User ban controversy reveals Bluesky’s decentralized aspiration isn’t reality

Post by DaSHacka » Wed, Oct 08, 2025, 1:09 AM UTC

lkey wrote: post #182

dragonwriter wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Facebook and Twitter no longer bother with moderation, do you think the experience on those platforms is better or worse than 5 years ago? I haven't used FB in years but Twitter is very (stupidly and incoherently, but very actively) moderated. Unless you are being technical and saying that Twitter doesn't exist and so isn't moderated, and the moderated thing is X, but...

X then. By unmoderated I mean it's a cess-pool of pay-boosted groypers, crypto ad accounts, ai accounts, sex accounts, pure scams, ai generated underage girlfriends, and actual CSAM, that go mostly ignored if they shell out 8 USD. I'm sure some actual humans manage to still get banned from time to time, but you can't be telling me that things haven't changed for the worse right? Do they even have a 'trust and safety'…

Post by DaSHacka » Wed, Oct 08, 2025, 1:12 AM UTC

jazzyjackson wrote: post #170

Palomides wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

even billion dollar corporations like cloudflare (with a "free speech absolutist" CEO) absolutely do drop unpopular customers due to user pressure

If you're talking about moot and kiwifarms that wasn't merely "user pressure" like large customers threatening to walk - it was a harassment campaign hitting up the legal department and cloudflare decided they didn't want to bother dying on that hill

Post by Devasta » Wed, Oct 08, 2025, 1:16 AM UTC

DaSHacka wrote: post #229

Devasta wrote: post #190

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure, but banning him sends a signal to people who do like them that they also aren't welcome.

Exactly the GP's point though, that's essentially sending an indicator to 50% of the population that they're not welcome on the platform. Do you really think a platform that performs actions like that will be successful? In practice, it obviously just creates echo chambers where fringe beliefs are painted as the common majority, because all dissenting views are silenced.

Post by Manuel_D » Wed, Oct 08, 2025, 1:16 AM UTC

TimorousBestie wrote: post #96

fellpie wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> But if you really are honestly curious and unbiased, M. K. Anderson wrote a well-researched article for Protean in 2022. He misrepresents Singal's writing, uses guilt-by-association smears, and focuses more on personal vilification of Singal than substantive critique. For example his claim that Singal's writing "endangers trans lives" is hyperbolic and unsupported. This is nothing more than a hit piece penned to de…

> For example his claim that Singal's writing "endangers trans lives" is hyperbolic and unsupported. Partially due to Singal’s sensationalist journalism, trans people in the United States are about to lose access to some forms of healthcare—treatments that will remain accessible to cis people, like hormone replacement therapy. So I think history has vindicated this particular claim. I don’t expect you to agree, howev…

Post by spartanatreyu » Wed, Oct 08, 2025, 1:18 AM UTC

TMWNN wrote: post #214

EA-3167 wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’d argue that people lose the moment they sign up for an account, deluding themselves into believing that the problem with the last nth iteration of the same thing isn’t them. The format is the problem. The medium is the problem. Poorly moderated groups of anonymous people voidscreaming as some “this will be monetized once we hit critical mass” exercise is the problem. I believe that eventually people will sort ours…

>I’d argue that people lose the moment they sign up for an account, deluding themselves into believing that the problem with the last nth iteration of the same thing isn’t them. Indeed. As you said, it's the people, not the technical details of the "protocol" or "platform". My "favorite" Mastadon example: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34748195 >