@Leiracal@tech.lgbt There is some additional context here: https://mastodon.art/@Curator/109862017103310949

But please understand that the situation with eightpoint is an anomaly, not a common occurrence; it involves someone with a long, *long* history of abusive behaviour, across a ton of different communities.

That "path to healing" includes the abuser in question acknowledging and taking responsibility for their abuse, and working to repair it. That has not occurred. Until it does, healing is not possible.

This same person has, in many of those communities, long been shielded by precisely these sorts of "calls for unity". It has only led to more abuse, not to any actual solutions for the - repeatedly reoccurring - problem.

This is not something you can capture in a simple set of community rules. This is the sort of case where you need to identify who is responsible for repeated abusive behaviour (up to and including rape), and who are enabling them to do so and shielding them from consequences.

That is going to be fundamentally messy, and it extends beyond just a defederation. This whole situation has caused a lot of people a lot of pain already. The defederation is just one step of many to try and protect a community from a known abuser and their enablers.

TL;DR: this is not just some kneejerk defederation, there is a decade+ of history and abuse behind this. It's fine if you're not familiar with all of it, but please don't assume that this sort of decision is arbitrary.