this post was submitted on 02 May 2025
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What you are describing isn't "always disrespect", it's the messy work we all to have to do and tolerate for democracy & equity (vs 'the ease of a central dictatorship').
It's what has to stay at all times for us to remain free (& for some chance of equality in the long run).
I think we just have very different morals and views. What you consider "free" I consider a disrespectful and toxic place.
I understand the natural drawbacks of the federated system but pretty much all of the instances have the same issues. That means different views are defederated immediately which makes the whole system lose one of its advertised advantages that is lack of a biased algorithm. You don't need an algorithm if your instance only federates with pretty much the same ones. In fact, it's probably even worse. This makes any federated system basically only suitable for opinionated closed forums. The only difference is all the same ones are federated which increases convenience and engagement.
There's a compromise between a controlled social media and a federated system - a self-hostable system without federation support (Revolt uses it for example). One instance will always be the main one but anyone can create their own ones for both opinionated and general purpose communities. However the issue with that is low engagement on the less popular instances.
So ultimately a real social media service that is not a "central dictatorship" is practically impossible.
No, I wasn't talking about that at all.
I was saying that bcs we have different morals there can't be a singular monolithic dictatorship about it.
Megacorp social media isn't the sum of all it's users, it's whatever pays more.
And with fediverse you gain the power of choice & fairness.
If you want to join a toxic cesspool instance, then so be it, if you want you can be in an instance that blocks that, or in a third altogether instance.
(There are also filters that have a bit of growing to do tho.)
But most importantly, if your instance is "toxic" (as you made an example) you can change it & still use the same service/software. With Twatter & BlueSky you are persuaded to adjust your morals to fit the norm or lose the service.
I don't agree Revolt is a good example of Mastodon type social media, it's not for that.
But I def agree fediverse is still technically growing & needs smart filters, filter groups, etc. Basically your own simple way too sub-defederate from stuff you don't like.