Sven Slootweg (soft-deprecated) @joepie91@pixie.town

Many government agencies are expressing concerns about how to communicate with the public without Twitter, especially in emergencies. Of course, it was a bad idea to become dependent on Twitter to such an extent in the first place, and no matter what happens, this needs rethinking.

Genuinely, if someone wanders past some sources on Wren (the #CarbonOffset thing) that aren't coming *from* Wren and are looking at the work they do?

Please send them to me. (Boosts and DMs are okay.)

Something about them keeps bugging me, and I really want to look into it with more depth than just "Their website says!"

(Am not thinking of putting money into it, but am highly cynical.)

Instance Subtoot but

"information security focused social network INVITES US federal department of homeland security onto their instance" reads like a fucking parody sketch

How is this real life

I've created a small, incomplete, list of instances with moderators of color.

The list and suggestions became to much to keep up on my own, so here is a Google document, https://docs.google.com/document/d/12pTmSMpq8lMYyYlHT25DgTmdMmE6ysUyRHGiq-E4XdQ/edit?usp=sharingp

Here's how to move accounts and take your followers with you https://docs.joinmastodon.org/user/moving/

#BlackMastodon #BlackTwitter #BlackFedi #FediTips #TwitterMigration #MastoAdmin

Running a new Fediverse instance is pretty wild, right? You own a social media site! You own it! You can invite your friends away from poorly-run corporate sites and try to give them an experience that's warmer, that's more fun, that isn't clogged with ads. It can be a pretty excellent feeling – and I know! I ran an instance for five years, and I loved so much about it.

There were parts I didn't love. Let's – [shakes head] let's talk about them for a second, because they're coming. There's always something out there, ready to pop a tire on the shiny new car you and your friends are packed inside, and I – we – want you to know how to fix a flat. We all benefit when you're aware of these things and know how to handle them.

Oh, I'm probably gonna swear. Fortify y'self. 🤷

You need to think about your instance rules/terms/code of conduct. The rules need to be clear, and they need to be explicit, and they need to be linked somewhere on (almost) every page.

The days of "don't be a dick" have come and gone. The assholes out here now have learned how to argue, and wheedle, and pick, without being obvious aggressors. They know that if they can portray themselves as confused, maybe a little hurt, they can dive through the smallest of loopholes at least once. It takes more time and energy, but you need to build that wall with brick, not chain link, because these mugs are coming with wire cutters.

Yeah. That's an extremely tall order, but this is the Fediverse: by design, we're all in this together. Check out some of the older instances like wandering.shop or mastodon.art, anywhere you feel like the cool kids hang out, and go to their /about/more page. They have that shit locked. down., rule after rule. Take a little time, actually read the things that experience taught them are important to say. Or I can do you one better: start with Annalee Flower Horne's Sample Slack Code of Conduct. It's a detailed, thoughtful, living document, from an author that expressly doesn't mind your lifting it in whole or in part. (…with attribution. Give Mx. Flower Horne their flowers.) Give it a massage where needed so it makes sense on your Not A Slack, Actually server & slap it right down.

Cool. Rules are set; even if you don't remember every one of them all the time, you've made sure your /about/more page is easy to find when you need a refresher. Now,

Learn, in detail, how reports work so you can check them regularly.

The new car you and your friends are packed inside has a lot of knobs and buttons, and their function is not always obvious. You need to know how to report a problem. You need to know where that report goes. You need to know how to explain the process to your users so you can encourage them to do it, and you need to check that shit so all the folks you encouraged to speak up will feel there's a point to doing so.

My suggestion? Learn by doing. Ask one of your users to report one of your posts; ask them if you can report one of their posts – with the express, stated intent of learning how reports work. Direct message a moderator or admin on another instance; ask if they mind your filing a clearly marked test report on something from one of their users. (Take "no" for an answer & ask someone else. 🤷) Familiarize yourself with the process. Take screenshots. Do whatever you need to do to keep it clear in your head.

Commit a little time to moderating on a regular, frequent schedule.

If your buddies think you're an unobservant driver, they won't ride with you again. You've got your rules; you know how to use the tools; now, it's important to use them. Some days, it'll be a 30-second check-in; others, it might be a half-hour of figuring out what response is going to be appropriate and consistent. In either case, it's what you signed on for when you got behind the wheel and told other people you could drive them around safely.

Find any little trick you need to make it happen regularly. Bookmark your moderation page(s) in your browser so you don't have to click or tap your way through each time. Pick a time of day when you know you're usually in a good mood. (Some of this shit will get under your skin, and your passengers get just as nervous when you're always honking and yelling at other drivers as they do when you just sit there & let things happen.) It's going to be stressful eventually; come to the task aware and ready to manage that stress.

Check the fediblock tag regularly.

CaribenxMarciaX@scholar.social and gingerrroot@kitty.town are smart people who did us all a favor by starting that tag rolling. It's there so responsible people can help each other out. When you see a fediblock post come through your timeline, throw a bookmark on it so you can give it a look during your scheduled moderation time. Search it; pin it to its own column in the Advanced Web View if it helps.

Pay attention to some of the folks that use it regularly, and to how they use it; it'll help you know when you need to do a little sleuthing or when you can be reasonably confident that some bad shit went down. Use it yourself! It's one of the ways we work together to keep trash off the roads.

Fuckin' Christ. I've been writing this all morning, and I'm sorry if you spent all this time reading to find out I didn't say a damn thing you didn't already know. I'm gonna end on this:

We older folks here on Fedi really are happy you're here and excited about the place. We know this is a lot, and we recognize it's a high standard. Hell, it's a higher standard than most corporate-run spaces seem to set.

That's what makes it exciting: the fact that, as imperfect as our attempts are, they're genuine efforts to Do Better, Together.

Last week I discovered that Akko - the mechanical keyboard manufacturer - had many Pepe stickers in their official Discord. I politely suggested this was an oversight and asked them to address this. I was banned from the Discord a few seconds later.

At that point I emailed support. No answer. I emailed again 2 days ago, asking why I was banned for bringing up their fascist-aligned images in their Discord and still haven't heard back. They were very responsive when I bought their switches a month ago.

At this point I'm not buying any more Akko products.

https://en.akkogear.com/

#Akko #MechanicalKeyboard

Random people run a Mastodon instance: Bad, they can read DMs and stuff
Random people run an entire platform with zero transparency: Good, obviously better than the former, what could possibly go wrong

if you have kids: allow them to skip school to catch up on sleep

if you're an adult: allow yourself to take sick days to catch up on sleep (I know it's not always possible but it SHOULD BE because it is NECESSARY)

if you can't get the sleep you need at night: allow yourself to take copious naps

if you find yourself pushed to the fringes of society by unusual sleep needs or patterns: it's not your fault. I shall talk about temporal accessibility another time

our society is set up in a way that favours people whose natural circadian rhythm includes an early sleep time.

they are the people who end up in positions of power and influence. everyone else is too sleep deprived to keep up and/or has to carve out spaces in odd jobs that work for them.

so the doctors who end up defining what's "healthy" end up being people who sleep early.

the bosses that define work times too.

the politicians making laws for time management too.

self-reinforcing system