These times are very challenging. Rather than descend into an abyss of fake news and stident acrimony, somehow Mastodon seems to be largely maintaining a civil tone and self regulating misinformation.
It is pretty amazing to see an open social media community functioning this well given the meltdown across other platforms.
Let's continue to demand accuracy and civility while we debate these seminal issues. Let Mastodon be the beacon in the darkness.
@mastodonmigration
Take note, the following feature is the main reason Mastodon remains sound, and that Twitter was also sound even post Musk until the feature was disabled:
time ordered timeline
No algorithm means the ability to curate what you see, and it becomes much harder for bad accounts to gain traction without it. Much easier for instances and users to identify and block them.
TL;Dr: don't be like Twitter. Reject requests for Twitter features until proven to align with our values.
@mastodonmigration No matter what their hobbies may be, which movie stars, politicians and musicians they like, everyone on Mastodon has something in common. As far as social media goes, we’re all totally sick of everything else and really want this place to work. Not just to work… to work without abuse, racism, hatred and stress. It works because power hungry billionaire megalomaniacs aren’t in charge of it. We are.
@mastodonmigration I think that the fact there's no algorithm promoting outrage helps. There's nothing rewarding us for being so outrageous and jumping to emotion, helping things stay on the rational side.
Accuracy and civility are nice, but how about being free of hate speech? Based on the number of reports we've seen, that seems too much for many instance, including mastodon.online. Not just hate speech, but open harassment of Jews expressing grief and fear.
Very aware that Mastodon is not perfect. Hate speech of any kind is intolerable. When it occurs the correct action is to block the account and if a violation of instance policy to report it. This gives us all the the tools to effectively contend with such abuse over time, although it does not eliminate it entirely. Efforts like yours are critical to raising awareness which hopefully will further engage the community in rejection of such abuse.
@mastodonmigration Fake news needs to be generated, either by a corporation, algorithm or special-interest-group.
Fortunately, only real people (and a few private bots) (and a handful or progressive news outlets) are on Mastodon. so we only see real news and resl commentary.
@mastodonmigration I deleted my Twitter account, but I still check Facebook sometimes, and I'm often shocked by what I see.
I'm worried that Mastodon will be the same way if it ever gets really popular. The barrier to entry helps keep the community small and intimate, but it also makes it less welcoming to non-geeky techies.
It seems like once something gets too big, it descends to the lowest common denominator. And the lowest common denominator is often pretty low.
Finally someone who has a same opinion like me!
Remember YouTube? The platform back in a days used to be small and unfamous, so, the YouTube devs listened to community, which was small, and it didn't have b.s. ads and trackers.
cc: @mastodonmigration
Maybe, but I hope not. We have one very strong thing going for us. We are free. We are free of corporate oversight and algorithmicly driven influence manipulation. Perhaps it is idealism, but the hope is that free to evolve organically the arc will bend to the light, not the dark.
@mastodonmigration people much smarter than me have pointed out that the requests for “civility” in the face of hard political realities are a sign of (white) privilege, and a marker of not having stakes in the politics at hand. especially reading the “civility in debate” demand here made me stop. i think this mindset is a bit dangerous because there are critical omissions due to the stucture (read: almost arcane mechanisms) of the fediverse. as another reply already stated, these same mechanisms are why white people continuously cannot see the racism on the platform.
to me there’s an air of complacency around this observation. each user’s fediverse experience is an incredible echo chamber in its own way. more people should be aware of that.
of course i’ve also appreciate reading posts that allow space for ambiguity, that point me to new insights, and i’m also glad that fake news doesn’t spread rampantly. but who am i not hearing when i browse my feed? that’s certainly different on e.g. instagram and any random post’s comment section in the past 2 weeks.
</assuming that this is about the war in Israel/Gaza, because that wasn’t even mentioned>
Understand that 'civility' is a word that has a fraught history. Perhaps a better term would be 'rational'. The contrast being applauded was between forceful rational discourse and fractious name calling and ad hominem rhetoric.
That said, very much appreciate that Mastodon is not perfect. That racism and abuse does exist here, and that the balkanized nature of the platform can make some of it invisible to those outside of targeted communities.
@mastodonmigration I think that's because the organic way posts spread through the network. If no one bothers to share or comment, it simply disappears.
Believe this is correct. No one has their finger on the scale. It's kind of reassuring to think that the natural arc actually bends toward rational discourse. But it also makes one marvel at the the disruptive influence of willful algorithmic manipulation.
It has been possible to have a reasonable conversation about Israel. Some strident people on either side exist, but it hasn't actually stopped discourse.
@mastodonmigration I think the explanation is quite simple - no algorithms, so even if someone passes some fake news, it's not being boosted and not going viral
and probably lack of quote and retoot function also helps ;)
Believe this has a lot to do with it for sure. Also, been thinking that because we, not some corporation, own the network, that we are more protective of it. It's ours, and we don't what it to let it get fucked up.
@mastodonmigration yes, that's also true, but with every wave of migration of people from platform formerly known as Twitter ;) people are getting less and less protective, don't use CW's, # etc., butt, well, that's probably part of an evolution and something we have to come to terms with
This is a great point. Here curation is determined by you, not for you. Perhaps, no certainly, if you seek out the dark corners you will find them, but that is your choice. Just as it is your choice to steer clear of trolls and purveyors of misinformation. The tools are in your hands.
@SebastienK@mastodonmigration also the replies you see are only the replies from users that are on your instance or followed by someone on the instance you’re on (if I’m not mistaken), or posts that ended up because the sender tagged users on your instance. So even if there is a troll responding the OP, if nobody follows that troll on your instance (and why would they) you as a lurker probably won’t see it, making it much harder to have troll material amplified. So it is a two layer filtering/curation :) perhaps even a third layer, as the admin can decide to actively ban the troll’s instance messaging even when someone wanted to follow this troll.
Sidenote: I’m afraid that is also why white people (like me) hardly see racism here, since they aren’t tagged in replies to PoC posts and if you’re part of a sensible mastodon community the racists themselves aren’t followed by anyone, only if you'd share the instance with the person attacked you'd see the reply in your environment.
@mastodonmigration the problem is that the fediverse are all mantained by volunteers: from installing and configurating the instances, moderation, etc. I know that some organizations and companies like the European Comission are already using customised versions of Mastodon. But that is the future : when people like journalists will promote their content in instances managed by their own companies or syndicates, and just by looking at the instance name, we know it is trusted content
@mastodonmigration Discourse here on Mastodon is by far much better and more civil than other platforms, though I've interacted with a couple of douchebag trolls with agendas. In the scheme of things very minor.
@mastodonmigration It gives me hope. It's refreshing to experience. I hope it remains a place of civility while still maintaining a level of open communication, where we can be discerning adults who aren't afraid to have a difference of opinion.
Hope is indeed a wonderful thing. A light to guide our path. Your essay illuminates, and serves as inspiration. Thanks again for expressing your hope so beautifully.
@mastodonmigration pleasure meeting you. There are times I feel so alone in the vast network. It's nice to know "I'm not the only one" with similar thoughts.
I have some old habits from the bad place that still crop up from time to time. I find myself starting drafts over with the intent not to dunk and it's been really good, I think
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