Is there a website that keeps track what instances are protecting their users from #Threads and which doesn't? Not everyone joined #FediPact, yet many still blocked them. It would be nice to know how much of the Fediverse is save from Meta.
It's not by chance that Mastodon users can see Threads posts first, before Threads users can see Mastodons posts. They'll probably try to lure people to their platform.
They'll let Threads users see Mastodon (and #Fediverse users) later, but I'm willing to bet that Fediverse posts will never be offered in the algorithm ("For You" tab), and will only be seen in the "Following" tab (that will never be the default). We'll see.
I’m pleased to see the latest post from #Threads engineering reiterates their plans to support ActivityPub. There aren’t enough normies on Mastodon, and being able to see and be seen from Threads is something I’m looking forward to.
Of course, once that happens I’ll probably annoy developers with posts about anime, and annoy anime fans with posts about development. Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose.
I'm #transgender and white folk. I'm on a good #Mastodon instance with great admin and moderators. I've never seen a hateful message.
There are plenty of folks who came here and had a different experience, such as #BlackMastodon and #BIPOC.
Y"all came to the #Fediverse because they told you it was better. "No racism," they said.
Instead, you found a wild west of instances each one with its own rules, its own admin teams, and its own federated instances. End up on the "wrong" one and you'll get even more hate than you had on #BirdSite with fewer tools for visibility and protection.
I keep reading Toots from people telling us their real, lived experiences on Fediverse about racism being directed toward them and then a bunch of white folk barging in saying "works for me". We cannot do that. That makes us shitty allies.
What we need to do is ask: why is this happening?
The answer is at the heart of the Fediverse.
The decentralized, federated nature means that each instance is its own kingdom. It chooses what is and is not appropriate. It polices itself. It decides what other instances are allowed to communicate with it. It may even have a vetting process before admitting new members.
That is not the problem. That's fine.
First problem: how do you pick an instance?
Is there a Directory of instances that lists their manifestos and attributes? No.
Is there a centralized list of instances that lists out who a specific instance is mostly for? No.
Can you find a list that tells you who all the instance admins are, maybe what they do for a living or their real name so you can Google them? Sorry, no.
Second problem: how do you report and stop hate speech?
As a user, you can mute or block.
If you mute someone, you can no longer see their posts. However, they can still see yours and can still interact with your account and your toots. That is useless for hate speech or targeted harassment.
What about blocking?
If you block someone, you can no longer see their account and they can no longer see your account or interact with your account.
Block is obviously the answer, right?
Have you heard of a dogpile? Did you know it is effortless for someone to create multiple accounts in the Fediverse? Blocking can become a full time job when you are the target.
At the instance level, the admins can decide to defederate with specific other instances. Toots from those instances won't show up in your timeline. People on those instances can't see your account or your toots.
Winning, right?
Well, here's the thing about federation: each instance decides on which other instances to federate or defederate. If you are having a conversation thread with people from ten different instances and two instances block three of the other instances, then the conversation will probably be nonsensical to some following it because they will not be able to see the whole conversation. There is no "show me these anyway" button. There is no indication that anything is being blocked or missing.
That also means that harassment received may not be visible to all participants which is a problem. If other people don't see it, they do not know it exists and can handwave it away.
Third problem: how does any particular instance know with what other instances to federate or defederate?
Is there a "bad instance" list that folks can subscribe to, a master #FediBlock list somewhere that you can subscribe to? No.
Is there somewhere that new instances are listed so they can be vetted or added into the larger Fediverse after some trial period? No.
Is there even a central body of admins and representatives that has discussions about who to defederate with nuanced conversations? Absolutely not, no, just no.
My point is that I'm sorry to see y'all go. I love reading from the POV of #BlackMastodon. Black history is sorely undertaught in the US and I've learned more from a few long posts than I did in four years of high school. I'm a marginalized group, too, and whatever happens to #BlackMastodon is coming for me next. We are stronger together. But I also understand why some of you are leaving and I bear you no ill will. I hope that Fediverse is able to build the features to bring you back because Twitter / X is a shithole, but it's a centralized shithole with better protections for BIPOC (at least at this time). Same goes for #BlueSky until it starts federating. Protect yourselves.
Decide where to spend your emotional currency.
Be well.
Take care of yourself.
And you will always be welcome in my feeds.
#fediblock#FediPact
Please block Threads (Meta) if this has not already been done.
If there is a valid reason NOT to do this (e.g number of users), how do users like myself that do not want to be visible to and from Meta block Threads ourselves?
EDIT: FOUND IT - in preferences->followers there is the option to "remove all followers from the selected domains" so I am now searching to ensure nobody at threads.net is following me.
EDIT2: no followers from threads.net and I plan to keep it that way.
Optimised version of the classic "10 PRINT" demo showing a random maze in a single line of code. Running here on a Commodore Max Machine in MAX BASIC. Because why not.
I use #Python a lot... Any time I just need to quickly convert, analyse or transform and better understand some data. In the past when I would have reached for #Perl, I now use Python.
Anyway, I have just realised that my goto data structure in Python always seems to be lists of dictionaries! They just seem to click for me 🤔
Since you spend time into accusing me multiple times of spreading misinformation, well, yes, then it would be nice to also spend the time to back it up with some hard references.
The overall point is: There are many valid and important technnical and non-technical discussions regarding #threads.
But I'm a little bit disappointed how #fedipact discussions seem to slip quickly into just throwing around accusations without backing them up and personal insults.
It just would be nice if such discussions are a) based on solid technical facts, and technical statements backed up by solid technical information, and b) civil.