4 ms·

That's not what filter bubble means. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filter_bubble https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filter_bubble But even in the more generic sense

by kixiQu 5y ago

That's not what filter bubble means. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filter_bubble https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filter_bubble But even in the more generic sense -- they can't disconnect you, they can disconnect the account you have on their server -- and it's common practice for people to have alts on different ones just for different topics they post about.

xigoi 5y ago
Doesn't that defeat the point of federation?
- kixiQu 5y ago
  Not really? Having alts can be a bit like how people have NSFW alts on Twitter (or, for artists, an art account and a personal one), except if you put them on different instances you can find a local timeline that's more relevant to the kind of thing you're posting. Some people (notably, it seems, Eugen) think "the point" of federation is to provide a seamless Twitter-like global experience that just happens to be hosted modularly. A lot of the current site culture prefers to consider each instance like a little neighborhood, with federation augmenting a local-first experience. (Conflict over product vision ensues.) But really, no matter what you're looking for, the vast majority of the time you can just use whatever instance and it's fine -- mod drama whole-instance-blocks get a lot of attention, but it's way more of a problem in theory than in practice (especially now you can move your followers if you move instances).
  - rapnie 5y ago
    There is also a fork of Mastodon called Hometown [0] that goes further and provides local-only posting as an extra option. These posts will not be federated but stay on the instance (your Home community). A new application GoToSocial [1] also supports local-only posts. [0] https://github.com/hometown-fork/hometown https://github.com/hometown-fork/hometown [1] https://github.com/superseriousbusiness/gotosocial https://github.com/superseriousbusiness/gotosocial
    - mariusor 5y ago
      This is mostly a client problem. Mastodon has propagated some pretty lax behaviour with respect to adherence to the ActivityPub protocol, mostly because their reach is very large in comparison with the other projects, and because they just mapped their existing API on top ActivityPub (which was finalized post Mastodon being popular) and that was their existing use case. The ActivityPub protocol itself makes it very simple to keep activities out of the public view. It's Mastodon, and projects that implement AP as a compatibility layer with it that address everything as public.
    - kixiQu 5y ago
      and anyone curious about hometown should read: https://runyourown.social/ https://runyourown.social/ :)
- m-p-3 5y ago
  Federation doesn't mean you are forced to accept all inbound and outbound connections, only that there is a common protocol to do so if you desire.
tazjin 5y ago
They definitely can, there have been stories here before about e.g. blocking of far-right Mastodon instances.
- pingiun 5y ago
  this is a good thing
  - headsoup 5y ago
    What of the far left then, and the far South? And far East! Can I be the one to choose who gets blocked? Lots of speech is definitely not up to my clearly incredible and most certainly correct intelligence level and should be blocked! /s
- kixiQu 5y ago
  > there have been stories here before about e.g. blocking of far-right Mastodon instances. See: > they can't disconnect you, they can disconnect the account you have on their server There's nothing stopping you from having an alt on a different server that does connect to fascism.social or what-have-you, and the apps these days are pretty good about switching among alts so the UX isn't bad. I will also note, the "stories here" tend to focus on corner cases: instance blocking is predominantly reactive (with Gab being the big exception) and you can always just run your own instance if you want to control your own moderation. I run my own and haven't had any problems with instance blocking. And again -- if you do end up on a server that implements a block you don't like, you can just move (which transfers your followers) https://docs.joinmastodon.org/user/moving/#move https://docs.joinmastodon.org/user/moving/#move

by kixiQu 5y ago

xigoi 5y ago

Doesn't that defeat the point of federation?

kixiQu 5y ago
Not really? Having alts can be a bit like how people have NSFW alts on Twitter (or, for artists, an art account and a personal one), except if you put them on different instances you can find a local timeline that's more relevant to the kind of thing you're posting. Some people (notably, it seems, Eugen) think "the point" of federation is to provide a seamless Twitter-like global experience that just happens to be hosted modularly. A lot of the current site culture prefers to consider each instance like a little neighborhood, with federation augmenting a local-first experience. (Conflict over product vision ensues.) But really, no matter what you're looking for, the vast majority of the time you can just use whatever instance and it's fine -- mod drama whole-instance-blocks get a lot of attention, but it's way more of a problem in theory than in practice (especially now you can move your followers if you move instances).
- rapnie 5y ago
  There is also a fork of Mastodon called Hometown [0] that goes further and provides local-only posting as an extra option. These posts will not be federated but stay on the instance (your Home community). A new application GoToSocial [1] also supports local-only posts. [0] https://github.com/hometown-fork/hometown https://github.com/hometown-fork/hometown [1] https://github.com/superseriousbusiness/gotosocial https://github.com/superseriousbusiness/gotosocial
  - mariusor 5y ago
    This is mostly a client problem. Mastodon has propagated some pretty lax behaviour with respect to adherence to the ActivityPub protocol, mostly because their reach is very large in comparison with the other projects, and because they just mapped their existing API on top ActivityPub (which was finalized post Mastodon being popular) and that was their existing use case. The ActivityPub protocol itself makes it very simple to keep activities out of the public view. It's Mastodon, and projects that implement AP as a compatibility layer with it that address everything as public.
  - kixiQu 5y ago
    and anyone curious about hometown should read: https://runyourown.social/ https://runyourown.social/ :)
m-p-3 5y ago
Federation doesn't mean you are forced to accept all inbound and outbound connections, only that there is a common protocol to do so if you desire.

tazjin 5y ago

They definitely can, there have been stories here before about e.g. blocking of far-right Mastodon instances.

pingiun 5y ago
this is a good thing
- headsoup 5y ago
  What of the far left then, and the far South? And far East! Can I be the one to choose who gets blocked? Lots of speech is definitely not up to my clearly incredible and most certainly correct intelligence level and should be blocked! /s
kixiQu 5y ago
> there have been stories here before about e.g. blocking of far-right Mastodon instances. See: > they can't disconnect you, they can disconnect the account you have on their server There's nothing stopping you from having an alt on a different server that does connect to fascism.social or what-have-you, and the apps these days are pretty good about switching among alts so the UX isn't bad. I will also note, the "stories here" tend to focus on corner cases: instance blocking is predominantly reactive (with Gab being the big exception) and you can always just run your own instance if you want to control your own moderation. I run my own and haven't had any problems with instance blocking. And again -- if you do end up on a server that implements a block you don't like, you can just move (which transfers your followers) https://docs.joinmastodon.org/user/moving/#move https://docs.joinmastodon.org/user/moving/#move