People saying "you shouldn't block people in the spirit of democracy" is like.... do you fucking know me at all?
Like my position is literally the opposite of that. If you want to preserve democracy, you send the people who want to divide and conquer and punch down on marginalized groups out the fucking airlock.
They can return (maybe) when they've learned how to behave and that's no different from literally any other space you'd walk into in the real world.
Like come get your people, the door is closed here to shit like that.
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Oliphantom Menace
in reply to Oliphantom Menace • • •One of the biggest benefits of hosting your own server is being able to have a strong opinion about who can just fuck off forever.
No, you can't appeal the decision. Fuck off. Somehow, we'll survive without you.
Meanwhile, there's thousands of other servers you can interact with.
Sarah Brown
in reply to Oliphantom Menace • •like this
Oliphantom Menace, Catonauts and bugbear like this.
Oliphantom Menace
in reply to Oliphantom Menace • • •I'll just keep reposting this "we shouldn't silence important voices" rebuttal.
writer.oliphant.social/oliphan…
Oliphantom Menace
in reply to Oliphantom Menace • • •And get the terminology right:
Victims are targeted. Abusers are called out.
Oliphantom Menace
in reply to Oliphantom Menace • • •The issue with me being a very loudmouthed admin is that admins speak for their server.
They can't help it. They set the tone for what's allowable on their server, and I'm a big loudmouth who gave myself a 5000 character limit so I could shout at the world and my only conceit that makes this strange behavior okay is that I post it Unlisted, so I'm off your Federated feeds and not "clogging anything up."
Lots of admins are way more professional about this than I am. They maintain a separate personal account, and this makes it very clear when they are speaking with opinion or as an admin.
And I realize that, including pretty much every admin who is one of my blocklist sources is more professional about how they handle their admin account than I am.
Admins generally don't show their ass like this.
And if they do, they put their server at risk. Someone who can't stand my bullshit might just block the whole server, affecting everyone else on it.
But it does have one benefit.
Everyone who joins my server knows exactly what they are
... show moreThe issue with me being a very loudmouthed admin is that admins speak for their server.
They can't help it. They set the tone for what's allowable on their server, and I'm a big loudmouth who gave myself a 5000 character limit so I could shout at the world and my only conceit that makes this strange behavior okay is that I post it Unlisted, so I'm off your Federated feeds and not "clogging anything up."
Lots of admins are way more professional about this than I am. They maintain a separate personal account, and this makes it very clear when they are speaking with opinion or as an admin.
And I realize that, including pretty much every admin who is one of my blocklist sources is more professional about how they handle their admin account than I am.
Admins generally don't show their ass like this.
And if they do, they put their server at risk. Someone who can't stand my bullshit might just block the whole server, affecting everyone else on it.
But it does have one benefit.
Everyone who joins my server knows exactly what they are getting into.
It's pretty clear what I support, and what I don't. How I feel about various things. My full-throated defense of your right to block and curate the online world so that it uplifts your own mental health and doesn't serve someone else's agenda for advertising or "debate me, bro," etc.
I have carved out a space where I'm making the (radical) position online that it's okay to redact, filter, curate, and otherwise sort this mess of conflicting boundaries and opinions into something that reflects, for you, a safe space. I realize 'safe space' has a floating definition.
But like-minded people who agree with your methods or idea of a safe space should join it, and "find their people."
To some a safe space is unfiltered, chaotic, but "completely free" federation with anyone and everything, hands-off admins, maintain your own blocklist.
That's not my idea, but the point is, I need to consider whether I limit or suspend that server as a result--or whether I keep an eye on it, and wait for potential (and perhaps inevitable) damage that will occur when our contradictory server policies invariably intersect.
It's not just me and a couple friends I know from real life on the server anymore.
There are people who are at risk here, and that's a weighty responsibility.
My first and foremost job, all bullshit aside, is to advocate for them. I had no business letting them join the server if I wasn't willing to do that.
And if they disagree with my decisions or blocks, they can always leave and take their followers with them, no hard feelings from anyone.
Of course, they are welcome to talk with me about anything, this is not a large server after all, and I'm just down the hall, so to speak, shitposting.
What I tend to be finding is that people want to join my server because of these decisions.
So I guess I'm going to keep on running things like this, but I don't think this will ever be a server that supports a large crowd, and that's another reason it's more okay for me to be so "out loud" as the server admin, I think.
I have my opinions, and you're free to disagree with them. I generally am not the kind to block a server because the admin disagrees with my decisions or federation policies, even when I know the admin pretty much hates me.
Hopefully that lays it out a bit more.
Ward Chanley 🏳️🌈🌻
in reply to Oliphantom Menace • • •THIIIIIS this this this this, 1000x this.
“No, you didn't. Because, again, you know it's a shitty opinion. What you really want is a space where someone else can make that opinion for you, without any condemnation, so that you too can feel empowered to make that same comment without expecting any condemnation."
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Susan Larson ♀️🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️🌈
in reply to Oliphantom Menace • • •If you'd like my suggestion, I recommend adding line breaks between the various quotes for improved readability.
This formatting change will make the text easier to follow and understand.
However, if you prefer not to make this adjustment, please feel free to ignore my suggestion.
Oliphantom Menace
in reply to Susan Larson ♀️🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️🌈 • • •Susan Larson ♀️🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️🌈
in reply to Oliphantom Menace • • •Mr Bitterness
in reply to Oliphantom Menace • • •The idea that having any barriers in place stops other people from exercising their free choice removes MY free choice. Somehow these people conveniently pretend not to understand this.
If they have the right to join the network (which they do!), I have the right to say "please get the fuck away from me", and some tools to enforce those boundaries if I so choose. If any users on my instance feel differently, they're free to move on.
And so it goes.
Oliphantom Menace
in reply to Mr Bitterness • • •Free speech comes with the freedom of association.
And in an online space "free association" requires blocking or muting.
StuartB
in reply to Oliphantom Menace • • •I've received a few complaints for some controversial comments I've made - "Trans rights are human rights", "tax the billionaires out of existence", that sort of thing - and every time, my response has been "hang on, I'll pass this on to my mod team, okay, got it, nope, we agree, you're fash, meet my friend Mr Blockbutton!"
I run my own server to a) control my own data, and b) maximise my mental health, and throwing out the fashtrash helps with that.
Jo Jitsu
in reply to Oliphantom Menace • • •The abuse & manipulation of mercy, love, & grace, is so damaging.
Bynkii
in reply to Oliphantom Menace • • •@ThisPlaceAgain “why’d you kick bill out of the house?”
“He was trying to take a shit in my foyer!”
“Don’t you believe in DeMoCrAcY??”
“I believe in not letting people shit all over my floor.”
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Sarah Brown
Unknown parent • •Oliphantom Menace likes this.