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   Luke LeBrun (llebrun@mastodon.social)'s status on Tuesday, 22-Nov-2022 10:46:02 JST Luke LeBrun

   This is a big problem for Mastodon.

   Canadian journalist Erica Ifill just had her mastodon.online account suspended without explanation. She's been sharing stuff critical of Mastodon re: intersectional issues.

   I get the decentralized structure and idea that each server has its own rules. But this Reddit-style moderation, where moderators with god-complexes make mysterious and arbitrary decisions, is going to cause people migrating to Mastodon to flee in droves.

   https://www.presscheck.org/journalists/erica-ifill

   • Embed this notice
     hypolite (hypolite@friendica.mrpetovan.com)'s status on Tuesday, 22-Nov-2022 10:46:01 JST hypolite

     in reply to
     @llebrun It really isn’t a big problem for Mastodon or the Fediverse. At best, it’s a big problem for mastodon.social. We were doing just fine for years before people started migrating en masse from Twitter.
     
     Of course, for any commercial network, user capture and retention are paramount, but for a federated network mostly supported by volunteers? They really aren’t.
     
     I thought after 9 months around you’d have left your valid assumptions about commercial social network at the door but apparently not.
   • Embed this notice
     hypolite (hypolite@friendica.mrpetovan.com)'s status on Tuesday, 22-Nov-2022 11:30:49 JST hypolite

     in reply to
     @llebrun If you don't think finding the suitable server for you, one of the core principles of a decentralized network, is a "serious solution", then I would advise you to stop reporting on Mastodon and the Fediverse at large, because nothing you will say will hold any water except for people like you who wrongly believe Mastodon is a brand to be cared for.
     
     There are actual overarching trends on this network against Black people, but this one moderation incident on mastodon.social isn't it, and the conclusion you drew from it is not as motivating as you think it is to address systemic racism throughout the network.
   • Embed this notice
     Luke LeBrun (llebrun@mastodon.social)'s status on Tuesday, 22-Nov-2022 11:30:50 JST Luke LeBrun

     in reply to

     I also don't think it is a serious solution to tell people, especially those from vulnerable communities, to just go find a server that respects them / allows them to criticize racism, etc.

     People are joining Mastodon in good faith, but if they encounter these problems once, twice or more, it starts to send them the message they're not welcome here. It becomes a real brand problem and platform integrity issue.

   • Embed this notice
     hypolite (hypolite@friendica.mrpetovan.com)'s status on Tuesday, 22-Nov-2022 11:41:18 JST hypolite

     in reply to

     • Eddie Roger
     @eddie Maybe, but all of this is going to fall on deaf ears for who's not Gargron himself. The Fediverse has tens of thousands of servers hostings upwards of 7 millions users. If you remove mastodon.social and mastodon.online, the two servers actually operated by the Mastodon company run by the main developer, it takes out a good chunk (1 million users total). It still leaves 6 million users (including tens of thousands of independent instance administrators) who absolutely do not have to care about Mastodon as a brand.
   • Embed this notice
     Eddie Roger (eddie@social.roger.family)'s status on Tuesday, 22-Nov-2022 11:41:23 JST Eddie Roger

     in reply to

     • Pizza Enthusiast ?

     @portmantony @llebrun I get your point, but true as it is, to the common person, they’re functionally the same. The underlying server is called Mastodon. The two biggest instances, including the one run by the main developer, has Mastodon in the name. They de facto app you download is Mastodon. In addition to a moderation problem, they have a self-inflicted branding problem, too. This is why trademark law is so specific.

   • Embed this notice
     Pizza Enthusiast ? (portmantony@writing.exchange)'s status on Tuesday, 22-Nov-2022 11:41:29 JST Pizza Enthusiast ?

     in reply to

     @llebrun And therein lies the fundamental problem - there is no "Mastodon brand." Such a concept is a purely created thing, a false equivalency, bred by an understanding of a completely different social media context pressed by companies like Meta and Twitter. People are arriving to Mastodon expecting a centralized experience, and believing that "Mastodon is banning me!" on a giant instance with tepid or no moderation or community rules.

   • Embed this notice
     hypolite (hypolite@friendica.mrpetovan.com)'s status on Wednesday, 23-Nov-2022 00:26:47 JST hypolite

     in reply to
     @llebrun This reaction to the same event is somewhat close to what you wrote yourself, but notice a few things:
     - It centers the people who were harmed by these moderation decisions, mentioning Black women by name, instead of the "Mastodon brand" or the nebulous "people migrating to Mastodon".
     - It doesn't mention "brand", only "reputation" which is way larger and involves everybody, not just people with direct ties to the Mastodon name.
     - Similarly, the call to action to do better now isn't targeted at the Mastodon stakeholders (who are remarkably few) but anybody on the Fediverse network.
     
     mastodon.world/@mergerson@mast…