Mastodon politics, safe spaces, and breaking the federation for fun and profit.
https://blog.xomg.net/mastodon-politics.html
@CobaltVelvet email is federated just as #Mastodon is. All (sane) hosts ensure "positive delivery" within the network. That's why we have spam folders. It ensures that even an incorrectly marked message gets delivered to its intended recipient and no information is lost. Given that precedent, federation works best when every named recipient gets their messages no matter what.
@profoundlynerdy But that's just wrong, nearly all common and business e-mail hosts directly discard part of the incoming spam or don't even allow mail from the most spammy networks. Whole ranges are completely blacklisted by most existing e-mail hosts, and some ISPs block outgoing SMTP ports because of botnets.
We too have some completely blacklisted instances that we don't want to interact with at all and some just silenced that people can still follow if they want.
@CobaltVelvet That's correct for bulk senders of unsolicited advertisement or fraudulent material. Those are both variously criminal.
Senders are not subject to *viewpoint* discrimination by the email network itself. Nobody ends up on a RTBL because of their personal opinions, however condemnable.
@profoundlynerdy I don't ban whole instances for just opinions. Harassment is criminal. So is variously hate speech outside of USA and threatening people.
Instances are blocked for endorsing these variously criminal acts under the name of free speech.
@profoundlynerdy That's the exact moment where I link you that article I just wrote that answers exactly that.
I completely agree with you, but not on my instance. This is for peaceful people to be happy and respectful.
@CobaltVelvet You are correct, if a persistent (not one-off) communication raises to the level of harassment under the law. Besides, you can block me easily if you don't like what I say.
Hate speech is too valuable to lose. Such pathologies as baseless hatred need to be studied and understood. Further, if it's not baseless, it's neither bigotry not hate speech. As a student of history, I much more fear the one-party echo chamber.