I just had my first experience blocking an instance, and it made my realize now nice the lemmy content curation experience is vs the centralized model.
Recently I started noticing a lot of posts from that I just found annoying. There was nothing inherently wrong with them, they just came from a culture I don’t understand and so I found them cringey. Since they all came from one community, realized most of them come from the same instance. I just added that instance to my blocklist and the problem is solved!
Now think about in the centralized model. I would be forced to either just accept that these posts are in my timeline, or block each community and user individually. The instance gave me an easy way to manage my content.
I also appreciate that instances can manage the blocking for their users. So the most horrible stuff I don’t even see. But it also preserves free speech, as those users who want to say horrible things can do so in their own instance, and most people will just block it.
Anyway, just impressed again by the fediverse!
Actually……
If I were a true hexbear user, I’d be glad to be defederated from lemmy.world. But I’m not.
I think that defederation is a bad idea. That’s why I joined an instance with a relatively hands-off approach to moderation.
You see, I’m an anarchist. I trust in the power of people to self-organize, self-regulate, and self-police. I am philosophically opposed to whole instances making the call to defederate from another no matter how Nazi or capitalist that instance is.
Isn’t someone deciding they don’t like an instance’s content and blocking it themselves exactly what you’re describing?
The irony right?
This is what I love about the fediverse. It is the closest to actual anarchist communities I’ve seen and it works great.
Good point! You’re right. My meme is more to poke fun at the victory lap the user decided to take here to try get a high five for putting on blinders.
A well-executed rebuttal.
What if I told you anyone can run their own server and consequently have the freedom to federate with who they wish?
The value of the Fediverse isn’t just freedom of speech. It’s freedom of association.
I’m a big fan of that option. Did you think I’d be against it? 🤔
Well, you seem to be upset that people are able to block entire instances. That’s just a weird stance for an anarchist to have.
Yeah because it shuts out everyone on that instance.
I’m happy this post isn’t from an instance admin, deciding that their users aren’t allowed to see ANYTHING that originated on an instance that they deem unsavory. I’m just disappointed in OP thinking that shutting all people out from a particular instance regardless of their actions is an act worthy of a victory lap, talking about how great the fediverse is for ignoring people.
Also: Just because I am an anarchist doesn’t mean I have to march in lockstep with what you expect an anarchist to do and say. This is the very crux of my point: that opinions vary wildly and shutting out your ability to even see those opinions is a negative thing for society as a whole.
On the Fediverse, no admin decides anything a user does. If you don’t like your server, you can just walk over to another one. Most software even makes account migration between servers super easy.
Or if you don’t trust admins at all—and I don’t—you can run your own server and federate with who you please.
This is not Reddit. Admins don’t hold ultimate power of what does or does not get seen. However, you do—and you can mute, block, or defederate as you see fit.
I know all of that, my friend. Not sure how it seemed like I didn’t. namaste
But it doesn’t. Unless they’ve changed the functionality in the last 3 major revisions or so, a user blocking an instance blocks all posts from that instance. Not the users or their comments on other posts.
It’s an easier way than blocking each community from that instance individually.
I generally prefer to federate with as many communities as possible, but federating with fascists is a terrible idea. You’re just making people in your community vulnerable to harassment.
People are self organizing onto these instances, and if they don’t like their current one it’s not hard to move. Most people won’t move to one that allows nazis in.
I see nothing wrong with it. But let’s not pretend that it is some badge of honor. We should be ashamed/disappointed that we were forced to censor our feeds rather than finding some better solution to the disgusting Nazi toxicity encroaching on our minds.
I’ve heard the Nazi bar analogy a lot and I can see why people say it. But I have made so much more progress with conservatives when I actually talk to them than when I blindly shut them out. I guess it’s just the tendency of perpetually online anonymous people to get ugly beyond what they would be brazen enough to do without anonymity.
Fascist ideas don’t spread because they make good points. They spread because they get repeated so much. People who don’t know any better believe it because they’ve heard it so many times, or from someone they trust. Federating with fascists gives them more people to spread their ideas to.
Talking to conservatives can definitely help, but it really depends on the context. Just having people who they disagree with in their lives can can be helpful. If you’re someone they trust you might get them to work through some things. Or if you know a topic really well and know what talking points they’re likely to bring up. But it’s nearly impossible to get though to people who already hate you.
Everyone is at a different place with what they want to handle. Some people just want a small friendly community where they have a chance to relax. Others want a more open communities that only keep out the worst. And some are okay with putting up with harassment to reach more people. But generally we shouldn’t force others to put up with that harassment along with us.
That’s interesting, I assumed so because:
But seems like your opinion actually something consistent and not trolling, in that case I respect your opinion, even if I personally don’t agree with your philosophy I can understand it. It’s good that in the Fediverse you can choose an instance that aligns with your philosophy (Like lemm.ee) and I can choose the one that aligns with mine.
Here’s a big hug for you, intellectually honest fediverse user. 😊
That’s great, but it’s not for everyone. What you’re saying here is that when bigots appear, every member of the minorities they target needs to individually block the troll, which they can only do after they’ve been exposed to the bigotry, and which doesn’t help them at all in the future when the troll moves to a new throw away account.
Counter intuitively, what you’re asking for is exactly how you create spaces that actively discourage diversity.
Why not jut have shared block lists that anyone can apsly at their will?