It is beautiful to watch folks organize spontaneously around this. There are some really novel techniques being used that I have not seen before.
Shitposters and sex workers blurring their posts and withholding lewds, if only there was a safe platform to post them. Quote chains of people asking the devs to block them too in solidarity. Users building custom, public mute lists to block out fascists and protect marginalized communities.
The devs are liking nazi callout posts & posting on Twitter
But I would also like to take a second, before you enjoy too much schadenfreude, to point out that by and large PoC communities also are not safe on Mastodon.
A huge amount of the feedback being levied on Bluesky’s lasseiz faire moderation policies also apply to us here.
I have very little faith Bluesky will improve, but we still could.
@Haste I think BlueSky is finished with Threads being recently launched. And if they are going to embrace bigots, then there will be less of a reason for a leftist to use it.
@Haste about what you said about POCs not feeling safe here. I have to say you are right. I get anti-China sentiments sent my way at times. And people not understanding that my values are not typically Western, even if I may sound and behave Western.
@liztai@Haste I really would love to understand, why PoC and other groups preferred BlueSky over Fediverse and why Twitter in the past was better for these groups. In my view, what of course has a completly different reality, the Fediverse is the better place to build safe spaces. Of course not the whole Fediverse itself would be a safe space, but parts of it can be. Was Twitter in the past a safe space? Was BlueSky in the beginning one? If there is or was a discussion - I would love to read.
@masteremit@Haste Basically, it had more diversity and less groupthink. Mastodon is lovely, and being more North American and European has its downsides for folks like me. For eg, Americans and Europeans have a particular way of thinking of China. As a South-East Asian smushed between both China and the West, we understand China And the West. For one, I am alarmed at the ignorance being displayed and try to educate ppl.
This often results in them accusing me of being pro-China when I am not.
@masteremit@Haste imagine having to always defend your Pov, and having your opinions dismissed just because your ideas or opinions do not conform to a Global North pov.
It gets extremely tiresome.
And we end up retreating to our spaces to talk to people who don't challenge everything we say.
I don't know if other #TootSea folks feel the same way, but I do because I actually bother to engage.
I really shouldn't tho. 😂 It is a pointless exercise. #SouthEastAsia
@liztai@Haste I can not feel but absolutely understand your trouble. Maybe Twitter was better because it had had more time with growing and getting the diversity it has had for a time. Hopefully this will be the same one day with the Fediverse if we all work on that. But I aldo understand, that this is exhausting. I just do not believe, that BlueSky is really an alternative, or nowadays Threads. But I may be wrong. Would be so much easier if people would be different and just accept difference.
@masteremit@Haste I believe the same. But I know Malaysians. Facebook and Instagram - they already have it, so if Twitter falls, they would go to Threads first. Tho I don't think BlueSky is a really popular choice.
@liztai - so sorry you are experiencing this. If there is anything others of us can do to help with this situation, I'm happy to be of aid. I guess because I use this site more for gathering/sharing info vs. more indepth conversations, I have not seen racism arise in conversation threads - only seen people I follow share their experiences. I would like this platform to be free of hate and better moderated. Thank you for sharing your experience.
@meske6@Haste I don't blame them really. It is a cultural and Western bias, ignorance. And maybe I should've kept quiet, but I couldn't help but correct incorrect assumptions about China, and try to educate them about China's cultural differences. But anti-China sentiments are being spread by Western media so... they can't see it, I guess.
@liztai I’m really sorry to hear that (but also completely unsurprised). You shouldn’t have to deal with it.
I don’t run any communities or have much influence, but if there’s anything I can ever do to help toss a fascist directly into the sun and make the mastodon more safe and pleasant for you and your network, let me know.
@Haste I think key to this is understanding what BlueSky is pursuing is not a free speech policy. 1) Nazis are fundamentally opposed to the idea of free speech. 2) Nazis do not adhere to the rules of free speech, which means abjuring the use of violence, threats, and intimidation.
To allow Nazis on a platform or public sphere is to not defend free speech, but to leave it vulnerable.
@StillIRise1963 Great question (I love reading your work by the way).
The answer is I already don’t use it. I intend to close it once the protest has concluded, but for now it does require authentication to read about and I am deeply interested in antifascist organizing.
If you mean why don’t others leave; a handful of Black users are deeply invested. Aveta, etc did a lot of unpaid labor building their network. So if I had to guess, they’re probably reluctant to leave for that.
But even if/when it won’t be, instances won’t have the autonomy to decide on moderation policies (very much unlike Mastodon). Only the software as a whole or you as a user influence it.
@Haste Sorta related but weird – there was/is a very popular '90s band named Cracker (which as far as I know wasn't meant to offend one way or the other, at the time). I had a playlist of Cracker songs on YouTube, which I called "Cracker." I got dinged and deleted for hate speech. Cracker's videos are (as they should be) all still up on YouTube.
@Haste I quit a 7dtd server because they let a guy with "sambo" in his name and en evern worse picture in his steam profile play while also disciplining me for saying "cracker." People tell on themselves all the time.
@Haste@LinuxAndYarn its 2023 and we have a brand new social media network that doesnt have a "no racism / no nazis" policy.
we may as well be banging rocks together.
also orgs that intentionally choose to not to have those policies are really saying "we're okay if we become the nazi bar. their money is just as green as anybody elses"
@Haste@LinuxAndYarn its interesting - i just went to have a look and i dont see any of that sorta boycotting happening. the lewds feed appears to be the sorta typical stream of "here are my parts, internet, now give me validation" as they normally are. im not suggesting it isnt happening, just that i havent seen it yet
A quick tip: If you wonder what something means, try an Internet search. In this case it would have been really easy to find out: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sambo_(racial_term) So just asking the question without checking comes across as quite disingenuous. It makes it seem like you don't actually care about the meaning/harm in this case, but just want to say there is another possible meaning and "perhaps that's what they meant" as if the context given didn't completely rule that out.
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