Notices by Jaz (IFTAS) (jaz@mastodon.iftas.org)

@snarfed.org platforms and client applications have a duty of care to the people they want using their products. This includes people who have a different lived experience than them.

We seem to continually be wrapped up in finding the "right" solution, when I believe the better path is finding the many solutions and presenting them in a clear, unbiased interface that helps people do whatever it is they want to do.

Open or allow-only federation - both options are good options.

5/

@snarfed.org Let's build a network that accommodates major publishers, popular bloggers, introspective carpenters, people who want to talk about knitting but not Formula 1, the cautiously exploring 19 year old who wants to play in the sandpit but is fearful of being seen by their parents/peers/church, people who want to speak and practice Catalan...

All of these people deserve a social network that meets THEIR needs. Let's centre on the people and go from there.

4/

@snarfed.org I understand there are /today/ bumps in the road that don't make this easy, but it feels like this is the end product, so let's accept and take on the fact that as we build platforms and protocols for people, those people will want to express themselves and participate in different ways, and that's a good thing.

None of these options are either/or, everything we're talking about is simply lacking decision support and some protocol or client enhancements.

3/

@snarfed.org

"You are creating an account on a platform that can connect to thousands of other platforms and networks. Would you like your account to be connected to:

1. The entire Internet
2. This network or protocol
3. As few people as possible"

Each platform can come at this howsoever it makes sense, but if the new account chooses (1), immediately opt the account in to any bridges the platform knowns about, or offer them each as an option to opt in to during onboarding.

2/

@snarfed.org seems to me that as we inch further along the path to a robust decentralised ecosystem, platform developers need to accept that potential users of their systems have varying needs and desires.

Platforms could take on the role of educating new members at onboarding as part of their platform's core new account workflow.

There is no single correct answer, but here's a three-part decision each platform could implement at onboarding to help move the space forward:

1/

📢 As of today we have scanned over 20,000 images and videos to monitor and mitigate potential CSAM.

If you'd like to be on the list as we open up to more servers, please register your interest using this link (don't click the preview card, it won't work...)

https://cryptpad.fr/form/#/2/form/view/SXiobzcxTRrpVsWMJDh+h+loLkAmsTQ-8-egNm+ihlo/

Registering helps us demonstrate need in our efforts to obtain funding for this expensive service - currently costing us ~$5,000 / month.

(Donations are helpful too!)

#MastoAdmin #FediAdmin

Of the 87 servers we saw compromised in the recent #SpamWave - 68 have modified registration settings and deleted the accounts, 15 remain open, 4 are now offline.

Special thanks to @noahimesaka1873 @austin @gunchleoc and all the IFTAS Connect community members that helped gather info, communicate with the impacted servers, and keep our data up to the minute.

Today? New botnet creating accounts on your servers. See https://mastodon.iftas.org/@sw_isac/113283701270369397 - Connect members can track https://connect.iftas.org/forums/discussion/new-botnet-creating-accounts-on-multiple-servers/

@ntnsndr @evan @Identitywoman @j12t 100%. The vast majority of community builders in this space, albeit anecdotal on my part, is non-technical, non-sysadmin. Managed hosted, or struggling to run the services so they can build community. This is why we (on IFTAS Connect) explicitly do not host technical support conversations, we point people to those resources, for fear of becoming yet another tech admin support channel and losing the focus on community, policy, and safety.

@ntnsndr @evan @Identitywoman @j12t plenty of our members for sure run their own services, but we are not the resource for help with that.

And not to disparage "techies", but for the most part, the tech crowd has a very different take on "community" than non-tech. Different goals, needs, gaps.

@ntnsndr @evan @Identitywoman @j12t 177 applications to join is fantastic, although overwhelming. Clearly you've identified a broad need. My thinking would be to run the incubator as planned, but with the additional task of figuring out how to move from incubator to a forum space as part of its' activity.

There's a lot of overlap between "platform admin", "community moderators" and "community managers", anything you can do to keep the focus/mission/purpose clear will help.

📢 Our 2024 #FediAdmin and #Moderator survey is open all year, but if you want your feedback included in our next project planning, you’ve got until the end of this week!

All questions are optional - tell us how we can help so we know what to focus on next. Your input takes just a few minutes and has a direct impact on our future activities.

💬 Join the 115 participants so far! It doesn't matter how big or small your server is - if it federates, your voice matters.

https://cryptpad.fr/form/#/2/form/view/kbCuHVByN8EoUPiESliFzU8T8Y+PYVgszLKYeiyCT9k/

There are no walls on a spider’s web.

I want a web where everyone can participate, where everyone is safe from abuse and harm, where civil society can flourish, where people can meet, learn, share, live, love, laugh.

Our founding grants have delivered a “do not interact" list, the CARIAD denylist, FediCheck, a moderator library, prototype of an opt-in CSAM detection and reporting service, the IFTAS Connect community, and more.

@moderation @spreadmastodon #nonprofit #community #support

We need to keep building, keep paying the bills, and keep paying the people doing the work.

I have never asked for money; my goal was to take our founding grants and demonstrate our capability, build trust, and put some wins on the board. I believe we’ve done that. Next we will build toward self sustainability, and my plan is to get there in three years.

You can help me achieve that by donating to the IFTAS fundraiser: https://about.iftas.org/donate

#TrustAndSafety #DigitalSafety

📢 We have 97 responses to our 2024 #Moderator Survey, let's get to 100 today!

The survey will ask about your experience moderating or administering a federated community, and what resources and services you want us to focus on in the coming year.

We spend money so you don't have to. If you don't tell us what to do with the funds we raise, we might not get to the thing that would help you the most.

All qs optional. All admins and mods welcome!

https://cryptpad.fr/form/#/2/form/view/kbCuHVByN8EoUPiESliFzU8T8Y+PYVgszLKYeiyCT9k/

#FediAdmin #AskFedi

@jerry @jztusk @Crell

Why not both? Some servers can run open federation, some can run allowlist-only, some can run in quarantine-first mode, and over time I'm sure we'll see shared lists, reputation signals, and trusted upstream servers to help manage the onboarding/allowing.

"Disallow all, but allow all servers already allowed by x, y and z" is one way to approach.

Almost none of the asks I've seen are either/or propositions, they are generally admin options to enable or not.

Fascinating to me that more than a few answers are along the lines of "Fediverse is technical, so I say (Mastodon/Lemmy/social web/social media etc) instead"

I'm not a massive fan of the term "Fediverse", but I don't see it as a tech term, more as a corollary to "web". It's a space, with a name, with things in/on it (for me I mean, just my opinion).

Once this in-or-on poll is done I think I'll ask more generally what terms most people use with their offline social circles.

There are over 20,000 servers on the Fediverse today. Each one of them in some part responsible for moderating the entire network.

No matter how big or small or personal or public your server is, IFTAS Connect can be a resource for you!

➡️ https://connect.iftas.org

The community library is open to all, no sign-up required. Resources for moderators and community managers of any and all platforms. Tell your neighbourhood admin!

@moderation #TrustAndSafety #Moderation
#FediMods #MastoMods

@tchambers Thanks Tim! And thank you for all the hard work you and your team put in to make this a reality!

IFTAS Spring Update: https://about.iftas.org/2024/04/23/spring-2023-update/

Moderator Advisory Council, Bluesky, Moderator Team Templates and more!

@moderation

@neuralgraffiti @evan Agreed, one reason I love maintaining this map is to highlight the cutural- and context-sensititive governance blossoming worldwide, redistributing community ownership http://mastodon-near.me