@benroyce @bitsnpieces @mastodonmigration @mekkaokereke

Agreed on all counts. On top of that, block-and-move-on doesn't even work, because setting up a new account costs no money and almost no effort. Evil dude harasses you, you block him, he sets up twenty more sock puppet accounts and does it all over again.

I'm still trying to think of ways to solve that that wouldn't inconvenience people of good will. I'm thinking along the lines that an account wouldn't be able to @ someone, except in a public reply, until it had enough reputation. It would gain reputation by posting publicly, by reaching a certain age, by getting favourites and boosts from reputable accounts, and by reporting other people's posts that mods decided were evil. An account would lose reputation by being blocked or muted by reputable accounts or by having any admin action taken against it.

One idea that would work, but which I've rejected because of its impact on benign users and because of bureaucratic overhead, is to make each new user pay a small (maybe £5) deposit when setting up a new account. The deposit would be refunded after a month unless the moderators had closed the account because of abuse.

I don't know. This all needs more thought.

@mister_shade02X2 @benroyce @reflex @bitsnpieces

And BTW, they also do a good job with coordinated harassment:

4. No harassment, block evasion, DOGPILING*, or doxxing of others
Repeat attempts to communicate with users who have blocked you or creation of accounts solely to harass or insult individuals is strictly prohibited. COORDINATED ACTIVITY TO ATTACK OTHERS IS PROHIBITED. Posting of private personal information about others is prohibited.

*emphasis mine

@mister_shade02X2 @benroyce @reflex @bitsnpieces

Feel like Mastodon GmbH has this one pretty much nailed in their server rules (https://mastodon.online/about):

1. No racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, ableism, xenophobia, or casteism.
Transphobic behavior such as intentional misgendering and deadnaming is strictly prohibited. Promotion of "conversion therapy" is strictly prohibited. Criticism of governments and religions is permissible unless being used as a proxy for discrimination.

@mister_shade02X2 @reflex @mastodonmigration @bitsnpieces

it's just the one hard wall

everything else you say is spot on and i can't agree more

spanish inquisition style bullshit has to go

@benroyce @reflex @mastodonmigration @bitsnpieces Agree.

@ricci @mastodonmigration @bitsnpieces @mekkaokereke

yup it's a real problem. it needs to be solved

@mister_shade02X2 @reflex @mastodonmigration @bitsnpieces

with a clarification:

bigotry

it needs to be nuked, or any social space that allows for it will fall to pieces, it's toxic to disrespect people merely for aspects of their identity (true identity, not "my political identity")

@mastodonmigration @benroyce @bitsnpieces @mekkaokereke

I can also specifically recommend reading these two pieces about how the Fediverse structurally fails some folks (and Black folks in particular)

https://www.techpolicy.press/the-whiteness-of-mastodon/ (with Jonathan Flowers, who used to be here and left, and who is in the screenshot at the top of this thread)

... and

https://logicmag.io/policy/blackness-in-the-fediverse-a-conversation-with-marcia-x/ (who as far as I know is still here)

@benroyce @reflex @mastodonmigration @bitsnpieces I no longer have any patience for people who get on the internet and then demand countless strangers all respect their personal preferences.

This is a shared space. I’m down with trying to be polite and courteous to people, but I’m not down with tiptoe’in around people who demand we all conform to the boundaries of their comfort.

@mousey @reflex @mastodonmigration @bitsnpieces

i have a problem. i can't tear myself away from trolls. my solution has always been to hammer the point home with them until they block me

sometimes, such as with vatniks, it pays dividends because it winds up in their account being suspended. far superior to a block, in that specific example

i know this isn't the ideal approach. i just can't help myself. but i'm fascinated by them

@benroyce @reflex @mastodonmigration @bitsnpieces absolutely would have blocked that person on the first try, they'd never have to deal with my posts again. It's the Fediverse way.

@mastodonmigration It's a choice, which was my point.

@Axomamma

Yeah, then you can decide you prefer to play by their rules, but you don't have to. No one can make you.

@mastodonmigration It's hard to do that when your goal is clout, for which you need lots of followers regardless of their poor qualities.

@benroyce

If someone doesn't like your posts, simply ask them to block you. You can’t please every bubble wrapped little emperor/empress out there.

@reflex @benroyce @mastodonmigration @bitsnpieces I know it it, and that's why I try not to hide from it.

it sounds like they weren't very kind about asking. I'm sure there was some icky thing going on behind that. I'm sorry you had to hand their burden back to them. It was never yours to carry.

@benroyce @janisf @mastodonmigration @bitsnpieces Yes, context absolutely matters. Policing black folks for posting media or stories of the daily violence they face is very different than a white person in this culture posting such content.

@benroyce @reflex @bitsnpieces

Feel like we need to become much more willing to simply block such folks. Understand that they think they are being sensitive etc., but jumping into peoples threads to demand certain posting etiquette is tiresome and annoying. It can also be a kind of abusive behavior as David points out above. So, just block then. No explanation necessary. Life is too short.

@janisf @benroyce @mastodonmigration @bitsnpieces I'm not going to prioritize putting a CW on content that impacts society at large when people have the choice to set photos as not showing by default and not following accounts that cover such topics.

Pushing that responsibility off onto a targeted group that has to live with being targeted routinely is not acceptable. That may be triggering for you, but it is literally day to day life for them. You have the tools to avoid it, they don't.

@janisf @reflex @mastodonmigration @bitsnpieces

absolutely true in a general context

but there is a difference between content that is offensive without need, and simple reality some people don't want to confront for reasons of resistance to acceptance of a real problem, not mental health

their difficulty with dealing with reality (simple pressing realities of genuine general interest, not unnecessary topics) cannot impinge people's ability to have valid discourse

context, context, context