Lately I see a lot of calls do have specific instances defederated for a particular subset of reasons:
- Don’t like their content
- Dont like their political leaning
- Dont like their free speech approach
- General feeling of being offended
- I want a safe space!
- This instance if hurting vulnerable people
I personally find each and every one of these arguments invalid. Everybody has the right to live in an echo chamber, but mandating it for everyone else is something that goes a bit too far.
Has humanity really developed into a situation where words and thoughts are more hurtful than sticks and stones?
Edit: Original context https://slrpnk.net/post/554148
Controversial topic, feel free to discuss!
No one is forcing you. Join a different instance or host your own.
You can do the same.
He can do the same, but he’s not the one complaining about the furniture.
If you’re in a bar that you don’t like, it’s true that you can leave, or the people listening to you complain about the bar can leave, but it’s kind of obvious that you saying that is just your way of trying to make the bar annoying to everyone else so you can stay and make it a bar you like instead of going and finding a different one. That might be ‘a’ way to go about things, but it sure does take a persistently annoying person to make it happen. More likely you’ll just get kicked out of the bar because the bartender would rather keep the paying customers that are having fun around, rather than then bitchy ones who just won’t shut about about the decorations.
If you’re in a bar that you DO like, and the other patrons are discussing how to coordinate themselves, then obviously you would take part in that conversation.
And during that conversation, if a small subgroup constantly told you to “leave if you disagree,” then you might kindly suggest that they do the same, which would definitely not get you kicked out of the bar.
Very true, a civilized disagreement can certainly present that way. If that’s what I stumbled into I’d apologize for suggesting it was something else, maybe the level of discourse from related comment strings had me assuming the worse.
I have no issue with certain instances being defederated, so no need.
Should I ever feel the need though, I will kost definitely host a private instance.
Good comeback though mate.
It’s not a comeback because this isn’t a battle of clever insults. It’s a discussion about how to organize and interact.
You don’t have a problem with defederation, but if you DO have a problem with being connected to other instances… That’s the scenario where you can create your own siloed instance and block everybody.
I want to read everybody and talk to everybody.
You may have freedom of speech, but I also have the freedom to not listen to you.
Right, you can block me. But that’s different from denying other people from reading me, and denying me from reading other people.
Also, I’m not the one saying problematic stuff. I’m not afraid of being censored. I’m afraid of being denied access to censored material.
You’re not being denied access to censored material, you’re (mildly) suffering from a lack of access to some material from some locations. I could spin up an instance tomorrow that only federates with platforms that limit their discussion to expired gift cards, and that in no way reduces your access to platforms that (for some reason?) discuss other things, like ‘unexpired’ gift cards (why would anyone bother discussing those? who the hell knows?).
You seem to be confused by the popularity and open access of an instance to mean that it should or must be some democratic, freedom of speech led unmoderated landscape or it isn’t a legitimate platform and shouldn’t exist lest it ‘trick’ someone into thinking it is something it is not. You think because a forum ‘can’ federate with any other group, it ‘must’ federate with ‘all’ other groups, and that is simply not the case.
No I’m saying I’d like it to federate with others, while other people are saying they’d prefer not to. I’ll debate federation, I won’t debate whether I should debate federation.
To “spin up an instance” is not a reasonable solution. To argue generally (across platforms) for the merit of federation is what I’ll cheerfully continue to do because it’s a good and healthy way to engage with people about this exciting new technology.