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   Kit Rhett Aultman (roadriverrail@signs.codes)'s status on Monday, 19-Jun-2023 20:24:34 JST Kit Rhett Aultman

   • I Forget

   So, @epilanthanomai and the #SignsAndCodes family, I figure we should have a conversation about this and out-in-the-open is best. This place was originally created in response to Meta's (then Facebook's) anti-sex-work and, briefly, anti-queer policies. Now it seems that Meta is looking into Fediverse-related projects, and has been meeting with major instance admins under NDA. If/when Meta arrives here, what sould our policy towards them be? All thoughts and opinions welcome, public or private.

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     Michael C. McGreevy (mcmcgreevy@signs.codes)'s status on Monday, 19-Jun-2023 22:16:50 JST Michael C. McGreevy

     in reply to

     • I Forget

     @roadriverrail @epilanthanomai I am kinda inclined to block them, honestly. I don’t want to see the Fediverse become the next EZMode social media platform. I like the fact that there is a degree of difficulty in setting up and using it because I feel like it builds a stronger sense of community and accountability. But I am also looking at that from a very high position of privilege and know that historically that kind of environment is dominated by people who look like me.

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     I Forget (epilanthanomai@signs.codes)'s status on Tuesday, 20-Jun-2023 01:43:15 JST I Forget

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     @roadriverrail Personally I'd rather not have my content from here feeding their shitty site. I've just finally required follow requests, and I'll be denying requests from them.

     I'm unclear whether we should instance-block them. I'm initially inclined slightly against it. We block for scraping and abuse. IMO Meta is both, but if a user here wants to talk to a relative who's only on IG, do I want to refuse them that because of my anti-corporate politics? Meh, sounds like a week case.

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     Kit Rhett Aultman (roadriverrail@signs.codes)'s status on Tuesday, 20-Jun-2023 03:23:38 JST Kit Rhett Aultman

     in reply to

     • I Forget
     • Michael C. McGreevy

     @mcmcgreevy @epilanthanomai I agree that, for better or worse, a big part of my experience here, and this kinda goes especially for our server in particular, is that it's a somewhat curated place, and that keeps things nice and quiet. So, yes, I definitely hear and appreciate what you're saying.

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     Kit Rhett Aultman (roadriverrail@signs.codes)'s status on Tuesday, 20-Jun-2023 03:26:46 JST Kit Rhett Aultman

     in reply to

     • I Forget

     @epilanthanomai This is precisely why I felt an overall conversation was in order. We don't really know very much about what's gone down and what might happen soon, but it's good for everyone to share the shape of their feelings, if they have them. I am genuinely on the fence about some potential things.

     What I'm *not* on the fence about is the prospect that the mega-instance admins may have had a secret meeting where they spoke for people they don't represent.

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     Kit Rhett Aultman (roadriverrail@signs.codes)'s status on Tuesday, 20-Jun-2023 03:31:20 JST Kit Rhett Aultman

     in reply to

     • I Forget

     @epilanthanomai This really gets to my bigger concern, which is the pass-through effects. If there are ways for Meta to exploit the transitive effects of federation, then the only curative is to defederate from the mega-instances, which would be a serious blow. I'm not sure what other protections there would be, though.

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     I Forget (epilanthanomai@signs.codes)'s status on Tuesday, 20-Jun-2023 03:31:21 JST I Forget

     in reply to

     @roadriverrail Personally I think the bigger risk is if they make a deal under NDA for large instances to start bulk-feeding content (including from other instances) to Meta. I haven't heard any claims that they're looking for that, but it seems like the sort of thing Meta would do. Now I sorta want to hear big instance admins to start explicitly saying they wouldn't participate in such a scheme.

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     I Forget (epilanthanomai@signs.codes)'s status on Tuesday, 20-Jun-2023 04:07:45 JST I Forget

     in reply to

     @roadriverrail Yeah, the rumormill seems to suggest that these admins were courted to betray us all and because they agreed to talk they must be guilty. I hear a core concern that's spot-on, and a bunch of loud takes that I find less credible. Personally I want to wait and see what they all actually do.

     That said, I would really appreciate statements from those admins wrt boundaries, and I imagine they can do that without divulging the content of the meeting.

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     Michael C. McGreevy (mcmcgreevy@signs.codes)'s status on Tuesday, 20-Jun-2023 21:11:37 JST Michael C. McGreevy

     in reply to

     • I Forget

     @roadriverrail @epilanthanomai Yeah, I am good with curated. I do not necessarily want to be in an echo chamber but I also do not want to spend time in a place…well, like Facebook.