Hey, all. So, I think that it's important that some critical mass of Fediverse servers has some basic set of moderation policies -- like no racism, no antisemitism, no transphobia, no gore, CWs on nudity and sex, and so on.

I think it's more important that instances have the latitude to change their policies. Every community should have an absolute right to choose its own path. As long as the rest of us can block, and laws apply.

So, I'd say more different than same.

@evan For this network to succeed, every instance needs the exact rules required for its unique membership.

Offline operates the same way. A library, a dinner party, a nightclub all set different rules to serve their particular needs.

Diversity of policy is a natural outcome of diversity of people. Helping communities define and enforce their own boundaries is a core goal for IFTAS.

If some find guidance by referring to peer/trusted instances, great. If not, also great.

@evan Basic common decency, and beyond that, custom for their intended memberships.

@evan I don't understand the poll.

"Is A more important than B" is a yes/no question, not a "mostly A" question.

The poll options are different sides of the same die. One isn't more important than another - by definition they're all different takes on the same question and equally important.

I think it's important that servers have different moderation policies because the whole point of the structure is to enable self-organizing relationships based on moderation policies that establish and enforce group culture.

As long as policies differ, federation (and lack thereof) will self-organize servers into clusters with roughly similar culture - roughly similar notions of what is and is not acceptable.

This creates social groups where people know what to expect and minimizes within-group disruption and bad behavior, while recognizing and supporting the diversity of the users' needs and expectations.

In order for this to work at all, each server must be free to determine its own moderation policy, its own acceptable behavior, and its own position on the continuum. Only then will it find the cluster that its culture fits best with.

I think there needs to be room for a wide variety of moderation policies, but I think it's most important that there not be any kind of "official policy" on the subject because otherwise (a) the self-organizing piece will fail and (b) we introduce enormous opportunities for political capture, power consolidation, and manipulation.

@evan i think communities need to be able to moderate in accordance to their needs, and realistically i'd hope that the moderation policies of most well-intending communities are generally reasonably compatible, but when they're not it's probably best for everyone involved if they don't federate with one another.

@evan What's the point of other instances existing if every instance follow the same mod policies ? That's just... idk, boring.

That's like going to a friend's or relative's house but they also have the same exact 1 to 1 rules from back home.

It'd be alright if all instances follow a general set of rules, then it's up instance admins to add whatever rules they want.

#mastodon #fediverse #moderation #instance

@evan I think it's very important for instances to be able to have their own policies, even though it means more complexity. Not everyone has the same moderation needs and wants, so it's good for people to have options.

That said, maybe there could be a basic set of rules that apply, like "no bigotry" and "no abuse", etc. Not every instance would have to follow it, but instances that do could mark themselves as such so that other instances and users who don't want bigotry or abuse could know they can safely federate with it.

@evan the fediverse is anarchy in the best sense! Everyone can have their own rules. If you don't like those rules you don't have to interact with them!

@evan

people vary enough such that diff moderation policies are needed. also one mod policy could then be captured by one person or group. what's allowed on your server should be managed however the people there decide etc.

but if we want to grow, we need a good norm for how we federate. that also affects our experience. a sense that users expressing moderate or conservative views can get your server fediblocked deters joining. the web has shown going beyond moderating trolls is unnecessary.