Well, I got my first white supremacist reply from the fediverse after posting an article about Elon from Flipboard.

Jay

@valis01 @avlap2 @mike You’re acting as though you have a right to access anything and everything on here: you don’t. This is an open source platform that is a mix of nonprofit and volunteer/donation based users. If you don’t agree to the rules of your instance, you can contact the admin to suggest clarifications or additions, but if you want an instance with blackjack and hookers then make your own.

Samuel Johnson

@mike as the admin of a small instance, I definitely feel the need for better tools to allow me to more easily incorporate information like that into my instance's block list without being overwhelmed by day to day reports.

There's a great deal of power for good in actions like yours. We need to be able to harness that across the fediverse.

william.maggos

@mike @jonquass

we need a way to all share what we saw, how we responded and why. as much transparency as possible without violating other values. better than blocklists imo.

noauthority.social is basically the same people that were on noagendasocial.com (my first server), brought together as fans of the No Agenda podcast, managed by eriner. I don't think it's a server worth blocking cause they aren't a hub for intentional harassers, but they are very edgelord and don't want to police anyone.

Mike McCue

@WhiteCatTamer @valis01 @avlap2 you’re both right. Moderation is super hard and it can have unintended consequences when done poorly. But it still needs to be done because no moderation gets you X.

One thing I should have been clear about is that I was acting as both a user and an instance owner. We have clear rules on Flipboard’s instance that if violated get you blocked. Acting like a nazi is one of them. That user can still go to other instances. If those instance owners are clearly ok with nazi behavior then there’s a good chance everyone on that instance will ultimately get blocked.

Blocking everyone on one instance from everyone on another is not to be taken lightly and is an instance owner decision. It’s the ultimate moderation weapon and shouldn’t be used to settle scores, etc it should be used against instances that are specifically about promoting hate speech, scams, CSAM and violence. When used properly, instance to instance blocking has been incredibly effective. In this case being able block an instance that is clearly run by a white supremacist for white supremacists is a no brainer to help provide users on Flipboard’s instance with a more positive experience free from harassment by nazis.

Jay

@mike @valis01 @avlap2 Thank you. I appreciate that you rightly see it as a weighty decision but one that must be made. Placing the onus upon the users to screen out trolls and honest shitheads that can make new accounts within seconds makes Mastodon no better than Bluesky and puts marginalized people at unique risk; blocking instances that take technical know-how and money to run keeps these users safe and presents a greater barrier to repeat issues.

Mike McCue

@wjmaggos @jonquass I get that there are often grey areas with moderation. But this one is as black and white as it gets. This particular instance *owner* is calling for death of politicians, denying the holocaust ever happened, promoting hateful conspiracies and encouraging all of his users on his instance to do the same. And they are certainly harassing users on other instances. Blocking this instance is an obvious decision for Flipboard. I understand not all other instance owners will decide to block. That’s the beauty of the fediverse. Each instance can decide what kind of community it wants to host and then users can decide if they want to join or leave that community.

Chris Alemany🇺🇦🇨🇦🇪🇸

@avlap2 @mike rules? enforced by whom? It's a choice. It's freedom.

Mike McCue

@chris @avlap2 I’m referring to the policy each instance communicates when you join it. On Flipboard’s instance we don’t allow CSAM and death threats for example. We do this to set the norms for the community our users want to join. If you break those rules you get blocked. Users who want to join a community of no rules and total freedom can join instances that operate that way. Or they can just join X.

Mike McCue

@chris @avlap2 also I don’t mean to minimize the “cancel machine” issue you mention. Finding the balance here is super important and not easy. I do think this is an area that needs more attention and norm setting.

Chris Alemany🇺🇦🇨🇦🇪🇸

@mike @avlap2 I totally agree with that approach. I see the "freedom" on the Fediverse being instance based, rather than individual. Instances are free to have their own policies, or gather into groups with common policies and ideals. In that way moderation achieves consistency rather than trying to create a global set of "rules" for an individual.

avlap

@mike @chris Let users manage their own blocking as much as possible.

Mike Fraser :Jets:

@[email protected] @islekcaganmert @tchambers @greg @stux @Gargron Myself and a couple of other small instance admins maintain a Signal group. I think the tools are already in place someone just needs to bring everyone together under one umbrella. The idea of an admins only moderation channel though is somewhat naive. Would all admins be able to participate? Even the ones getting banned? If not who decides who participates? Does that start to look like centralization?

Nicholas Boss

@mike never even heard of Flipboard. Is it just a mastodon instance or a separate service federated with mastodon?

BeAware :fediverse:

@timethief @mike it's a seperate service! Flipboard.com aggregates content from social media, news feeds, photo sharing sites, and other websites, presents it in magazine format, and allows users to "flip" through the articles, images, and videos being shared. Readers can also save stories into Flipboard magazines.

It's also in the process of being Federated.

There's also Flipboard.social which is a Mastodon instance that Mike is posting from here.

Mike McCue

@timethief Flipboard is what I call a "social magazine". Tell it what you are interested in and then it builds a personalized magazine for you made up of stories from trusted sources that we've partnered with over the years. We try to present the stories with a more print-like aesthetic. And as BeAware says, we enable people to curate their own magazines and share them with others. We are in the process of federating all of this curation and magazines into the fediverse. You can check out my magazines at @[email protected]

sex in the ziti

@[email protected] @[email protected] @islekcaganmert @tchambers @greg @stux @Gargron

I mean... there's also a matrix group for moderation that has quite a few instances, talks about spam waves and such.

I think surveying the instance admins and asking them about strategies used would make an interesting scientific study... or paper!

Fediverso notizie

@mike ️

Properganda

@mike What did they post? There’s a lot of BS & extreme labels being thrown around… Are we supposed to take your opinions as fact without evidence?

Mike McCue

@Properganda @mike No definitely don’t take my opinions for fact. My observation is that this particular instance owner posts about killing politicians, denies the holocaust and is fanning hate speech and promoting conspiracy theories among his users. I do not want this person or the people on his instance harassing the people on the Flipboard instance. Simple as that. Everyone is free to make their own decision. That’s the beauty of the fediverse.