ASM Update for November 8, 2024

08 Nov 2024 - Robert W. Gehl

ASM updates are back! Now that I’m done drafting my book, I want to get back to doing this regularly.

In this ASM update, here are three things that caught my eye this week. Well, besides that other big thing that happened this week.

This has been edited to fix an error.

On #Fediblock

One of the most used hashtags on the fediverse is #fediblock. Created by Marcia X and Ginger, that hashtag is essential for admins who want to learn about problematic accounts and instances. But the history of fediblock is not well-known. Now, Marcia X has written a short history to help shed some light. We learn it came out of personal experience: “I started the tag so that bad actors doing quite obvious trolling or isms could just easily posted about to other people with whom I didn’t share a server with could see. Like a serial misogynistic harasser. There were no set rules put in place.”

Flatlining?

Jon Pincus argues that the ActivityPub fediverse [edit: my mistake!] Mastodon is flatlining, particularly in relation to Bluesky. He puts the blame on the main Mastodon project, hoping that it changes for the better: “Whether or not there’s a hard fork, the same opportunities are there for the official Mastodon project if its direction and leadership structure evolves. The official project has some big advantages – including funding – so let’s hope that happens. And it’s not an either-or situation; forks don’t have to be hostile, and there are lots of potential synergies if they can work together effectively (as well as challenges).”

But Just Say ‘No’ to Bluesky

And yet, Cory Doctorow notes that he’s not going to ever use Bluesky. “I will never again devote my energies to building up an audience on a platform whose management can sever my relationship to that audience at will.”

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