re: Gigablast, I’d question the ethics of a site that promotes removedute on its front page
in case anyone doesn’t know about removedute:
removedute is a video hosting service known for accommodating far-right individuals and conspiracy theorists, and for hosting hateful material. The platform was created in 2017 to allow video uploaders to avoid content rules enforcement on YouTube, and some creators who have been banned from YouTube or had their channels barred from receiving advertising revenue (“demonetized”) have migrated to removedute.
I think that we have a pretty bad PR problem when it comes to free and privacy-focused software and services. So often when this category of things gets attention, it’s because it’s being used to harbor fascists and other pieces of shit. I believe Minds also heavily favors the far right. There’s no real reason to promote these platforms over others. Friendica and PeerTube are infinitely more capable and also better both in terms of freedom and the ability to be used responsibly.
If you look over at the Mastodon side of things, you’ll see where things can go when the social gains of these alternatives are the biggest part of the message. Tons of people use that not because they know it’s free software, not because they know it’s federated, but because “it’s Twitter but queerer and without the fascists!” There’s real tangible power in that appeal that needs to be at the front of the conversation.
I’m not being black-and-white with it, and I don’t think you’re bad if you choose to use it (at least with what I know about it right now). Instead, even despite its appealing features and presentation, I would urge others to choose other options because especially now while every decent-to-good option is relatively obscure, it is best for privacy and freedom in the long term to make sure that the software and services that we promote are liberatory not only in technical terms, but in practical social ones. These tools need to support oppressed people and are uniquely suited to do so…we have a responsibility to play a social and PR game as much as we do a technical one.
If you look over at the Mastodon side of things, you’ll see where things can go when the social gains of these alternatives are the biggest part of the message. Tons of people use that not because they know it’s free software, not because they know it’s federated, but because “it’s Twitter but queerer and without the fascists!” There’s real tangible power in that appeal that needs to be at the front of the conversation.
As someone who recently set up a Mastodon Instance and supports people, philosophies, and movements like LGBTQ+, and Black Lives Matters, I know for me personally the anti free speech rhetoric that is oh so common on Mastodon is the most off putting part by far. What happened to using local moderation tools available to you to silence opinions you do not agree with?
My friends and I are meme shitposters, and we are constantly getting zucked and many of us have been fleeing FB and YouTube because they censor freedom of information and expression, so to find out about things like fediblock and the fact it isn’t just instances that abuse and harass the network, but any network that promotes free speech and doesn’t censor the “right” content is automatically added to this list and defederated(e.x. https://fediblock.org/blocklist/#libre.video). It is extremely disconcerting, and my willingness to praise it as a viable alternative is directly related.
I think the Political Correct/Coddle culture is one of the most toxic things to the idea of freedom of information, as giving anyone the power to say, “I don’t agree with your view, so I will silence you, and make sure others do as well, or else” is almost even worse than Facebook. At some point creating or perpetuating this divisiveness is perpetuating hate, empowering idiots to think they are special, ultimately congregating them into and promoting echo chambers…
That’s one of the consequences of freedom of association and perhaps its biggest strength. Fediverse blocklists are what keeps it usable and not filled with absolute garbage, letting people join communities that interact with others based on a set of principles that they support. Moderation is good and necessary and drastically under-applied on the internet at large.
Whatever, should’ve have replied to someone honestly complaining about “coddle culture” in the absolute hellscape that is the internet. Go fling shit at other shit flingers…the magic of the fediverse is that the rest of us don’t have to deal with them. It’s a haven for queer people specifically because you can curate your experience just like you can in real life. It’s so fucking weird that people think that everyone having to deal with everyone at all times online is normal and the default and that anything restricting that is just being coddled. Outside of have-tos like work, I can avoid shitheads and have shithead-free spaces in my day to day life. I choose the people I hang around. The fediverse and the blocklists that are so pervasive within it are a natural extension of this right to a digital space.
Still better than Google and I actually don’t know any good alternative to it.
deleted by creator
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re: Gigablast, I’d question the ethics of a site that promotes removedute on its front page
in case anyone doesn’t know about removedute:
deleted by creator
I think that we have a pretty bad PR problem when it comes to free and privacy-focused software and services. So often when this category of things gets attention, it’s because it’s being used to harbor fascists and other pieces of shit. I believe Minds also heavily favors the far right. There’s no real reason to promote these platforms over others. Friendica and PeerTube are infinitely more capable and also better both in terms of freedom and the ability to be used responsibly.
If you look over at the Mastodon side of things, you’ll see where things can go when the social gains of these alternatives are the biggest part of the message. Tons of people use that not because they know it’s free software, not because they know it’s federated, but because “it’s Twitter but queerer and without the fascists!” There’s real tangible power in that appeal that needs to be at the front of the conversation.
I’m not being black-and-white with it, and I don’t think you’re bad if you choose to use it (at least with what I know about it right now). Instead, even despite its appealing features and presentation, I would urge others to choose other options because especially now while every decent-to-good option is relatively obscure, it is best for privacy and freedom in the long term to make sure that the software and services that we promote are liberatory not only in technical terms, but in practical social ones. These tools need to support oppressed people and are uniquely suited to do so…we have a responsibility to play a social and PR game as much as we do a technical one.
As someone who recently set up a Mastodon Instance and supports people, philosophies, and movements like LGBTQ+, and Black Lives Matters, I know for me personally the anti free speech rhetoric that is oh so common on Mastodon is the most off putting part by far. What happened to using local moderation tools available to you to silence opinions you do not agree with?
My friends and I are meme shitposters, and we are constantly getting zucked and many of us have been fleeing FB and YouTube because they censor freedom of information and expression, so to find out about things like fediblock and the fact it isn’t just instances that abuse and harass the network, but any network that promotes free speech and doesn’t censor the “right” content is automatically added to this list and defederated(e.x. https://fediblock.org/blocklist/#libre.video). It is extremely disconcerting, and my willingness to praise it as a viable alternative is directly related.
I think the Political Correct/Coddle culture is one of the most toxic things to the idea of freedom of information, as giving anyone the power to say, “I don’t agree with your view, so I will silence you, and make sure others do as well, or else” is almost even worse than Facebook. At some point creating or perpetuating this divisiveness is perpetuating hate, empowering idiots to think they are special, ultimately congregating them into and promoting echo chambers…
That’s one of the consequences of freedom of association and perhaps its biggest strength. Fediverse blocklists are what keeps it usable and not filled with absolute garbage, letting people join communities that interact with others based on a set of principles that they support. Moderation is good and necessary and drastically under-applied on the internet at large.
Whatever, should’ve have replied to someone honestly complaining about “coddle culture” in the absolute hellscape that is the internet. Go fling shit at other shit flingers…the magic of the fediverse is that the rest of us don’t have to deal with them. It’s a haven for queer people specifically because you can curate your experience just like you can in real life. It’s so fucking weird that people think that everyone having to deal with everyone at all times online is normal and the default and that anything restricting that is just being coddled. Outside of have-tos like work, I can avoid shitheads and have shithead-free spaces in my day to day life. I choose the people I hang around. The fediverse and the blocklists that are so pervasive within it are a natural extension of this right to a digital space.