Aral Balkan
Oh, nice, looks like the Fosstodon instance (@fosstodon) blocked my profile.
https://fosstodon.org/@JoshStrobl/110688888195898758
I guess it tells you more about “FOSS”todon than anything else that they chose to block a human rights activist/privacy advocate who wakes up and works at a not-for-profit on free and open software every day. Maybe if I were to work at Google and hack on a hobby open source project in the evenings I’d be acceptable?
*smh*
Aral Balkan
So if you’re on Fosstodon and you thought you were following me, you’re not. Fosstodon has silenced my account.
You might be able to follow if you manually try following again.
Or maybe consider switching to a FOSS server that doesn‘t silence FOSS developers.
(Please boost if you haven’t been silenced by Fosstodon also so folks there might see. Thanks.)
#fosstodon #censorship #fediverse #mastodon #freeSoftware #openSource #privacy #SmallTech #SmallWeb
Aral Balkan
@maegul Your guess is as good as mine.
maegul
@aral so if you don’t mind my asking, as someone not enough in the know, why did they do this?
Aral Balkan
@dick_turpin No idea. I was never told anything.
dick_turpin
@aral So what did you say (write) to get yourself placed on the naughty step?
Aral Balkan
@JoshStrobl 🤷♂️
Joshua Strobl
@aral @fosstodon Is it possible there was just enough reports against your account / posts that you were blocked as a result, even if the reports date back years? I find @kev and co to be reasonable individuals and would hesitate to attribute malice. Fosstodon is an incredibly popular Mastodon instance, with a big user base, so I would wager some mistakes just happen during the process of administrating it.
Aral Balkan
@dick_turpin Hopefully only if they deserved it.
dick_turpin
@aral I bet you made someone cry. 🤣
Aral Balkan
@emanuel Just edited the post to make it clear I was silenced not suspended. Not that that’s great but important to be precise. I’ll update the other post to make it clear that that hasn’t caused people to unfollow. (I was confused because someone said they had to re-follow.)
Emanuel Pina
@aral @fosstodon I'm on Fosstodon and could, and still can, see your posts. Do you have confirmation that they have limited your account? Do instances have a public log of limited accounts? I have @kev and @mike as very reasonable and transparent. Hope we can get this straight.
Aral Balkan
Note: edited to make it clear that I was silenced not suspended.
Apparently that doesn’t make people unfollow you but it means that your posts do not show up in people’s timelines if they’re boosted there, etc.
So, basically, folks on Fosstodon are not made to unfollow me but I’m censored there.
Aral Balkan
@Mehrad See https://mastodon.ar.al/@JoshStrobl@fosstodon.org/110688888283508243
Mehrad :kde: :emacs: :rstats:
@aral @JoshStrobl @fosstodon @kev no it is not. I don't understand why you and others are saying this.
Aral Balkan
@Mehrad Are you following @doot? If so, sign out and visit the page.
This is what I see.
Mehrad :kde: :emacs: :rstats:
@aral @JoshStrobl @fosstodon @kev i also posted under another such claim which obviously is not true (because I can see both your posts and interact)
Aral Balkan
Well it looks like my account is not silenced anymore on Fosstodon?
e.g., Access https://fosstodon.org/@aral@mastodon.ar.al/110688917334196615 while signed out and you should be able to see it.
Hiccup?
Policy reversal?
🤷♂️
Any idea what happened here, @fosstodon?
Aral Balkan
@Mehrad Looks like I’ve been (un)silenced?
Mehrad :kde: :emacs: :rstats:
@aral @JoshStrobl @fosstodon @kev yes, I see his post and I don't see what he sees. That simple. There is something wrong, sure, but it is not what you claimed it to be because I'm from the same instance and I saw your posts in my wall (that's how I found out and replied)
Aral Balkan
@jan No idea. I was apparently silenced and now I’m apparently not… 🤷♂️
Jan
@aral fosstodon is the new closetodon?
Aral Balkan
@kim_harding Yep, I can access it too now. I guess I was unsilenced 🤷♂️
kim_harding ✅
@aral
Odd @fosstodon
Aral Balkan
@emanuel Yep, looks like my account is no longer silenced.
Emanuel Pina
@aral @fosstodon More. Even when logged out, I can see your latest post on the public federated timeline: http://fosstodon.org/public
Aral Balkan
@evapavlikova Nope.
Eva Pavlikova
@aral and did they tell you why? Did you get any message on it?
Moon
Machismo
Aral Balkan
@niko @fosstodon 🤷♂️
Niko :comunismo:
@aral @fosstodon probably because your ideas are close to communism and speak to communists like me and others? 😂 beeep, beeep, anticommunist alarm! ⚠️
Andy McGuire 🐕
@aral @fosstodon weirdly if I try and load your profile in a browser via fosstodon it redirects me to your profile on ar.al ? I don't think that used to happen?
Aral Balkan
@asjmcguire @fosstodon Odd. Clearly some things are happening. No idea what or why :)
Andy McGuire 🐕
@aral @fosstodon for what it's worth - it's not loading in the UK right now. Not your profile - the entire site. Took ages to do anything and then got something went wrong on our end.
Aral Balkan
@kev Thanks for the update, Kev. Any idea why it was limited?
Is it policy to inform people when their accounts are silenced on your instance? Because it feels a lot like shadow banning otherwise.
Kev Quirk
@aral ah, I found it - your account was limited like 6 months ago but it seems folk have only noticed in the last day or so. That’s why I couldn’t see it in the logs.
The limitation was lifted last night, so you should be good now.
Kev Quirk
@aral I’ve checked your account and it hasn’t been limited in any way from what I can see. Are you certain it was limited? How did you come to find this out?
There’s nothing in the moderation audit log and the last report we received for your account was around 6 months ago, so there was nothing actionable to limit your account.
Aral Balkan
@IncredulousMike @fosstodon Oh, it’s their server; they can do whatever they like.
But others are also free to interpret those actions as they see fit and decide whether or not they want to be governed by those rules and how they are applied.
Actions having consequences applies both ways.
Mike
@aral @fosstodon Maybe no one told the Fosstodon admins that because you're a human rights activist/privacy advocate who wakes up and works at a not-for-profit on free and open software every day that their rules just don't apply to you and you can say and do whatever you like and they can't ever do anything or risk your ire?
Aral Balkan
@kkarhan 🤷♂️
Kevin Karhan :verified:
@aral I just wounder why #Fosstodon would so so, since you ain't some asshole like "ioerror" or god forbid RMS...
Nuno & Lua :DsaprvingLua:
@aral @maegul given their CoC I would guess that has something to do with their anti-advocacy stance or rule on "controversial" posts, I mean it's their server but 🤦
Edit: added screenshots
Aral Balkan
@apples_and_pears Indeed, it would appear so in this instance anyway.
Dave
@aral Their loss. Don't let a server name throw you. An instance name is nothing more than a unique identifier.
Aral Balkan
@IncredulousMike Right, good to know. Goodbye.
Mike
@aral Well, for the record, this is what it looks like to me. Ever seen one of those videos with a tired looking highway patrol officer giving a speeding ticket to someone screaming, "Don't you know who I am??!?" That's this in a nutshell.
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