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The issue I have with Mastodon is that a pod admin can prevent me from following people from other pods they don't like. I understand blocking whole spamming po

The issue I have with Mastodon is that a pod admin can prevent me from following people from other pods they don't like. I understand blocking whole spamming pods, but when they start blocking whole pods because they're too right wing or left wing, one might wonder what's the point of switching from Twitter? Now, you would say, I could run my own pod, but they could still block me from following anyone on their pods just because of the people I'm following or because they have white lists of pods allowed to follow people. This makes the whole experience even more restricting than twitter and creates insular bubbles of opinions where you are only allowed to follow people you already agree with (boring). I guess, a truly decentralized solution would be something like a blockchain where they will not be able to prevent anyone from following anyone when using different clients. Haven't seen any working solution yet.

cjslep 7y ago
Are you looking to break your bubble, or other people's bubble? Your first paragraph is a complaint about the former and your second paragraph about the latter. I read this as goalpost shifting. Fundamentally, the freedom-of-speech argument of "everyone must read what I have to say" is a tired one that cannot and will not ever happen: You can't force everyone else to read your post. Not on a blockchain, not on a federated system. Blockchain may mean they have to download your content, but their client filter will always be available to never have to see another person's content even if force-downloaded. Clockwork Orange type solution is the only way to be sure a human puts their eyeballs on specific content. In general, most admins are not proactively blocking federated single instance users unless reports come in, in which case you probably did something to someone on that instance. Not everyone is there to burst their bubble, but craft it, and depending what they want, you or I might not make the cut. Oh well. Finally, if an anti-censorship platform where everyone must download one's speech (under certain conditions) is truly what you want, go to FreeNet. Even there, no one is required to read another's content.
- Dylan16807 7y ago
  > what I have to say The entire post is about who they are allowed to follow, nothing to do with what they say. It's not about personal bubbles either. Can download, not must download.
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
  - patrickaljord 7y ago
    Exactly, I want to be able to follow whoever I want and not have an admin decide for me.
    - cjslep 7y ago
      You want a single-user instance, like was mentioned before. No one else decides for you. By default a person spinning up a new single-user instance is free to follow-request anyone (most users have the software auto-accept follow requests). Once that person begins opening their mouth, is when federated admins begin blacklisting (if required, at their discretion), preventing new follows and undo-ing existing follows. That's how they build, curate, and maintain their communities much like any other BBS, forum, or sub-reddit. Most people appreciate a baseline standard employed by their admin so they themselves don't have to wade through porn, gore, and hateful content. Believe me, this debate isn't new, Gab moving to ActivityPub brought the same cries of "we're being censored by admins, let the people decide for themselves". The admins, of course, laughed and said "my community members can leave or create a second account elsewhere on this open platform if they want that content". To no one's surprise, the non-Gab part of the Fediverse did not shrink. Edit: And I've always explained to folks... advocate for single-user instances if concerned about admin decisions! Then the digital literate group of self-policing admin-users, grows! But then again, understand not everyone is on the internet to have to wade through porn, gore, and hateful content and wants to make that decision for themselves. Edit2: Admin decisions are also transparent on Mastodon. The instance I am on for example lists decisions here: https://mastodon.technology/about/more https://mastodon.technology/about/more
      - 7y ago

cjslep 7y ago

Are you looking to break your bubble, or other people's bubble? Your first paragraph is a complaint about the former and your second paragraph about the latter. I read this as goalpost shifting. Fundamentally, the freedom-of-speech argument of "everyone must read what I have to say" is a tired one that cannot and will not ever happen: You can't force everyone else to read your post. Not on a blockchain, not on a federated system. Blockchain may mean they have to download your content, but their client filter will always be available to never have to see another person's content even if force-downloaded. Clockwork Orange type solution is the only way to be sure a human puts their eyeballs on specific content. In general, most admins are not proactively blocking federated single instance users unless reports come in, in which case you probably did something to someone on that instance. Not everyone is there to burst their bubble, but craft it, and depending what they want, you or I might not make the cut. Oh well. Finally, if an anti-censorship platform where everyone must download one's speech (under certain conditions) is truly what you want, go to FreeNet. Even there, no one is required to read another's content.

Dylan16807 7y ago
> what I have to say The entire post is about who they are allowed to follow, nothing to do with what they say. It's not about personal bubbles either. Can download, not must download.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
- patrickaljord 7y ago
  Exactly, I want to be able to follow whoever I want and not have an admin decide for me.
  - cjslep 7y ago
    You want a single-user instance, like was mentioned before. No one else decides for you. By default a person spinning up a new single-user instance is free to follow-request anyone (most users have the software auto-accept follow requests). Once that person begins opening their mouth, is when federated admins begin blacklisting (if required, at their discretion), preventing new follows and undo-ing existing follows. That's how they build, curate, and maintain their communities much like any other BBS, forum, or sub-reddit. Most people appreciate a baseline standard employed by their admin so they themselves don't have to wade through porn, gore, and hateful content. Believe me, this debate isn't new, Gab moving to ActivityPub brought the same cries of "we're being censored by admins, let the people decide for themselves". The admins, of course, laughed and said "my community members can leave or create a second account elsewhere on this open platform if they want that content". To no one's surprise, the non-Gab part of the Fediverse did not shrink. Edit: And I've always explained to folks... advocate for single-user instances if concerned about admin decisions! Then the digital literate group of self-policing admin-users, grows! But then again, understand not everyone is on the internet to have to wade through porn, gore, and hateful content and wants to make that decision for themselves. Edit2: Admin decisions are also transparent on Mastodon. The instance I am on for example lists decisions here: https://mastodon.technology/about/more https://mastodon.technology/about/more
    - 7y ago