4 ms·

Ultimately WHAT instance you choose doesn't really matter as long as you trust the admin. Trust the admin? Trust them how? Why? Doesn’t all of Mastodon abide b

Ultimately WHAT instance you choose doesn't really matter as long as you trust the admin. Trust the admin? Trust them how? Why? Doesn’t all of Mastodon abide by the same rules?

smolder 4y ago
They control the server that runs the software. So you trust them with every https request, your communication, your password. You trust their javascript.
- notpushkin 4y ago
  This. But more importantly, you trust their judgement when it comes to moderation and defederation. While you don't understand these issues, you can either rely on somebody else's advice for that, or join a server at random and see what happens. Unless you've joined the new Gab, you should be okay – if anything goes wrong you can just migrate to another server. As for the things you've mentioned: you shouldn't assume your communication is private anywhere on Mastodon (there's some encryption proposals, but that's a long road from now), and you definitely should use different passwords for different websites.
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
- nomel 4y ago
  You must also trust them to read you DMs: https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon/issues/18079 https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon/issues/18079
dredmorbius 4y ago
No. All of Mastodon, or more accurately, the Fediverse, runs on the same communications protocol. By analogy, think of the World Wide Web (HTML), email (SMTP), or the cell-phone network (IMSI, amongst others). A difference for the Fediverse from the World Wide Web is that Websites largely don't communicate with each other, but rather respond to specific requests from a Web client (e.g., a web browser), in a client-server model. The Fediverse, like email or the cellphone network, consists largely of peer-to-peer (p2p) communications between individuals, mediated by servers. Specific instances vary tremendously in standards. My home instance (toot.cat) has a specific code of conduct: <https://mew.toot.cat/mw/Toot.cat/CoC https://mew.toot.cat/mw/Toot.cat/CoC> There are instances with highly incompatible rules and standards. Many of these are moderated (varying degrees of limiting interactivity, listed here: <https://toot.cat/about https://toot.cat/about> Instance administration which is sufficiently unacceptable can result in near-total defederation of that instance, that is, few if any other instances follow it. Two notable cases involve a service operated by a former US political figure, and of a neo-nazi group (I'm not naming them, they're easy enough to find should you choose to do so). Most mainstream Mastodon instances do follow reasonably compatible codes of conduct, though there can be regional differences. For example, some Japanese instances permit comic content (loli) which is categorically illegal in numerous other jurisdictions, and face limited interactivity on that basis. There are numerous other grounds for limiting interaction beyond that. Again: this is similar to other p2p communications platforms in which abusive practices tend to give rise to limitations: Do Not Call registries, and under a phenomenal onslaught of robocalls, denying interconnects between telephony systems.
nightpool 4y ago
"All of Mastodon" isn't even a coherent concept. Is it everybody using code derived from Mastodon's original 2016 source code release? That code doesn't even support the current protocol, it was written for GNU Social compatibility using a completely different protocol. Everybody who's updated to the most recent version? Plenty haven't. Anybody who can communicate with a Mastodon server? I wrote a 30 line Node script that could do that last month. Etc, etc, etc. What group of people are you talking about and what sorts of rules do you expect them to follow?

Ultimately WHAT instance you choose doesn't really matter as long as you trust the admin. Trust the admin? Trust them how? Why? Doesn’t all of Mastodon abide by the same rules?

smolder 4y ago

They control the server that runs the software. So you trust them with every https request, your communication, your password. You trust their javascript.

notpushkin 4y ago
This. But more importantly, you trust their judgement when it comes to moderation and defederation. While you don't understand these issues, you can either rely on somebody else's advice for that, or join a server at random and see what happens. Unless you've joined the new Gab, you should be okay – if anything goes wrong you can just migrate to another server. As for the things you've mentioned: you shouldn't assume your communication is private anywhere on Mastodon (there's some encryption proposals, but that's a long road from now), and you definitely should use different passwords for different websites.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
nomel 4y ago
You must also trust them to read you DMs: https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon/issues/18079 https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon/issues/18079

dredmorbius 4y ago

No. All of Mastodon, or more accurately, the Fediverse, runs on the same communications protocol. By analogy, think of the World Wide Web (HTML), email (SMTP), or the cell-phone network (IMSI, amongst others). A difference for the Fediverse from the World Wide Web is that Websites largely don't communicate with each other, but rather respond to specific requests from a Web client (e.g., a web browser), in a client-server model. The Fediverse, like email or the cellphone network, consists largely of peer-to-peer (p2p) communications between individuals, mediated by servers. Specific instances vary tremendously in standards. My home instance (toot.cat) has a specific code of conduct: <https://mew.toot.cat/mw/Toot.cat/CoC https://mew.toot.cat/mw/Toot.cat/CoC> There are instances with highly incompatible rules and standards. Many of these are moderated (varying degrees of limiting interactivity, listed here: <https://toot.cat/about https://toot.cat/about> Instance administration which is sufficiently unacceptable can result in near-total defederation of that instance, that is, few if any other instances follow it. Two notable cases involve a service operated by a former US political figure, and of a neo-nazi group (I'm not naming them, they're easy enough to find should you choose to do so). Most mainstream Mastodon instances do follow reasonably compatible codes of conduct, though there can be regional differences. For example, some Japanese instances permit comic content (loli) which is categorically illegal in numerous other jurisdictions, and face limited interactivity on that basis. There are numerous other grounds for limiting interaction beyond that. Again: this is similar to other p2p communications platforms in which abusive practices tend to give rise to limitations: Do Not Call registries, and under a phenomenal onslaught of robocalls, denying interconnects between telephony systems.

nightpool 4y ago

"All of Mastodon" isn't even a coherent concept. Is it everybody using code derived from Mastodon's original 2016 source code release? That code doesn't even support the current protocol, it was written for GNU Social compatibility using a completely different protocol. Everybody who's updated to the most recent version? Plenty haven't. Anybody who can communicate with a Mastodon server? I wrote a 30 line Node script that could do that last month. Etc, etc, etc. What group of people are you talking about and what sorts of rules do you expect them to follow?