It’s rough right now politically in the US. A lot of people around me seem like they’re ready to give up hope. It makes me incredibly angry seeing Zuck up there with all the other billionaires, and Elon is a parasite that has infected the government.

I often find myself wondering how I can make a difference. How can we regain control of our world?

Idk if I’m being dramatic, but the Fediverse really seems like it could be our response to these fuckers controlling the narrative on social media. It could be more than just an interesting decentralized social media platform. I really think this could be a key step in reclaiming our democracy.

Am I being dramatic lol? Do you all feel the same way? I was kinda getting emotional even. Like we could bring real change. That gives me hope, which is something we are desperately lacking right now.

It’s not just Lemmy. It makes me happy to see all the Fediverse platforms (specifically activity pub based) blowing up.

Friendly reminder if you have the financial means, donate to your instance, donate to the Lemmy devs, donate to Pixelfed or any other social media app fighting big social media. And better than a one-time donation, set up a monthly contribution even if it’s just $2/month. It really helps open-source developers when they have a steady income.

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[–] serpineslair 29 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Yes. The fediverse is a pretty difficult thing to be controlled by a single group: that's sorta the idea. I see it as almost a refuge from all the bullshit. The lack of ads, tracking, content farming, censorship and control etc is refreshing. Here's to hoping the fediverse continues to spread.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

There's plenty of censorship here though. Some instances are worse than others but even on a community basis, your average moderator is just some random dude who is free to remove your posts/comments and ban you just because they don't like something you said and there's not really anything you can do about it.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 23 hours ago (3 children)

Not all moderation = censorship 🙄 You play by the rules or you face the consequences. Nowhere on the planet are the consequence-free zones - at least not forever.

If you really want fediverse instance where absolutely everything is permitted, make it. I bet you after the first CP post you'll rethink your stand on "all moderation = censorship".

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 23 hours ago (2 children)

Yeah but there are a few notorious large instances that censor things that aren’t stated in their rules at all.

Like criticising china or russia will get you banned from the ML instances but their rules don’t mention that.

[–] serpineslair 1 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

But the point is, you have freedom to choose whatever instance and thus whatever level of moderation you want. I'm not saying censorship is impossible here, that's just not the argument. The thing is, you aren't locked in to the control of a specific group/owner/company. If you don't like the way things are being run, skip to somewhere else, or alternatively make your own instance.

For people who value freedom the most, you can choose a platform with less moderation, and thereby accepting the risks that come with it. For people who value a more safe, stable and curated platform, choose one with more/stricter moderation.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 hours ago (1 children)

You only have the freedom to choose if you have the freedom to be fully informed. If the instance you are on has “unofficial” rules they enforce, and they remove any comments of anyone discussing those “unofficial” rules. Then it is not moderation — but censorship.

[–] serpineslair 1 points 6 hours ago (1 children)

Yeah, I can totally see how that could be an issue. You're right, my bad. Just wondering if there is any way to truly beat censorship if this is the case?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 hours ago* (last edited 6 hours ago)

The decentralisation of the fediverse works well.

Ie. taking my previous example of lemmy.ml censoring any criticism of Russian and Chinese imperialism, under instance rule 1 which is basically “no bigotry”.

Well I’m not on lemmy.ml, and if I talk about it in non-lemmy.ml communities, lemmy.ml admins probably won’t bother banning me — that would be too much effort, so if a lemmy.ml user ventures to communities on other instances, they can learn about this censorship.

(sidenote: I wonder if [email protected] is blocked by ML admins, afaik it isn’t)

[–] [email protected] 2 points 20 hours ago

Oh yeah, for sure(I blocked the lemmy.ml and lemmygrad instance). But there is a difference between censorship and moderation.

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[–] [email protected] 0 points 21 hours ago

That's quite the number of assumptions you made there

[–] [email protected] -1 points 23 hours ago (2 children)

Not all moderation = censorship

It is, by definition.

[–] CMLVI 2 points 21 hours ago (1 children)

Let's not argue semantics and argue realistic uses of moderation.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

If you don't want to argue about it then don't bring it up.

[–] CMLVI 0 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

Lmao are you censoring me, telling me not to bring it up? Weak.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 13 hours ago* (last edited 13 hours ago) (1 children)

I told you not to bring it up because you said you didn't want to argue about it. Censorship would be if I removed your comment.

[–] CMLVI 1 points 12 hours ago (1 children)

Idk. Dictating what I can or can't say based on your personal beliefs seems an awful lot like an attempt to censor me. I can only speak if I'm willing to argue every single thing? Don't tread on me, bro.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 12 hours ago (1 children)

I think ydk. It really seems like you just want to argue about whatever you possibly can.

[–] CMLVI 1 points 11 hours ago

Lol coming from the one who started off with the "ackshually, by definition..." argument

[–] [email protected] 0 points 20 hours ago (1 children)

Do paste the definitions and sources here.

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

Help yourself.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 7 hours ago* (last edited 7 hours ago) (1 children)

No thank you. I'm not going to waste my time to try and find your made up definition of censorship.

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 hours ago* (last edited 4 hours ago)

Yeah I didn't think so. God forbid you actually learn something. Ignorance is bliss, I suppose.