After reviewing a report regarding the personal account of the admin of tenforward.social, and discussing with other fediverse admins, we’re deciding to suspend the admin and limit tenforward.social until this blows over. I’ll explain why on both, starting with the admin themselves.
Suspending packetcat@tenforward.social
Rule 1: Threats of Violence
packetcat made several posts[1][2] that were perceived as a threat of violence, metered by it being “theoretical”. This is not acceptable behavior for any user, especially an instance administrator, irrespective of the intended target of their annoyance.
This comes across as extremely volatile and dangerous, and on any other platform (except the cesspool that is X / Twatter) would be immediately removed.
Rule 6: No Spam
packetcat appears to have been going on a run of posts using several hashtags excessively in ways we, and other instances, have previously actioned as abuse / spam.
In the first case, the #fediblock hashtag was being used for its intended purpose to inform and make other instances aware of abusive conduct by other users. More specifically, their posts[3][4] were about Eris (originally from disqordia.space)[5] – None of this is at issue as there’s a laundry list of poor and “edgy” conduct that the historical receipts appear to cover, and privately corroborated by other instance admins we’re in contact with.
However, that then began to devolve into airing their grievances generally and repeatedly escalating their posting when users began to report them, unaware they were the instance administrator of tenforward.social[6][7][8][9][10].
Later, they made two posts[11][12] with the #Mastodon4Harris hashtag for seemingly no other reason than one of their users said they should[13] and wanting to instigate drama[14]. This is just petty and childish trolling.
Rule 3: Harassment of Other Instances and Users
As tenforward.social received reports from other instances, packetcat would post the report[3][6] and in some cases encourage the administrators of other instances to take action against the reporters[10][15]. In the case of latter request to remove content, the linked post has been deleted so assumed to be a valid request to remove content, but their reaction threatening defederation is unwarranted[15].
While this isn’t entirely unusual for an admin to do (we reach out and have other instances reach out to discuss reports), airing it in public is not acceptable, especially given tenforward.social’s explicit statements about using the report system and confidentiality of reports[16] and then posting an email chain report from a concerned user[17][18]. Revealing private information publicly, especially like this, is utterly unacceptable and a gross violation of trust.
Limiting tenforward.social
As a result of the actions above, we’re locally suspending packetcat@tenforward.social across all of our instances, and we’re limiting tenforward.social due to the instability of their admin and egregious breach of trust that makes us concerned with interactions going forward.
We realize there are connections back and forth between our Mastodon instances (furry.engineer and pawb.fun) and tenforward.social, so we don’t want to unduly impact our users or theirs based solely on their administrator’s conduct by suspending and permanently breaking those connections.
Should there be additional poor conduct or an improvement in the situation, we’ll re-review our stance in a few weeks time.
Important Reminder
It should really go without saying, but DO NOT use this as an excuse to harass packetcat or anyone else involved in this situation. Any users found doing so will be suspended without warning per Rule 3. While their conduct is unbecoming, it does not warrant abuse.
Clarification: What is a Limit
A limit means that the instance is effectively hidden from view on furry.engineer and pawb.fun. All of the content still exists and can be found if searching or interacting (like following a user on tenforward.social), but won’t appear on the public timelines and won’t be recommended to our users.
If someone from tenforward.social tries to mention someone on furry.engineer or pawb.fun, and they aren’t being followed by that person, the message may not be visible. Similarly, if someone from tenforward.social tries to follow a furry.engineer, or pawb.fun user, they’ll instead send a follow request that you’ll need to approve.
References
CW: Threats, Harassment; Some linked posts have content warnings, but have been omitted here for transparency.
[1] @packetcat@tenforward.social (Sept 7, 2024) “I saw some folks talking about baeddel on the TL earlier and my thoughts: If I ever encounter these baedellist fuckers, I’m going to buy an AK-47 and shoot them in the head. That’s too quick of a death for them because I’m merciful.” Retrieved from https://tenforward.social/@packetcat/113097974087422618. [REMOVED] see note below.
[2] @packetcat@tenforward.social (Sept 7, 2024) ““The AK-47, officially known as the Avtomat Kalashnikova (Russian: Автомат Калашникова, lit. ‘Kalashnikov’s automatic [rifle]’; also known as the Kalashnikov or just AK), is an assault rifle that is chambered for the 7.62×39mm cartridge. Developed in the Soviet Union by Russian small-arms designer Mikhail Kalashnikov, it is the originating firearm of the Kalashnikov (or “AK”) family of rifles. After more than seven decades since its creation, the AK-47 model and its variants remain one of the most popular and widely used firearms in the world.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AK-47 The AK-47 is the people’s weapon. And it is the people’s justice enacted on these fuckers.” Retrieved from https://tenforward.social/@packetcat/113097988673182417. [REMOVED] see note below.
Note: Since the posts linked above have been subsequently deleted, a screenshot has been attached from the furry.engineer admin panel: 
[3] @packetcat@tenforward.social (Sept 7, 2024) “A new (to me) Eris account was just reported to me. Y’all wanna block/suspend this one real quick. eris@yourwalls.today #fediblock” [Extended Thread] Retrieved from https://tenforward.social/@packetcat/113096843977126847.
[4] @packetcat@tenforward.social (Sept 8, 2024) “Racism in the Fediverse: Eris of Disqordia. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUXOUd2AENo. I wanted to put my thoughts on Eris and racism on fediverse in video form so here it is. I want this wide. Boost boost boost. I want this on every fediverse instance’s timeline.” Retrieved from https://tenforward.social/@packetcat/113102432762834938.
[5] @puf@rage.love (Aug 15, 2022) “if you need some proof that eris is a unpleasant individual — make your own choices whether this is #fediblock worthy, but note that i know some instances defederated from disqordia due to the below, among other things: this thread is cached correctly here, on the external server, but eris’ original toots were lost when the old disqordia instance went down https://cybre.space/@DangerDyke/108595663835969647 (top of thread at https://jubi.life/@sixthhokage95/108592329213498710)” Retrieved from https://rage.love/@puf/108829412633265534.
[6] @packetcat@tenforward.social (Sept 7, 2024) “I just got this report. This is the divide and conquer tactic these people play. @OttawaPlaceAdmin you want to ban whoever this is. Trust me you don’t want them in your space. They are accusing me of transphobia. Right. Of course they are. I’ve seen this play before. It ain’t working on anyone anymore Eris. We know your game. Also accusing @so_treu of deadnaming her. Which they haven’t done because I know what actually happened.” Retrieved from https://tenforward.social/@packetcat/113098074860190153.
[7] @packetcat@tenforward.social (Sept 7, 2024) “don’t fuck with me. https://infosec.space/@kkarhan/113098123869087463 https://infosec.space/@kkarhan/113098129378235029 This is what Eris does.” Retrieved from https://tenforward.social/@packetcat/113098141033911677.
[8] @packetcat@tenforward.social (Sept 7, 2024) “Telling me to use the report system is hiliarous mate. Yeah mate. I know about the report system. Not like I’m a moderator and admin of a Mastodon instance since 2017. Fucking cunt.” Retrieved from https://tenforward.social/@packetcat/113098152858203750.
[9] @packetcat@tenforward.social (Sept 7, 2024) “techhub.social/@Raccoon/113098175071285637 lol. lmao. Now this is some proper entertainment only the fediverse can give me.” Retrieved from https://tenforward.social/@packetcat/113098184753861669.
[10] @packetcat@tenforward.social (Sept 7, 2024) “lmao. mastodon.top now eh? @thomas_virtubox hey. ban whoever is the originator of this report. you don’t them in your space.” Retrieved from https://tenforward.social/@packetcat/113098204368592089.
[11] @packetcat@tenforward.social (Sept 8, 2024) “I’ll improve more Americans’ lives in 1 hour than Kamala Harris ever will in 4 years. https://subscribe.packetcat.ca” Retrieved from https://tenforward.social/@packetcat/113103985937178864.
[12] @packetcat@tenforward.social (Sept 8, 2024) “I’m not American, or in America but I can help Americans from where I am and I do every single day. https://subscribe.packetcat.ca” Retrieved from https://tenforward.social/@packetcat/113103990459803459.
[13] Inken Paper, @crashglasshouses (Sept 8, 2024) “@packetcat that’s gonna require trolling #MastodonForHarris and #Mastodon4Harris more” Retrieved from https://tenforward.social/@crashglasshouses/113103964074902674.
[14] @packetcat@tenforward.social (Sept 8, 2024) “Oh look I already caught a fish. From hachyderm.io. Wow what a surprise. alexhammy@hachyderm.io “Alexander Hamizdat for Harris” told me to “GFY”. and immediately deleted it and blocked me. lol I saw it before you delete it lmao.” Retrieved from https://tenforward.social/@packetcat/113104003943902913.
[15] @packetcat@tenforward.social (Sept 7, 2024) “kitty.social/notes/9xwbjjklx6v700cq another one for the blocklist. harassment. kitty.social, you have 24 hours to deal with this piece of shit. If you don’t, I will terminate federation with you.” Retrieved from https://tenforward.social/@packetcat/113098806737556514.
[16] About - Tenforward.Social “Instances of abusive, harassing, or otherwise unacceptable behavior may be reported by contacting an admin by using the report button. All reports will be reviewed and investigated and will result in a response that is deemed necessary and appropriate to the circumstances. Admins are obligated to maintain confidentiality with regard to the reporter of an incident.” Retrieved from https://tenforward.social/about. Retrieved on Sept 8, 2024.
[17] @packetcat@tenforward.social (Sept 7, 2024) “lmao. Another challenger appears. Email too huh?” [Screenshot includes a report from a concerned user, and their full email address] Retrieved from https://tenforward.social/@packetcat/113098303738022025.
[18] @packetcat@tenforward.social (Sept 7, 2024) “lmao. free entertainment. Who needs Netflix when I have this?” Retrieved from https://tenforward.social/@packetcat/113098352226657071.
Edits
- Added section “Clarification: What is a Limit”
- Updated deleted image proof from https://pawb.social/pictrs/image/7670f660-3174-467a-a9cf-9da5411c994b.png to https://pawb.social/pictrs/image/82e428b8-83e7-4fb6-8fa2-6a2c4ff0fbca.png. The original had the first post still collapsed.
- Added section “Edits”
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@crashdoom I’m not optimistic about the situation after seeing their repeated use of transphobic slurs & threats against transgender people, but I hope that tenforward.social users find out about their admin’s behavior & are able to move before everything collapses. :(
I am also of the same mind personally. It’s just the admin that’s such a huge issue.
It’s weird the admin is like this. tenforward.social is a Trekkie instance, and we Trekkies are by and large a socially progressive bunch, and wouldn’t take lightly that their admin is being a piece of trash like this. It’s even against their own TOS:
I’m betting most users have no idea their admin is doing this.
What does “limiting” mean in this context? Is it like that they won’t be able to comment on our posts, or they can’t post here?
Oops, that’s entirely valid and I should have explained. A limit means that the instance is effectively hidden from view on furry.engineer and pawb.fun. All of the content still exists and can be found if searching or interacting (like following a user on tenforward.social), but won’t appear on the public timelines and won’t be recommended to our users.
If someone from tenforward.social tries to mention someone on furry.engineer or pawb.fun, and they aren’t being followed by that person, the message may not be visible. Similarly, if someone from tenforward.social tries to follow a furry.engineer, or pawb.fun user, they’ll instead send a follow request that you’ll need to approve.
Thanks!
Yeah that is absolutely unacceptable, good job though doing what’s necessary. Really admins should be better about being professional and responsible, their behavior is neither of those and also is very much hypocritical as they are violating the rules of their own instance.
Isn’t that Stamets’ instance? You might consider reaching out to him to see if he’s aware. Considering how outspoken he’s been about trans rights, he may not support packetcat’s rhetoric.Edit: no, Lemmy’s tenforward is just a lemmy.world community.
i was thinking that too, thanks for checking
