Notices by Christoph Mergerson (mergerson@mastodon.social)

Disturbed by reports of Black Mastodon users—Black women in particular—having negative experiences on this app, including being randomly banned for discussions of racism. Some of these users will not come back. All will share their experiences. The answer is not to condescendingly lecture them on “how the fediverse works,” as if their experiences are inevitable, nor to swear to do better next time. (There may not be one.) It’s to do better now lest the reputation of this app be cemented.

@opal But understand that folks who have bad experiences around race have a low tolerance for experimentation of this kind.

Black people have built communities on Twitter that are unlike any other in the technological world. Those communities are not easily replicated elsewhere. An analogy is when people criticized New Orleanians who rebuilt in the city after the devastation of Katrina, even though it was palpably risky to do so. But none of the critics sufficiently explained how those people should transfer their social capital and communities to unfamiliar places that may not even want them. 1/2

Twitter, for many people, is not an addiction per se, any more than your desire to wake up, go out into your community, and see friendly faces who support you in a difficult world is an addiction. I understand why some people stay, move slowly, or keep a presence in both worlds. It’s not a character defect. 2/2