Notices by switching.social (switchingsocial@mastodon.at), page 65

@evergreen @Antanicus @paulfree14 @PINE64 @ZacharyHerold

Once hardware is sold, especially libre hardware where user restriction is deliberately kept to a minimum, the hardware manufacturer no longer has control over it.

But hardware makers *do* control who they buy stuff from, so this is the end of the business to focus on ethically.

@evergreen @Antanicus @paulfree14 @PINE64 @ZacharyHerold

Once hardware is sold, especially libre hardware where user restriction is deliberately kept to a minimum, the hardware manufacturer no longer has control over it.

But hardware makers *do* control who they buy stuff from, so this is the end of the business to focus on ethically.

@grainloom

Shorteners are totally pointless on Mastodon because all links count for the same number of characters, no matter how long the link is.

@Antanicus @evergreen @paulfree14 @PINE64 @ZacharyHerold

Again though, I don't think the situation is completely the same.

A tech support forum doesn't carry the same wide range of discourse as a general social media instance.

If we're going to ask hardware companies about their ethics, we should focus on things conditions for workers in the hardware supply chain, and freedom for the end users, because these are the things that hardware makers can most directly affect.

@Antanicus @evergreen @paulfree14 @PINE64 @ZacharyHerold

Again though, I don't think the situation is completely the same.

A tech support forum doesn't carry the same wide range of discourse as a general social media instance.

If we're going to ask hardware companies about their ethics, we should focus on things conditions for workers in the hardware supply chain, and freedom for the end users, because these are the things that hardware makers can most directly affect.

@evergreen @Antanicus @paulfree14 @PINE64 @ZacharyHerold

I think this is a slightly different situation.

Purism are running a social media instance, which means they are constantly choosing who gets to use their services (for example by banning spammers).

Pine64 don't have online services, they do hardware, which tends to be less connected to discourse.

Hardware's politics is maybe more about the supply chain? Fairphone has done a good job of raising awareness of hardware ethics.

@bane @paulfree14 @PINE64

No personal insults in my thread, please.

@ZacharyHerold @paulfree14 @PINE64

When Purism set up a Mastodon instance, they initially said there would be no moderation.

Then when there was a backlash, they said there would be moderation but only banning attacks against specific individuals. So, they allow attacks against groups.

@Nachbarschaft @tobi

I think most people find reading about risks scary, especially when it involves things they don't understand.

The more I mention tech risks, the greater the chance people will leave the site and go back to Facebook etc.

I'm trying to keep switching.social light and positive, so that people stick around long enough to try these alternatives without getting stressed out.

That's the balance I mean: to tell people enough to switch, but not enough to scare them away.

@MikeG @paulfree14 @PINE64

"Looks like enough hate on both sides"

...this false equivalence has to stop.

Nazis want to murder me, and others like me.

I want people to not give Nazis a platform.

Can you not see the difference in those positions?

I know someone who is radicalised, they have become extremely racist and paranoid about immigrants.

I don't hate them, I know they are a good person who has done good things, but I hate the ideology they have espoused.

@MikeG @evergreen @paulfree14 @PINE64

It's not just about posts online, it's about stuff happening in real life promoted by posts online.

People being beaten, hounded, discriminated against, killed, not because of anything they've done but simply because they've been chosen as scapegoats by people they've never met.

Even if you can ignore bigoted posts, others will respond to them and become radicalised, filled with hatred in a way that doesn't respond to reason.

@MikeG @paulfree14 @PINE64

No, that's not how to fight Nazism.

Nazis were never argued out of office, they were fought out of office and then banned and ostracised and repeatedly and loudly condemned.

Love thy enemy means not wanting to hurt them, even when they want to murder you.

It *doesn't* mean give them a platform on which to promote mass murder.

@MikeG @paulfree14 @PINE64

It's not about "shock value", it's about the reality of those events and preventing those events happening again.

Promoting racial nationalism and scapegoating minorities for society's problems is going down exactly the same path. We have to choose a different path before it is too late.

We cannot just stand aside and watch it happen again, not after everything people went through last time.

@MikeG @paulfree14 @PINE64

Good men and women fought the Nazis, then banned their parties, and forced those who voted for them to literally line up and look at the millions of corpses that resulted from electing a Nazi government.

Now, sadly, people are forgetting the lessons of that period.

It is the duty of every human being to stop that ever happening again. Part of that duty means denying Nazis any kind of publicity to promote their sick "brand".

@evergreen @paulfree14 @MikeG @PINE64

I'm sorry but that's the worst kind of false equivalence.

I'm arguing against giving Nazis a platform.

Nazis are arguing that black/gay/disabled etc people should be murdered. Killed. Dead.

How the F can you say those two positions are somehow comparable? 😠

Rational dialogue does not work with Nazism, because it is not a rational choice.

Nazis and bigots operate on emotion not reason, and they promote their cause simply through visibility.

@MikeG @paulfree14 @PINE64

No, people cannot just "mute" or "block" Nazism, racism, bigotry or homophobia, because it leads to things like this:

https://news.sky.com/story/gay-couple-bloodied-in-attack-on-london-bus-after-being-asked-to-kiss-11736769

Nazism cannot be treated like a software bug, it's a social disease that does not get better through debate.

@MikeG @paulfree14 @PINE64

Purism's policy on moderation was that personal threats ("I want to kill you") get a ban, but general threats ("I want to kill all members of group X") don't get a ban.

That kind of distinction makes no sense at all, and is thoroughly immoral.

@MikeG @paulfree14 @PINE64

Freedom of speech doesn't cover spammers, and it shouldn't cover Nazis either.

(Or do you believe spammers should be allowed to fill our timelines with crap?)

Nazis literally want to promote genocide. No decent human being should ever allow that kind of idea to be promoted.

You end your message peace and love, after arguing for allowing the promotion of genocide? (smh)

@MikeG @paulfree14 @PINE64

Freedom of speech doesn't cover spammers, and it shouldn't cover Nazis either.

(Or do you believe spammers should be allowed to fill our timelines with crap?)

Nazis literally want to promote genocide. No decent human being should ever allow that kind of idea to be promoted.

You end your message peace and love, after arguing for allowing the promotion of genocide? (smh)

@5CR1PT

True! 😄

But I think I'll leave that off the list, it's already quite a big instance.