@benroyce

This is not at all surprising given even a layman's general understanding of their architecture. And it is not something that can be fixed simply or quickly. Quite frankly AT Protocol may have some 'cool' characteristics, but it is a rats nest of different components and interfaces.

The thing we should be doing now is helping marginalized folks who bought into the hype establish solid footings here with truly decentralized and safe solutions.

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@benroyce

Mastodon lost a lot of people, especially Black people, due to harassment here. We need to understand the real technical deficiencies that create vectors for such abuse and get serious about fixing them. In particular, apparently it is possible to use "Followers Only" reply controls and also @ mention someone. These posts are only seen by the followers, and the @ mentioned person. This has been used to harass individuals without it being seen by the general population.

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@mastodonmigration @benroyce
This is something I have not been able to understand. HOW are people of color being targeted here in such a way that I don't see it? What is the method being used? If I don't see what is happening I can't help in any way. It's maddening to know that people are being harassed in such a targeted way. If I see it, I can respond/report and support as best I can. However this is being done, it's on purpose to keep non-targeted people from seeing it

@bitsnpieces @benroyce

There may be other ways, but this is one. Perhaps call it "Brigading".

A tight group folks who's purpose is to harass someone follow each other, 'the brigade'.

One of them composes a harassing post specifically targeting someone who they @ mention, and post it using "Followers Only" reply controls.

The rest of the 'brigade' piles on.

The post is only seen by the targeted person(s) and the harassers.

Think this is it. If anyone has anything to add, please chime in.

@mastodonmigration @benroyce
Thank you. That sounds very possible. Exploiting a privacy feature. Gotta be a way to thwart that.

@bitsnpieces @benroyce

Certainly there are ways to thwart it technically, and those should be implemented.

It's tricky because "Followers only" is also a valuable feature many people use for good purposes.

Plus, anything that requires system changes competes for priority with other things like quote-posts.

BUT, one thing that could certainly be done is to name it (Brigading), define it and make it clear that doing it is a ban-able offense. Encourage people to send screenshots to the mods.

@mastodonmigration @bitsnpieces @benroyce I'd add that other ways marginalized people, especially people of color, get targeted is with coded language white people do not recognize by default, then dismissing those who are being targeted as overreacting.

There was also a push to put CW on every photo of, say, police interactions. For the comfort of a largely white audience.

There are a lot of ways to socially degrade a group, and the largely white and EU Mastodon hits many of them.

@reflex @mastodonmigration @bitsnpieces

ugh

i posted a picture of a journalist killed by russia once

just her profile picture

i was continually flamed by someone insisting i content warn my post

merely because the topic was macabre

it is absolutely a problem that people demand to be protected from simple realities they don't want to confront

i'm not changing the topic from how people ignore how black folk are harassed

merely contextualizing this really disgusting inclination some have

@benroyce @mastodonmigration @bitsnpieces It's really the tip of the iceberg in how Fedi can be antisocial and highly discriminatory.

I spend most of the year in Portugal, and living there has made it glaringly obvious how even discussions about racism in the EU are decades behind the US. This is why none of Eugen's poor decision making around moderation, technical priorities, etc have really surprised me.

I'm hoping the move to a non profit foundation will aid in fixing these issues.