It actually would be a good thing. Pariah instances are how the fediverse will have to moderate itself, and these people have shown themselves to be incapable of playing well with others. I purposely avoided joining any of their subs because I saw how toxic their influence was on reddit.
If you look at peertube, there’s one instance that hosts Steven Crowder and Alex Jones and like two other people who I assume are lesser demons of some kind. I would avoid any instance that doesn’t have the good sense to defederate from that one. This is a similar thing. I doubt the tankies are going to be on the popular side of the schism if it happens, they would have an echo chamber and we would be rid of them.
The thing about an echo chamber like that is that thanks to the public nature of federation status, it would be obvious who the pariah instances are, so anyone still there would be made aware that they are the minority, not the voice of the people in any way. That’s something that takes longer to notice in a forum like truth social. The numbers might be there for people to see, but it’s a different platform so you can say there’s a slow adoption rate or something, like you can say about Lemmy. With pariah instances there is a direct and obvious comparison, and people have left because your instance fucked up. That’s going to drive all but the most hardcore folks away to other instances.
I welcome diversity of opinion. I may accidentally learn something. If I find a poster or instance I find particularly distasteful, I can block them. No need to censor unless it’s human trafficking, CSA., gore, and especially the American exceptionalist vote blue/maga stuff.
I’m not particularly into right or left wing authoritarianism, but I enjoy learning something beyond typical American propaganda.
This isn’t about diversity of opinion. I will happily talk to a tankie and explain why I think they are wrong, unless they’re a toxic asshole in which case I will simply point out that fact. The problem is when tankies get in charge of forums they behave like toxic assholes, and then yeah, I think we should ditch that forum.
I don’t think you understand just how persistent these people can be, Internet Communist is their personality. The last time I looked, all their memes were thinly veiled jabs at capitalism, or the US, or about their politics in some way, they find a way to shoehorn it into every single conversation.
They’re also in support of almost everything Russia does, including invading their neighbours, and opposed to everything the US does.
They’re awful, they’re abrasive, and they get everywhere.
ooh i never knew about the crowder/jones peertube thing, thanks for this analysis!
also for those downvoting you, it’s not really even an echo chamber. my instance defederates both, nevertheless i hear about shit that goes down on .ml literally daily, same as i am still well aware of the latest on crowder and jones.
defederation literally just means i’m spared the curse of having to deal with the shit firsthand. i still have no lack of understanding of the positions involved.
Then block the instance for yourself. If I get tied of it, I can do that for myself. No reason you should be my Internet guardian.
