Hello @nicdex,

Estelle Platini

Hello @nicdex,
Thank you for creating and maintaining the instance.

I would suggest that you consider updating the About page to show your 2025 moderation policy.
You may remove "Content illegal in the United States of America".
You may also add "Opinion against Western allyship" or "anti-white racism", whichever is more relevant to your moderation (which changed).

nicdex 🇨🇦 🇺🇦

@estelle I do not understand what you are trying to say with this post.

Our moderation policy hasn't changed from what's in the About page. The only thing changing for 2025 will be the legal jurisdiction and will be reflected in the "Content illegal in...".

Can you give me examples of where our moderation changed on these topics?

cc @Raccoon

Raccoon at TechHub :mastodon:

@nicdex @estelle
Yeah I don't think any of that is necessary at this point, and I don't know why you'd think it would be...

Raccoon at TechHub :mastodon:

@nicdex @estelle
Estelle, I'm really not sure what this post is about, because there is not a problem of "anti-white racism" as far as I know, nor would any good faith discussion of "Western allies" be against the rules.

I am wondering if this was meant to be sarcasm, or some sort of reference, and it went over our heads?

Could you please explain more clearly what it is you're trying to bring up with us?

Estelle Platini

Hi @Raccoon @nicdex
Thank you for your answers and patience. Congratulations on spotting the sarcasm

Your moderation _practice_ changed this summer resulting in many anti-electoral accounts becoming invisible.
For example, here is a post that shows about 12 reposts on other instances and here it is only 7. I understand that the difference would be accounts that you restricted.

TechHub

(techhub.social)

I am not listing the missing accounts because it not my point: I am _not_ asking you to re-permit anybody.

nicdex 🇨🇦 🇺🇦

@estelle I think you are making big assumptions here, maybe our moderation didn't change, but these limited account (if this is the case) were just brought to our attention at that moment because of approaching American election. We only moderate posts/accounts that are reported. Also the discrepancy might be from instances that limit/block us or vice versa.
I'm still not sure what you're trying to imply or say here.
Are you running some sort of study of instances policy?

Raccoon at TechHub :mastodon:

@nicdex @estelle
I can't dig into this right now, but the account you linked is not limited on our server, and in fact has a mutual follow with me.

I will say that the election was chaotic for the entire network, and patching things up, including potentially reversing limits, is a priority for me personally right now.

If you see an account that you think is unfairly limited, please tell us.

The account you just linked however is not limited in any way on this server: we do not take action against posts unless they contain distinctly inappropriate content, such as hate speech or other misinformation, or calls for violence against civilians.

If you are concerned specifically about the genocide in Gaza, I don't believe we have ever taken action against an account for talking about it, unless they made a post specifically calling for violence against Jewish or Palestinian civilians. I have blocked multiple accounts from the timeline for hate-speech against Palestinians.

Raccoon at TechHub :mastodon:

@nicdex @estelle
And on a personal note, and not as a moderator, I should point out that I have been openly anti-Netanyahu since he came to power in the late 2000s, helped organize local protests against the late 2014 carpet-bombing of Gaza, and have written my representatives about the Netanyahu regime's genocide current campaign.

I would not say I have any bias towards the current Israeli government here, beyond not wanting Israeli civilians killed.

As a moderator, however, it would not be appropriate for me to apply rules unevenly based on my own biases, so I draw lines at "calls for violence against civilians" and other hate-speech, and save the rest for discussion of facts and peaceful solutions, as a normal user.

Raccoon at TechHub :mastodon:

@nicdex @estelle
TLDR: I only go after Israeli-Palestinian discourse if there's hate-speech or other misinformation or violence. if you see an account you think was unfairly limited, please tell me, and I will personally look into it, and either tell you what violated the rules or unban them.

Raccoon at TechHub :mastodon:

@nicdex @estelle
I am looking back at this (I was having trouble reading it before) and just realized what you were saying...

> "For example, here is a post that shows about 12 reposts on other instances and here it is only 7. I understand that the difference would be accounts that you restricted."

No. The difference is accounts we got the Boost message from. This means that only 7 accounts have followers on our server, while 5 do not.

IDK if we blocked them, but that's what that means: it's only listing boosts which our server is aware of.

Anyway, what I said still stands: we don't ban on mere criticism of what Netanyahu's government is doing in Gaza. If you see anyone you think we wrongly blocked, tell me, and I will look.

nicdex 🇨🇦 🇺🇦

Good point @Raccoon I didn't think about how the federation is impacted by followers.

@estelle In short, you are making conclusions based on bad data and correlations (as opposed to causations).

If you need help understanding our policy and how we apply it or how federation work, you can ask and talk with us instead of just coming out of nowhere with this veiled comment on our policy.

Estelle Platini

@nicdex @Raccoon
I am not veiling anything and i could argue and elaborate but i prefer to sustain our relationship as below:

1. Your explanations are long and clear and that is precious.

2. This tech bit is nice: "The difference is accounts we got the Boost message from."

3. I accept that the US campaign was a rough time for you and i am happy that you intend moderation to be lighter.

4. Regarding written policy, i suggest that you wait for the Canadian election results, before committing to respect the Canadian laws

5. Regarding written policy again, here is another suggestion: Add "calls for violence against civilians."

@Raccoon
Since you mention Netanyahu, here is for you:
6. You may be interested in personal opinions that Netanyahu is a symptom, in this thread: https://techhub.social/@estelle/112956345141625819

Raccoon at TechHub :mastodon:

@estelle
Nicdex is feeling attacked by the way you initially came at us (as am I) so he doesn't want to continue the conversation. I just have a few notes to clarify, because this conversation is public...

3) I do not necessarily mean that moderation will be lighter, only that the end of the US election means there will be less chaos.

4) We are preemptively moving the server back to Canada for multiple reasons. The fact that Elon Musk will have control over regulatory agencies is not an issue in Canada, but also not the only reason.

5) I am not sure that is necessary at this point, but we will take that under consideration.

6) I focus on Netanyahu because he is a leader we can point at who is core to the problem. He is corrupt, illegitimate, and more violent than most other leaders Israel has had: we were far closer to achieving a lasting peace before he came to power. I would rather focus on a regime and a set of political policies than broad groups.

Raccoon at TechHub :mastodon:

@estelle
I will say, in the future, you really should be asking questions before making accusations. As we determined here, the issue you were seeing turned out to be a technical limitation, the official policy was not as you understood it, and the way you set it to us was confusing.

In the future, let's focus on figuring things out rather than making assumptions, okay? Running these servers can be stressful, and the number one cause of that stress (and of servers shutting down) by far is assumptions of bad faith.

Estelle Platini

@Raccoon
Thank you for your thoughful answers.
I did not assume bad faith and still do not see bad faith.