What is ActivityPub, and how will it change the internet? • Hacker News Board

Re: What is ActivityPub, and how will it change the internet?

#31

Post by zeth___ » Mon, Sep 17, 2018, 10:05 PM UTC

jklinger410 wrote: post #18

mikedilger wrote: post #17

What could help Mastodon grow significantly is if the moderation on a large number of instances was toned down a bit. What happened to Wil Wheaton was a bit nuts. And conservative opinions are often banned due to being agressively labelled as hate or racist when they are usually not technically so. Most people don't want to be part of a social justice warrior authoritarian "fall in line or we will ban you" community.…

For those who were unaware what happened to Wil ( http://wilwheaton.net/2018/08/the-world-is-a-terrible-place-... )

This is the best example of live by the sword die by the sword [0].

Pay for play is a huge issue in journalism, that he was mocking poor white guys with an interest in gaming is very dickish. Gaming is by far the largest cultural industry [1], more important than Hollywood.

I'm more worried about the billionaires buying failing old newspapers and using them to spout whatever ideology gives them the lowest taxes, but that doesn't mean I can't see why someone might care about their hobby being sold out.

[0] https://knowyourmeme.com/photos/842413-gamergate

[1] https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2018-01-31-games-indu...

Re: What is ActivityPub, and how will it change the internet?

#32

Post by pathseeker » Mon, Sep 17, 2018, 10:11 PM UTC

jklinger410 wrote: post #18

mikedilger wrote: post #17

What could help Mastodon grow significantly is if the moderation on a large number of instances was toned down a bit. What happened to Wil Wheaton was a bit nuts. And conservative opinions are often banned due to being agressively labelled as hate or racist when they are usually not technically so. Most people don't want to be part of a social justice warrior authoritarian "fall in line or we will ban you" community.…

For those who were unaware what happened to Wil ( http://wilwheaton.net/2018/08/the-world-is-a-terrible-place-... )

It's honestly not surprising that someone so divisive in the start of the post (twitter being right-wing, "Shitler", etc) would attract a lot of problems. The guy is clearly a political troll so he's going to be poison to any community he joins where he posts like that.

Re: What is ActivityPub, and how will it change the internet?

#33

Post by sexydefinesher » Mon, Sep 17, 2018, 10:26 PM UTC

mikedilger wrote: post #17

What could help Mastodon grow significantly is if the moderation on a large number of instances was toned down a bit. What happened to Wil Wheaton was a bit nuts. And conservative opinions are often banned due to being agressively labelled as hate or racist when they are usually not technically so. Most people don't want to be part of a social justice warrior authoritarian "fall in line or we will ban you" community.…

Theres a reason people complain about Mastodon's moderation policies instead of going to a platform with another approach like Gab

Re: What is ActivityPub, and how will it change the internet?

#34

Post by toofy » Mon, Sep 17, 2018, 10:27 PM UTC

mikedilger wrote: post #22

toofy wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m not sure this is really an issue when we consider that there are gobs and gobs of completely unmoderated instances. You might be correct, but considering there are so many totally unmoderated instances and that anyone can easily attach their own instance to the network and have the exact level of moderation they deem appropriate for their community, im guessing it’s really just a matter of getting people away fro…

Completely unmoderated is also not the right balance. I wouldn't want to be part of a completely unmoderated instance. Moderation is tricky. I am suggesting only that the most politically charged forms of moderation be toned down. Changing usernames when you change instances is also a very significant problem. Are there proposals for addressing that?

> Completely unmoderated is also not the right balance. I wouldn't want to be part of a completely unmoderated instance. Moderation is tricky.

I think you just summed up precisely what makes federated instances the best solution we currently have available. As your comment shows, there is no perfect balance for everyone--no matter what kind of moderation we put in place, there will always be that group who will be unhappy.

With federation, if you think you'll be unable or unwilling to follow an instance's code-of-conduct, you simply hop onto a different instance which better fits your personal expectations; or if you are very very particular, you just toss up your own instance et voilà, you're talking to those on the Mastodon network with your own ideal of a perfectly balanced system.

Re: What is ActivityPub, and how will it change the internet?

#35

Post by Shish2k » Mon, Sep 17, 2018, 10:34 PM UTC

hello_marmalade wrote: post #29

The idea that you should be able to shield or blind yourself to content is a flat out stupid one. Not to mention that the way Mastodon works kinda lends it self to the old issue of jerk forum admins. If an instance owner doesn't like what you say for any reason they boot you off. They can also share that information with other instances to block you from going to those instances as well. Sure, you could start your ow…

> The idea that you should be able to shield or blind yourself to content is a flat out stupid one

I'm sure I must be misunderstanding this, because it sounds like you're saying "dick pics and other forms of harrassment are fine, you shouldn't even want to avoid them"? Can you explain what you actually mean, assuming that that isn't it?

Re: What is ActivityPub, and how will it change the internet?

#36

Post by Twisol » Mon, Sep 17, 2018, 10:36 PM UTC

pathseeker wrote: post #32

jklinger410 wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For those who were unaware what happened to Wil ( http://wilwheaton.net/2018/08/the-world-is-a-terrible-place-... )

It's honestly not surprising that someone so divisive in the start of the post (twitter being right-wing, "Shitler", etc) would attract a lot of problems. The guy is clearly a political troll so he's going to be poison to any community he joins where he posts like that.

This comment is a stunning example of Poe's law.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poe's_law

Re: What is ActivityPub, and how will it change the internet?

#37

Post by prolikewh0a » Mon, Sep 17, 2018, 10:49 PM UTC

jklinger410 wrote: post #18

mikedilger wrote: post #17

What could help Mastodon grow significantly is if the moderation on a large number of instances was toned down a bit. What happened to Wil Wheaton was a bit nuts. And conservative opinions are often banned due to being agressively labelled as hate or racist when they are usually not technically so. Most people don't want to be part of a social justice warrior authoritarian "fall in line or we will ban you" community.…

For those who were unaware what happened to Wil ( http://wilwheaton.net/2018/08/the-world-is-a-terrible-place-... )

Why do people like Wil blame Twitter for Alex Jones & Donald Trump? The only people being bothered are the people that want to be bothered. You can 1. Block people you don't want to see 2. Ignore it. Twitter is not forcing you to view pages you don't like. There are entire other extremely large groups of people that enjoy this stuff and are completely harmless.

Re: What is ActivityPub, and how will it change the internet?

#38

Post by CM30 » Mon, Sep 17, 2018, 10:50 PM UTC

MattJ100 wrote: post #30

hello_marmalade wrote: post #29

The idea that you should be able to shield or blind yourself to content is a flat out stupid one. Not to mention that the way Mastodon works kinda lends it self to the old issue of jerk forum admins. If an instance owner doesn't like what you say for any reason they boot you off. They can also share that information with other instances to block you from going to those instances as well. Sure, you could start your ow…

> Sure, you could start your own or join an instance that doesn't do that kinda stuff, but then what's the point of federation? That is exactly the point of federation. Maybe jerk admins are a real problem, maybe they aren't - but they can't boot you off the network, and you'll always have options.

It's like being involved in a real life hobby. Sure, one club or organisation can be jerks and kick you out for minor disagreements, but nothing stops you from joining another one or setting up your own.

Re: What is ActivityPub, and how will it change the internet?

#39

Post by whalesalad » Mon, Sep 17, 2018, 10:51 PM UTC

zeth___ wrote: post #28

Every community I know that's been started for the goal of 'protecting' some group has ended up as the most toxic tarpit imaginable. Mastodon seems to be headed in the same direction. Tone down the rhetoric of protecting peoples feelings and have actual human conversations instead. You will only attract the worst people from both sides of that debate if you keep it up. You just made me orders of magnitude less likely…

Agree. These isolated communities just serve to divide the world more. Mastodon is treating a symptom not a root cause. It’s one solution to the problem of humans being bad to each other: avoidance rather than fighting it head on.

Combine that with the product issues it has in regards to walling off people and ideas, the need to self host (so many wasted resources, not to mention the bar to running one is high), and the extremist admin issues.

ActivityPub is cool. Mastodon is gonna be a flash in the pan methinks. If the protocol catches on and services like Wordpress, Twitter, FB et all begin to adopt it then the individual instances are going to be less attractive.

Re: What is ActivityPub, and how will it change the internet?

#40

Post by prolikewh0a » Mon, Sep 17, 2018, 10:52 PM UTC

pathseeker wrote: post #32

jklinger410 wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For those who were unaware what happened to Wil ( http://wilwheaton.net/2018/08/the-world-is-a-terrible-place-... )

It's honestly not surprising that someone so divisive in the start of the post (twitter being right-wing, "Shitler", etc) would attract a lot of problems. The guy is clearly a political troll so he's going to be poison to any community he joins where he posts like that.

Even though I am in favor of social justice and equal rights and opportunity for all no matter what race, sexuality, gender you are, these social justice people that take things over the top are just as toxic as the other side. They poison communities just as much.