@gyptazy and this makes it even harder to find the right instance… maybe a reason for the growing single user instances

@gyptazy Which basically boils down to „no, it is not totally irrelevant which instance you choose“. Size and moderation policy of an instance as well as number of moderators and financial stability are actually key question. I know I don‘t have to tell you this, but do you have any good texts we can point newcomers to, because this makes it harder to have a successful stay in the Fediverse IMHO.
(edit: typo)

@gyptazy The freedom to block whoever you like ;) With great power comes great responsibility, nuff said. To be a admin/moderator ist more difficult than the most people expect. I do have more than 15 years of community experience. Its not that easy.

While it's true individual admins have moderation power, the Fediverse's strength lies in user choice. You select instances aligning with your values and moderation preferences. If dissatisfied, you can move to another instance, unlike centralized platforms. This distributed model fosters diverse communities and empowers users with greater control over their online experience. This brings us back to the "old web" ethos, where niche communities not only existed but thrived.

@gyptazy true

@gyptazy if Hetzner goes down, the fediverse will be dead anyway I guess

@gyptazy you were misinformed.

There's a history of strong moderation here.

Not to say there isn't also a history of free speech extremists, it is the internet after all.

There's a history of different layers of de-federation.

There's a history of near unanimous de-federation (whole section of the network that is blocked from the majority of the rest: Truth Social, Gab)

@gyptazy You're misusing the word "freedom," here, and I suspect it's wilful.

Being able to block whole instances is one of the major (anarchist!) methods of moderation, here. If a whole instance is toxic, which they can be, other instances are within their rights to say: "We don't want to hear from you." We have the *freedom* to leave a toxic situation.

Your free speech ≠ my obligation to listen.

@gyptazy

There's an instance where I have one account, didn't know that there was drama because I keep my nose down.
At a certain point I saw that there is drama regarding some moderator and then I saw another instance where they simply the federated my instance because the leadership don't like what that moderator has done from their perspective

I've read the perspective of the moderator

The stories differ 180°

#community #activitypub #federation #opensource #socialmedia

@gyptazy You retain the #freedom to move to a different instance, or even run one of your own, if you don’t like the instance that you’re on. The #fediverse today reminds me of the #email landscape 30+ years ago, back before we collectively decided that three giant US corporations should handle most personal and commercial communications. Responsibility is difficult and expensive.

@gyptazy honestly, the link below is one of the best takes I've seen, and although it's prompted by/related to the events at fosstodon, it's not *solely* about fosstodon.

https://dotart.blog/cobbles/the-end-of-an-era

On a technical level - the fediverse is more open/decentralized.. a benefit of this is that those with power/wealth can't so easily censor people.

On the other hand, the Fediverse norm seems to revolve around a small (ish) number of (relatively) huge instances, perhaps this isn't ideal. As always in life, I'm not sure there is a one size fits all solution.

Perhaps more smaller instances, would be desirable

I'm also honestly not even sure what my instances policy is going to be re federating with fosstodon in future...

Perhaps more transparency over federation at the instance level is desirable?

Perhaps there could be some kind of "baseline" CoC that all instances that want to federate by default must be accept by instance admins?

Perhaps something more specific that would only allow people to only federate (by default) with instances that agreed to rule 1/2/3

On a personal level (based on the lay of the land/tools as I understand it now) part of the reason I want to host my own instance - aside from my own sovereignty of data/choice of software etc...

I want to choose where **I** federate, I'm an extremely tolerant person, but I do want the freedom to opt out of users on an instance if protecting minorities is not viewed as important.

I am honestly on the verge of shutting down my instance every week, and just leaving my little blog. I generally don't find social media useful. Until I make a post about something and get a bunch of helpful replies, like I did about chat/xmpp recently. And so it stays, but the welshpixies of fedi still do my head in.

Most people have zero interest in self hosting their social media (or anything at all), and so just go to the biggest platform because "reach". Sigh.

@gyptazy nah. I'm a grumpy little gay man who uses the word fuck in a wide assortment of ways...not banned. Making new frens actually. Honestly you have to be a MASSIVE douchebag to get defederated or banned on here, and those instances are well on the fringes. And I mean the weird mustache fringes. It's expensive to run an instance!! Very! My lil buddy @stux basically lives in a cardboard box (in the Netherlands so you know it's nice) to keep his running.