Mastodon politics, safe spaces, and breaking the federation for fun and profit.
https://blog.xomg.net/mastodon-politics.html
@CobaltVelvet I'm curious, do your users know who/what you ban, or at least your general policy? If so, I think 90% of folks are already on board with you doing as you please, myself included.
The controversy, at least from my end, is admins censoring without disclosing this to users. That's using subterfuge to take away individuals' freedom of association. The issue isn't "banning is bad" but "tricking users is bad".
@HedgeMage I like transparency too, I've always published the instance's ideas and goals on its /about/more page, many people joined after reading it because they liked it. I can't really be much more open than that.
And as I don't have any authority outside of this instance, anyone is free to publish any criticism or conspiracy I'd be doing against someone.
@CobaltVelvet It sounds like you are being perfectly reasonable.
Certain instances featured in a number of articles get many newbs who don't know the landscape. They have a CoC but don't disclose that they silence/ban entire instances rather than misbehaving individuals. Their users generally seem to think they are seeing the whole fediverse minus some spam, which is not at all the case: they get a really distorted view instead. That's disingenuous at best.