment concept, not a legal construct from the US constitution. Worse, while it is true that no-one HAS to listen, actively preventing OTHERS from listening is obviously ethically wrong. If you feel harassed by an user, filter that user. If you feel harassed by every single account on an instance, filter that instance for yourself (this option currently does not seem to exist in Mastodon). But do not go crying to our admin and deny me, who happens to be on the same server as you and is semi-ok with some of the folks on that other server the ability to interact with them. This is creating filter bubbles, your users will at first love the friendlyness and fluff, but it also is exactly what led to the right-wing successes we've seen all over the world in the last few years. Filter bubbles destroy democratic societies. > Yet others are run by bigots and ban anyone who objects to the hate and vitriol. You see the dangers of giving admins that level of control? Now you got an instance in which there are no more discussions, only self-assuring and groupthink, and which will slowly become more radicalised. If filtering was strictly an user's issue, other users may have seen the objection to hate and vitriol (which often starts underhanded), and have had another view. By the way, that is true no matter which political fringe a server admin belongs to: I know a Mastodon instance on which some users become increasingly radicalised against car owners right now, to the point where mass executions are being normalised by joking about them. Guess what happens when you try to become a voice for reason... But are ALL of them just evil, unredeemable beings that need to be banned from talking? Should my Mastodon admin block that instance for spreading hate and vitriol, even though the majority still talks about other things? Obviously, that's a silly idea.
      - wizzwizz4 4y ago
        > But do not go crying to our admin and deny me, who happens to be on the same server as you and is semi-ok with some of the folks on that other server the ability to interact with them. Here's another way to look at it: Our instance has moderation policies. You chose that instance in part because of those moderation policies, just as I did. Those moderation policies are there so we can interact with each other with the peace of mind that we're not going to have, say, child sexual abuse imagery DM'd to us. Then an instance comes along with a few hundred follow bots that do that. So, after a few reports, our instance admin defederates from the instance. If you don't like this, you're perfectly welcome to go to another instance, with different federation policies. Thanks to federation, you can do this and still stay in contact with me! It's a win-win! > You see the dangers of giving admins that level of control? No, not really. Those people are probably always going to exist. Honestly, much as I hate Nazis, if they're over there doing their thing, and not trying to harass or murder me and my friends, I'm happy just to let them do that. It's just a website; it's not like their kids won't have external influences and be able to figure out that, hey, Nazism is actually bad.

There are plenty of instances who makes it a selling point that they don't block anything. If the have free speech in their name, you can assume that's the case. The end result however is what you'd expect and the experience on those instances are very different from what you see on the more mainstream ones, and most people wouldn't like it.

DocTomoe 4y ago
Also, there are instances who deliberately block such servers, because in some circles, human rights like free speech are somehow considered evil.
- wizzwizz4 4y ago
  A few do. Mostly, though, those servers are blocked because of continued harassment from their users. https://xkcd.com/1357/ https://xkcd.com/1357/ comes to mind. Some of the "free speech", "low-moderation" instances have self-policing communities. Others are full of neo-nazis. Yet others are run by bigots and ban anyone who objects to the hate and vitriol. They are not all the same.
  - DocTomoe 4y ago
    That was the comic that made me lose respect for Mr. Munroe, because he is too intelligent to miss the point so badly: Free Speech is an age-of-enlightenment concept, not a legal construct from the US constitution. Worse, while it is true that no-one HAS to listen, actively preventing OTHERS from listening is obviously ethically wrong. If you feel harassed by an user, filter that user. If you feel harassed by every single account on an instance, filter that instance for yourself (this option currently does not seem to exist in Mastodon). But do not go crying to our admin and deny me, who happens to be on the same server as you and is semi-ok with some of the folks on that other server the ability to interact with them. This is creating filter bubbles, your users will at first love the friendlyness and fluff, but it also is exactly what led to the right-wing successes we've seen all over the world in the last few years. Filter bubbles destroy democratic societies. > Yet others are run by bigots and ban anyone who objects to the hate and vitriol. You see the dangers of giving admins that level of control? Now you got an instance in which there are no more discussions, only self-assuring and groupthink, and which will slowly become more radicalised. If filtering was strictly an user's issue, other users may have seen the objection to hate and vitriol (which often starts underhanded), and have had another view. By the way, that is true no matter which political fringe a server admin belongs to: I know a Mastodon instance on which some users become increasingly radicalised against car owners right now, to the point where mass executions are being normalised by joking about them. Guess what happens when you try to become a voice for reason... But are ALL of them just evil, unredeemable beings that need to be banned from talking? Should my Mastodon admin block that instance for spreading hate and vitriol, even though the majority still talks about other things? Obviously, that's a silly idea.
    - wizzwizz4 4y ago
      > But do not go crying to our admin and deny me, who happens to be on the same server as you and is semi-ok with some of the folks on that other server the ability to interact with them. Here's another way to look at it: Our instance has moderation policies. You chose that instance in part because of those moderation policies, just as I did. Those moderation policies are there so we can interact with each other with the peace of mind that we're not going to have, say, child sexual abuse imagery DM'd to us. Then an instance comes along with a few hundred follow bots that do that. So, after a few reports, our instance admin defederates from the instance. If you don't like this, you're perfectly welcome to go to another instance, with different federation policies. Thanks to federation, you can do this and still stay in contact with me! It's a win-win! > You see the dangers of giving admins that level of control? No, not really. Those people are probably always going to exist. Honestly, much as I hate Nazis, if they're over there doing their thing, and not trying to harass or murder me and my friends, I'm happy just to let them do that. It's just a website; it's not like their kids won't have external influences and be able to figure out that, hey, Nazism is actually bad.