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1. 🎓 Dr. Freemo :jpf: 🇳🇱 (freemo@qoto.org)'s status on Monday, 01-Oct-2018 22:45:52 UTC 🎓 Dr. Freemo :jpf: 🇳🇱

   I have to say I'm really surprised with how quickly my follower count and the #QOTO user count exploded in just a little over 2 months.

   When I first came to the fediverse the very first thing I did was start my own server (qoto) because I wanted a place where I could talk freely (free speech), without the facism of censorship. Honest sincere debate, something I felt was lacking from other nodes in the fediverse.

   I never intended to draw a crowd, or even other members on my server. It was for me and for one friend, that's it. But somehow in the 2 - 3 months I've gained thousands of followers many of whom have come to join our family on QOTO.

   What I dont get is how. What did I do that was so special that got me 3k followers in a few months. I have to think its more than just being a nice guy.

   My guess: people, like me, crave a place they can be honest, where a difference of opinion is met with mature respectful debate, not censorship and hatred. I hope we have created that here!

   Tell me what you think! I'd love to hear everyones opinion on what brought them over to QOTO or even why you decided to follow me.

   • DaveTLV (surasanji@qoto.org)'s status on Monday, 01-Oct-2018 22:56:30 UTC DaveTLV

     in reply to

     @freemo As I am a member of the Mod team along side you, I'm afraid that my opinion is horribly biased, but I think we do the best we can and do a pretty good job at letting people maintain free speech and being excellent to one another.

     But, there is a bit of tooting my own horn in that statement, so take it with a grain of salt! :p

     Without joking, though, I wouldn't have accepted your invitation to the moderation team if I thought you were anything other than rational and fairminded. I picked Qoto out of the gate, and I think I picked well. I enjoy it here, and I enjoy the discussions I have here.

     🎓 Dr. Freemo :jpf: 🇳🇱 repeated this.
   • MHP (mikey@toot.love)'s status on Monday, 01-Oct-2018 23:15:31 UTC MHP

     in reply to

     @freemo I'm not on QOTO (though I have considered joining), so here's an opinion from a mere follower.

     I followed because, from the posts I saw, you seem to be a rational, levelheaded person, something sorely lacking in the fediverse and the world at large. Somebody put you in my federated TL, and I found that I'd rather read your posts than memes, bots, and the rest of the lot.

     🎓 Dr. Freemo :jpf: 🇳🇱 repeated this.
   • SecondJon (secondjon@qoto.org)'s status on Tuesday, 02-Oct-2018 02:26:51 UTC SecondJon

     in reply to

     @freemo
     I loved the idea of mastodon. There were some niche sites that were appealing but only had a few active members, but the largest instances have a lot of rules that flag the system as very very biased and communicate that any disagreement will be silenced and the person banned.

     Within a few days of my joining, the wilw situation happened proving that to be the case.

     I don't want to encourage what I think are bad ideas. But I'd rather engage thoughtfully and respectfully than either troll or mob the person with diversity of thought and kick them out so I never hear anything remotely challenging.

     I sought out a place to engage others, the way we did as kids on the neighborhood/global BBS and I found #qoto. The rules were very different
     - not about silencing others and treating them poorly, but about engaging with each other and having mutual respect. Not necessarily for the ideas or disagrees with, but respect for the person who holds those ideas.

     I've appreciated the strong, often oppositional, opinions here, and the reality that we don't devolve into name calling, trolling, and mob silencing each other. We can learn from dialoguing with each other, whether that's changing one's mind or simply clarifying one's position.

     My personal goals include: understanding why people think their nutty ideas (imo) are good ideas ; and trying to encourage asking the right questions - I think we're often stuck because we're not even asking the right questions.

     I do think the majority of people would engage this way given the opportunity, but the constant drum beat from the media, politicians, and Hollywood pulses a constant message of opposition and anger at each other.

     🎓 Dr. Freemo :jpf: 🇳🇱 repeated this.
   • 🎓 Dr. Freemo :jpf: 🇳🇱 (freemo@qoto.org)'s status on Tuesday, 02-Oct-2018 03:01:57 UTC 🎓 Dr. Freemo :jpf: 🇳🇱

     in reply to

     • SecondJon

     @SecondJon Thank you, very well said. What I love so much about this response is that the reasons you came to qoto and the impression this space left on you was **exactly** the type of environment I was hoping to foster. I really could not be happier to hear you (and hopefully others) call this place home for those reasons.

   • Tahira (shaokahn@qoto.org)'s status on Friday, 05-Oct-2018 19:49:57 UTC Tahira

     in reply to

     @freemo
     Welcome to the Tooterverse of your Qotoverse in the Fediverse! You have/got blessed, nice, mature, open and technical mind.

     🎓 Dr. Freemo :jpf: 🇳🇱 repeated this.
   • Robert Nitsch (rnitsch@qoto.org)'s status on Saturday, 06-Oct-2018 12:18:11 UTC Robert Nitsch

     in reply to

     @freemo I would like to add (or confirm) that QOTO, so far, seems to be a huge success, because we pretty much have *quality* free speech here. That is, free speech, but without the trolls or extremists/lunatics, that often destroy such an environment very quickly. This danger is always around the corner, I think, especially when user numbers grow very rapidly. So far it's turning out really well. I've found lots of intelligent, open-minded people here.

     🎓 Dr. Freemo :jpf: 🇳🇱 repeated this.
   • 🎓 Dr. Freemo :jpf: 🇳🇱 (freemo@qoto.org)'s status on Sunday, 07-Oct-2018 03:18:33 UTC 🎓 Dr. Freemo :jpf: 🇳🇱

     in reply to

     • Robert Nitsch

     @rnitsch I'm glad you like it here! We had one or two extremists but everyone on the instance is mature enough to just instantly mute such people. Since they never get any attention they wind up just going away.

   • 🎓 Dr. Freemo :jpf: 🇳🇱 (freemo@qoto.org)'s status on Sunday, 07-Oct-2018 03:20:10 UTC 🎓 Dr. Freemo :jpf: 🇳🇱

     in reply to

     • Tahira

     @shaokahn Thank you, I really appreciate that.