Lemmy.world Admin Response to Defederation from Exploding Heads
We're closing this thread. Everything that could be said has been said. Thank you
Original Post:
Today, we want to inform everyone that we have decided to defederate from https://exploding-heads.com/. We understand that defederating should always be a last resort, and individuals can certainly block communities. However, blocking alone does not prevent potential harm to vulnerable communities.
After carefully reviewing the instance, reported posts, and multiple comments from the community, we have concluded that exploding-heads is not adhering to the Lemmy or Citizen Code of Conduct. Therefore, we cannot, in good faith, continue to federate with an instance that consistently promotes hate, racism, and bullying.
Again, deciding to defederate from an instance is not taken lightly. In the future, we will continue to review instances on a case-by-case bases.
As for our community, please refrain from posting or commenting with hateful words as well. Arguing back and calling people names is not the solution. The best course of action is to report the posts or comments violating our server rules.
“We are committed to providing a friendly, safe, and welcoming environment for all, regardless of level of experience, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, disability, personal appearance, body size, race, ethnicity, age, religion, nationality, or other similar characteristic.”
I don't like this. It might be ok in this example but ... generally, defederation should be a democratic decision, voted by the users of an instance. Defederation blocks access to all communities on this instance. Its like my ISP blocking the country of France because he don't like their leader. Users should decide for them selves which community to block. We have the tools for this.
Yes one can create a second account on another instance but constant switching instances is no solution.
Its like my ISP blocking the country of France because he don’t like their leader.
The main difference is users can, generally speaking, easily choose which instance to be a user on. All those French people in France can't, in your example, be expected to casually emigrate somewhere because their leader is disliked, but it's as simple to choose one Fediverse instance as it is another and moving between them is trivial.
Every user on the defederated instance can easily choose to use (and abide by the rules of) any other Lemmy instance which follows the Lemmy Code of Conduct better than this blocked instance did.
I agree with you. But defederation should be the last resort. You not only isolate the other instance but your instance too. The more this happens the higher the chance to create an echo chamber. I like to decide for myself which communities I want block.
No, it's more like Country A instituting a temporary travel ban on people coming from Country B while there's a sudden outbreak, and then Country A's judicial and legal system reviewing that decision to see whether it should be permanent or not.
I disagree. If an instance wants to consistently violate community rules, and is run by mods and admins who approve of said violations, they have no business being federated with a mainstream instance.
If you don't like this decision, you are welcome to join an instance that never defederates anyone and then you can see absolutely everything. No need for account switching, you can see all the communities from such an account.
After all, the main thing you select when you choose an instance is you admin and mod team, so find an instance that alligns with your purviews.
I'm actually a big fan of lemmy.world pre-emptively making this decision and communicating about it openly, because in the short term it keeps lemmy.world safe and welcoming.
I'd be in favor of admins making the call and then polling users on whether the decision should be permanent.
lemmy.world is just an instance. As I understand it, an instance is just a gateway to the rest of the fediverse. Its not a community that has to be protected. The argument is more like that the communities on this instance don't provide content to the other instance, in fact isolating them.
But when I display "all" on lemmy.world - for example when I want to see trending topics and not just my own niche interests - seeing lots of hate speech or things against the code of conduct drives me away.
Maybe there should be one-way defederation? We'll share our communities with them, but we'll hide their communities?
You can easily decide for your self which communities you want to block. Its a bit of work but you dont have to relay on others to decide.
Im not sure if a one-way defederation is better. Cutting access to our content is a fair punishment for the "evil" instance. But then again I like to decide for myself
But you do vote. With your feet. If an instance owner (note: the instance is the owner's property not your property) is too quick with the banhammer for your tastes, or defederates from sites you think they shouldn't, feel free to move on. If enough people do that, the instance has been voted into oblivion.
It's remarkably arrogant to say "I should have a say in how you use your property".
Sure you can vote by leaving, but this schould be the last resort. I don't say how the owner must deal with this issue, I mearly expressed my concern. Im not convinced its arrogance....the fact that I express my opinion (if it be right or wrong) shows that I care and try to engage in the discussion. The beauty of the fediverse is it doesn't realy matter (and shouldn't matter) on which instance you are registered. The beauty of social networks is that you can engage in discussions and exchange opinions and not just consume media. If all folks think the same you are in an echo chamber and there is nothing new to learn.
You are insisting on having a "democratic" say in how someone else uses their property:
... defederation should be a democratic decision, voted by the users of an instance.
That is as utterly arrogant as it gets. How 'bout I go talk to your neighbours and we all vote on whether you drive us to the sporting match this weekend?