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On the topic of blocklists, I think blocking at the user level is completely legitimate. As a user I should be able to decide who I do or don't want to communicate with. At the server/admin level I think it's only legitimate if the admin is open about which other servers they're blocking and publishes the list so that there isn't then any confusion about why messages are not showing up. With a published list users can also apply peer pressure to their admin if there is inappropriate blocking going on.
Secret admin blocklists are equivalent to secret laws and secret trials in apespace, or Twitter shadowbans. They're a process, but not a legitimate one.
- 御園はくい repeated this.
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@bob One of the problem with banning whole instance is that the users have no choice here.
Well, I suppose they could get an account in other instances or start their own in that case, but talking about Mastodon, the problem is that the reasons for defederation is completely inane. I understand that some users on "this side" of the federation are a little rowdy, or edgy, but I haven't really seen anyone being really that much of an asshole, and if they are, they are usually berated by the community.
I've seen this before with Twitter blocklist, the blocklist is being shared around as a list of "bad instances" and everyone in them is being put in the same basket because they saw a thing or two they didn't like.
Remember the Gamergate blocklist? ggautoblocker by freebsdgirl? Do you know how it actually works? (Or worked if it has been changed since). Basically:
- There's a list of Twitter users deemed "bad"
- If x Twitter account follows at least two of them, they are blocked
No kidding, that is how they worked. This is how I got into the list, and BTW, I got in the list before even Tweeting any real thing. I used the account to enter contests before. this is also how accounts like POTUS and KFC got blocked. BTW, that blocklist was shared around by org such as the IDGA "as a list of the worst harassers", completely untrue!
This is the problem with blocklists, just like the ggautoblocker, the blocklist is being shared around as it isn't being challenged or true