So, I think I've dug as deeply into the #hachyderm drama as I need to, and settled on some conclusions.
Most basically, the best insights came from seeing conversations on another platform: discord.
Admins from both sides were talking. And as it's a chat platform, the engagement and conversation was clearly more direct, free, expressive and clarifying.
If the fediverse wants to be the new internet, seriously, it needs to growup and move on from just microblogging.
The most revealing aspect of the #hachyderm#fediblock drama has been the truly feudal nature of the fediverse / feudalverse.
A world of conflict was occurring between admins/feudal lords mostly unknown to instance users/subjects … until defederations and admin resignations occur … at which point the users have to blindly work out what’s happened and how it affects them and which instances they’re now blind to.
Just like monarchs declaring war against each other. @fediversenews
So it looks like home.social is going to shut down this year (see announcement below).
That’s a 36k user instance. Along with mastodon.lol recently, are mid-sized instances feeling the strain? Are they naturally unsustainable, at least without the right infrastructure.
I’m betting single admin mid-sized instances are unsustainable.
#Hachyderm could easily have struggled to survive recently if it weren’t for its co-op org.
I know, I know, I'm the devil incarnate but I actually think #threads could be a good thing for the #fediverse.
I'm not saying we should all switch to it, I prefer the feel of #hachyderm and the indie fediverse in general, but for onboarding new folks I think it has potential.
My biggest concern is how we prevent the sort of #hate against others that seems so common on some mainstream social networks.
this is not "drama", we aren't focusing on the person in question, beyond pointing out that she has invoked the white privilege of being able to walk away from a difficult conversation just because it's hard, and that's not a privilege everyone gets.
also, defederating over this isn't anti-racist praxis (ETA: except when it is, see footnote). it's the sucralose of praxis. it's disposability culture. it's the no-effort way out and does very little to actually curb racism, but i guess it sure does feel good to smash that "dispose of" button.
anti-racist praxis involves more subtle things, like "confronting the systems of power that let these covertly racist bootlickers rise to positions of control", "reflecting on one's own position in reproducing those systems", "recognizing when an apology is full of white tears", and the dreaded a-word ("accountability"), but, we know people in generally are really NOT ready for that conversation, so we're going to climb into our asbestos fursuit and scream into the void
Footnote: the way rage.love defederated hachyderm is praxis — it wasn't a knee-jerk reaction, there was a good-faith effort to curb the objectionable behavior, and the efforts led nowhere. THAT is a justified defederation. kneejerk fediblock-style 'on-sight-on-blast' is not.
Things are getting pretty weird on #hachyderm. The person who started the instance decided to quit out of the blue (???) and I've seen some fediblocking going around due to server rules.
I have lots of sympathy for burnout of course, but I assume the stability/continuation of the instance is in question now.
I thought the confrontation with the now former #hachyderm admin on Discord that escalated significantly (to the point where I personally got blamed for supposed suffering of her family!) didn’t really get to me emotionally. But now a few days later I find myself desiring at least an acknowledgement or something resembling an apology from … I don’t know who exactly. I have no hope of Kris doing that since she’s left the Fediverse entirely.
I guess it could be a gesture of good will for whoever filled that vacuum maybe. You know, anything indicating that the new leadership at least knows not to repeat this.
And don’t forget the power imbalance here simply due to instance size.
I took a risk and put significant effort into calmly explaining the possible reasons for several instances taking moderation action and how they could try to proceed, and the backlash was in part ignorant and in part severe and very personal.
So in the wake of the @nova resignation and #hachyderm drama, it seems to come down to the fundraising rule.
This rule seems to be born out of a fear of “begging” spam.
In theory, I can see how this could become a problem.
But, @nivenly / @hachyderm (hachyderm admins), is it really a justifiable fear?
Has it happened before?
How bad would it even be? Is the local timeline really that valuable (I don’t use it)?
Do you not see how super gentrified it looks to oust the beggars?
The context missing from this entire thread is that several instances (including our own) have taken moderation action against #hachyderm in the form of limiting or suspension after repeated incidents over months. None of this happened out of the blue.
The framing here seems to be that this action was taking without prior communication (which isn't true) or due to misinterpretation of Kris' intentions (that's not how intent and language work).
@nova (admin of #hachyderm.io) has abruptly called it quits from the fediverse and handing admin of the instance over to the nivenly foundation she created.
Seems there’s a context here that I and many aren’t aware of.
this is a(nother) story of admin burn out. Specifically, @nova seems to have real critiques of the fediverse (there’s a lack of inter-communication between sub-communities).
The reactions of people on #Hachyderm make me feel quite comfortable that the decisions other instances made to silence them or defederate were good ones. "You have to interact with us poor rich tech workers no matter what we do or you can't claim to support diversity!!1!"
Not gonna lie. I find this development deeply troubling. Many of us on #Hachyderm, myself included, are concerned about the ethics surrounding generative AI. Nothing in this announcement—and nothing in the replies thus far—assuages our concerns.
I hope @nivenly clarifies where Haidra gets their training data, and whether or not it infringes on the copyrights of artists. The responses thus far have been less than encouraging. https://hachyderm.io/@nivenly/110793389840249184
Does anyone know what is going on with @nova on #hachyderm ? First there was a “we will persevere through this” comment with no context, and now she’s leaving, and again the context seems to be missing.
Is she ok?
What happened?
Could we have done something to make this a better experience for her?
Can we learn something from this so we can improve in the future?
Since I am seeing some takes on the latest #Hachyderm drama from people on that instance, and quite a few people I know are on there, I will add mine, as someone who started there, and then had to move, due to conflict with Kris Nova.
Not sure if I still have all the receipts, and I deleted my account a while back, but for me, it roughly starts here;
The endless toxic "fediblock" denunciation and resulting network disruption amongst smaller servers makes me so glad to be on a server large enough to be relatively immune from it. #hachyderm
The #Hachyderm stuff going on with the admin leaving is really bothering me and making me question the longevity of the fediverse. 😞 Think I'll stick to my blog.
The TL;DR is that Hachyderm federates by default until there is a reason not to. The moderators are committed to researching how Threads is behaving in the Fediverse and we should hear an update in a couple weeks, with an in-depth explanation of whatever action the mods take by the end of January (if I'm reading right).
If you want to fundraise on Mastodon, join an instance that allows it or host your own server. Don't join an instance that doesn't allow fundraising and then proceed to complain about it.