Post AyyJBQ98cRAitVJleS by danpmoore@mathstodon.xyz
(DIR) More posts by danpmoore@mathstodon.xyz
(DIR) Post #AyxwDhIdW6gbj9sRs0 by juergen_hubert@mementomori.social
2025-10-07T09:33:35Z
0 likes, 1 repeats
With the recent influx of newcomers from #Bluesky , it behooves us to contemplate what we can do to improve #moderation on the #Fediverse - something that has been a problem in the past, and is one of the major reasons why the Fediverse is not as big and as diverse as it could be.The first and most important step is a cultural change - we need to be _aware_ of how harassment operates, _especially_ if we are not its target. Thus, everyone around here - admins most of all, but really everyone - needs to drill the following into their brains:If you are not a member of a marginalized group, you are unlikely to ever see much of the #harassment they are experiencing. Heck, you might not even be able to recognize it as such! Thus, if members of said group talk about their experiences with harassment on the Fediverse, _take them at their word_ instead of reacting with disbelief or demands for explanation and elaboration.It is this frequent reaction disbelief that has done more than anything else to harm the reputation of the Fediverse. Because let's face it, we are still a space that is overwhelmingly white and European/North American. If we want to change that - and it is my fervent belief that we should - then we need to take the lived experiences of others seriously.Once we have accepted that we need to expand our understanding of how harassment on the Fediverse occurs, _then_ we can work out what tools are needed to improve the situation. Because I too often see the reaction:"If someone experiences harassment on a large scale, they are not using the tools of the Fediverse correctly to prevent this."This is blaming the victims of harassment for the problem, and not the Fediverse as a whole. And then we will have the same trainwreck as before, and the Fediverse will remain the same hobbyist's collective rather than the serious challenge to commercial social media platforms it should be if we ever want to stop the world's plunge into #fascism .
(DIR) Post #AyxwDif0SQArwpLpNQ by troed@masto.sangberg.se
2025-10-07T09:37:38Z
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@juergen_hubert You're absolutely correct, and I think it needs to be mentioned as well that you cannot ask each and every person experiencing this to sit and report every harassing comment they get either.I was a moderator on a large-ish instant and we got _very_ few reports of such behavior. That doesn't mean it didn't exist - it just means that reporting after the fact isn't enough and people will just leave instead.
(DIR) Post #AyxwDjhWaXmbAvXLwO by ricci@discuss.systems
2025-10-07T12:29:01Z
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@troed @juergen_hubert Another issue is that some harassers use the tools of this space against their targets; for example, as mentioned in: https://logicmag.io/policy/blackness-in-the-fediverse-a-conversation-with-marcia-x/... some will set their messages to 'followers only' so that only they, the other they are trying to "impress", and the target, can see it. This, plus the nature of federation (not every post shows up on every instance) means that many folks don't even see it to report it.
(DIR) Post #Ayy0isSiSqSD8oiPAm by Pi_rat@freesoftwareextremist.com
2025-10-07T13:19:36.771507Z
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@juergen_hubert If fedi gets big, it will be snuffed out like fourms, games, small web(I may be wrong about this). If people want better social media they will have to learn and adapt for their own good. Gatekeeping is immune system.
(DIR) Post #Ayy3dbvWoYJeGxN8E4 by troed@masto.sangberg.se
2025-10-07T13:52:13Z
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@ricci Yeah I got to admit I don't understand _why_ you can tag an external account in a followers-only post. Is there actual usage besides harassment?@juergen_hubert
(DIR) Post #Ayy4SY8qeBOnIltMQa by ricci@discuss.systems
2025-10-07T14:01:26Z
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@troed @juergen_hubert as far as I can tell, the general principle seems to be that when you tag people they can always see it. Which makes a certain amount of sense, but clearly also brings problems with it
(DIR) Post #Ayy5QrtwJJiRxZgGQq by troed@masto.sangberg.se
2025-10-07T14:12:20Z
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@ricci Well I think it's pretty easy to claim that if someone wants to discuss someone followers-only they can do so regardless of if they tag the person or not. Same as with tagging people when you think you send private messages that suddenly brings them in to the discussion.Might we ask @scottjenson if he has had the opportunity to think about the UX here?My own naïve assumption would be that things would be decided by the "Post privacy" selection - "Public, Quiet Public (that no one understands), Followers Only and Private"."Followers only" should - I think - mean that only my followers see the post. If I happen to tag someone instead of just writing their name that shouldn't invalidate my selection of "followers only" to also include that person."Private" has had the explanation changed to clearly spell out that anyone tagged will get the message, but I'm still not certain this has stopped all the mishaps where an existing private conversation between two people suddenly bring in a third when they get tagged in the middle of the text.Unless I'm missing something with how people use "Followers only" it does seem like a very minor change to Mastodon that removes functionality that provably has been abused, a lot, for harassment.@juergen_hubert
(DIR) Post #AyyJBQ98cRAitVJleS by danpmoore@mathstodon.xyz
2025-10-07T15:51:54Z
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@troed @ricci @scottjenson @juergen_hubert 100% agree. "Followers only" posting should not be an option in the Fediverse, IMHO.
(DIR) Post #AyyJBRMI71HseaTmnA by ricci@discuss.systems
2025-10-07T16:37:04Z
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@danpmoore @troed @scottjenson @juergen_hubert I disagree, I think "followers only" is extremely useful, I have many friends on here who have locked accounts and use it a lotIt's being able to drag others into a conversation they don't want to be part of by combining it with mentions that is, so far as I can tell, the problem in this case
(DIR) Post #AyyJBSTlwgrk84zH5k by danpmoore@mathstodon.xyz
2025-10-07T16:41:32Z
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@ricci @troed @scottjenson @juergen_hubert I can't think of an example of wanting to post something, but not wanting any of your non-followers to see it (for a valid reason). Can you?
(DIR) Post #AyyJhNVdxVFXyy5DGK by juergen_hubert@mementomori.social
2025-10-07T16:48:56Z
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@danpmoore @ricci @troed @scottjenson "I want to talk about how I am being harassed!", to pick just the most obvious example.
(DIR) Post #AyyJhPDdbQ2FHhfrTU by ricci@discuss.systems
2025-10-07T16:50:24Z
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@juergen_hubert @danpmoore @troed @scottjenson I will also point out that until Twitter, this is how all social media worked: the idea was that you were just posting for your "friends". There are plenty of people who would still like something that works more or less that way