Is there a way to shop around for a Lemmy instance based on how many instances are blocking it and how many instances it’s blocking? For example, I noticed that the lemmygrad.ml instance is relatively popular, but it seems like a lot of other instances block it. It also blocks a bunch of other instances. So, if there are any communities on there that might be relevant to me then I would be missing out. I guess I could just create an account on a walled instance, but I would prefer not to keep creating accounts. I’d like to just find one instance that maximizes my access. Is the answer to just run my own instance?
tbh, there is no such instance. Not blocking any other instances is often a reason to be blocked by other instances.
An instance that blocks no one is in effect a “free” speech instance that prioritises the right to be bigoted over the need to provide safe spaces for folk. And that means that instances that value the need for safe spaces over “free” speech are going to block the instances that don’t block anyone else as a means of creating and maintaining that safe space.
Hmm? Do instances automatically block other instances if they don’t block certain other ones?
I self host an instance. I haven’t blocked anyone yet as I just sub to communities that aren’t bigoted.
Nah, if you’re using your instance as an essentially private one, you’re not about to be blocked. If you’re running communities on it that run counter to the basic ideals of other communities, you’ll probably find yourself losing some federation however.
I run my own, and I’m not blocking anything yet because, honestly, I just won’t be vising ones I’m not interested in. I’ll probably block a few if I see things coming out of them that I really don’t want to see, but at this point it doesn’t affect anyone else.
Some decently sized Mastodon instances introduced a policy like this. “Unless you use my blacklist, you are defederated by default”. In practice, it means that those few instances are an isolated clique that only talk to each other. In my experience, those cliques are toxic, so it’s no big loss if you’re not able to contact them. But of course I hope this behavior doesn’t come to Lemmy.
I can see the issue but at the same time is scary. In the future this thing could be bad. Like who is drawing the line and where?
Some folks think that defederation is a bad thing. OK.
Here’s a little experiment you can try at home.
- Stop using GMail, Hey, or whatever email service you’re currently using.
- Set up your own mail server (there’s instructions on the internet).
- When the instructions say to use a Remote Black List just ignore them.
- When the instructions say to validate domains, ignore those too.
- When the instructions say to set up SPF, DKIM, and DMARC just let those slide.
- Try to send / receive email
- Also try to read your inbox. For added benefit turn on all notifications for received mail.
Voila. Now you have an unfettered email experience.
And this, class, is why defederation is useful.
Please send your comments to the overworked TA in the back of the room.
probably not, but you’d get the same amount of horrible stuff as you’d get if you turned off all the security precautions on an email server. the point i’m making here by quoting Maloney is that blocking is a security precaution. less is more, and by joining an instance that doesn’t block anyone, you’re exposing yourself to a lot of terrible stuff. besides, instances that don’t block get blocked themselves, so horrible stuff would be all you’d see
If instance ‘A’ has already blocked instance ‘B’, what does it matter to ‘A’ whether or not any other instances have also blocked ‘B’? Would the admin have to go far out of their way to block the instances that don’t block ‘B’ or is there a way to do it automatically?
Edit: apparently lemmygrad is much worse than I realized
The only caveat I have to this is that being communist shouldn’t be an automatic block. Lemmy.ml doesn’t block lemmygrad and I see no reason why it should, the posts I see are like “wow capitalism is fucking us up” not like “Tiananmen did nothing wrong and let’s repeat it x1000” so it really doesn’t seem comparable to proactively blocking Nazis. If you block “both sides” of a violent conflict like, say, the war in Ukraine, you’ve suddenly blocked everyone with a useful opinion.
U might want to take a look at the federation map. It might be a bit overwhelming but in the settings on the bottom left you may chose blocked and allowed in order to get some insights on who federates with whom.
Oh wow what did lemmygrad.ml do?
They’re just generally annoying. They’re tankies, constantly praising Putin and the CCP.
I hate linking you to reddit but this post came to mind Choosing an instance; and my issues with lemmygrad
Be mindlessly propagandistic “communist.” The countries they fawn over aren’t even particularly communist, they’re just authoritarian. Russia in particular is run by capitalist oligarchs.
It’s just tiresome and pointless engaging with them.
@rrpeak@feddit.de linked one reddit post while I was searching for this one, so here it is anyway:
And here’s the OG mastodon post from fedi.tips:
https://mstdn.social/@feditips/106835057054633379
Make sure to “Show More” on each post in the thread, including the replies. I thought it was all spamming the same post for a minute, lol.
I don’t have the answer but I share your sentiment.
One thing I hated about reddit is the mods would ban you for participating on certain subs. For instance, I got banned from r/WhitePeopleTwitter for commenting in a r/Conservative thread. (I was actually disagreeing with someone, but that’s neither here nor there.)
The Fediverse feels like a worse version of that phenomenon. Entire communities are blocked off from each other by the admins of the instance. I fear that Lemmy might become a disjointed group of echo-chambers. Some might argue that reddit already is.
I don’t think that your concerns will happen. As the fediverse could be easy replicated and it is no problem to run an own instance federating with whatever you want AND be part of the rest.
My guess is that we will see more instances with different tastes if I may call it this.
By using tools like kbin you are also free to assamble the fediverse you want without the need to follow a single instance only.
can an instance have only 1 community for support and then have no content of its own? I believe that many already do (or near to it). This would likely be the recipe for blocking the least and being blocked the least.
