Oops I did it again... published another paper about #Mastodon through the lens of the asstodon hashtag
This one's not very rosy, it's about how a motivated harasser had a lot of room to perpetrate harassment in a decentralized network where big servers were not very inclined to intervene ...
openjournals.uwaterloo.ca/inde…
Pin the tail on the researcher: From distributed to meshy accountability in decentralized social media
(English): This paper explores the potentials and perils of alternative social media, through a firsthand account of targeted harassment on a prominent decentralized social media network, Mastodon.openjournals.uwaterloo.ca
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tools for commensality 🧿
in reply to tools for commensality 🧿 • • •It's also worth noting that this was drafted about two years ago, and then split in two to make one paper about "lossy distribution" (firstmonday.org/ojs/index.php/…); I left the moderation parts on the cutting room floor
Then when the US election happened I became convinced this piece needed to come out, as how newcomers experience safety and moderation here is VERY IMPORTANT & we need non-US infrastructure more than ever
But it took almost a year to come out because academic publishing is slow...
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tools for commensality 🧿
in reply to tools for commensality 🧿 • • •Anyway i'm truly not sure when writing papers about sociality surrounding a donkey hashtag tips over into eccentricity in a bad way (presumably we are well past that point 😂)
HOWEVER, one of the things I hope this paper can do is keep hammering on points that Black users in particular have made for years about whose safety is and isn't prioritized in Mastodon (hopefully there will be continued improvement whether here or in other Fediverse apps) +
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sport of sacred spherical cows, Timnit Gebru (she/her)., May Likes Toronto, Debbie Goldsmith 🏳️⚧️♾️🇺🇦, GunChleoc, Robert W. Gehl and damon reshared this.
impermanen_ 🕊️
in reply to tools for commensality 🧿 • • •tools for commensality 🧿
in reply to tools for commensality 🧿 • • •Decentralized harassment is a challenging problem, one that is often (& rightly) examined at the scale of instance-to-instance relations. Here the perspective is that of an individual, complementary but not identical
I will say that my personal experience affected my feelings about who I could responsibly invite to join Mastodon. Settings that give users more control about who can interact, and how, are still needed (as well as all the work that happens at server-to-server level) +
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tools for commensality 🧿
in reply to tools for commensality 🧿 • • •I argue that the experience i had with harassment shows how there are FLOSS-y norms beneath the surface of the network, which inhibited robust accountability to users, a stance which I call "distributed accountability"
& I propose that network architects could think more about how to enact "meshy accountability" that acknowledges the holes and gaps of a decentralized network, but weaves points of self-conscious connection for moderators and users who want that
/fin (I think)
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tools for commensality 🧿
in reply to tools for commensality 🧿 • • •Oh, the paper link one more time!
"Pin the tail on the researcher: From distributed to meshy accountability in decentralized social media"
openjournals.uwaterloo.ca/inde…
(ETA: Oh, and sincere thanks to everyone who's both lent moral support & helped me navigate this situation, including offering insights about network architecture & features. I say that in the paper but I should post it here too 💛)
#Commodon #FLOSS #Mastodon #STS #MeshyAccountability #LocatedAccountability #FeministSTS
Pin the tail on the researcher: From distributed to meshy accountability in decentralized social media
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Timnit Gebru (she/her)., May Likes Toronto, teledyn 𓂀, Debbie Goldsmith 🏳️⚧️♾️🇺🇦, Djoerd Hiemstra 🍉, Robert W. Gehl and damon reshared this.
Malte Engeler
in reply to tools for commensality 🧿 • • •tools for commensality 🧿
in reply to Malte Engeler • • •Thanks for reading!
Ulrike Hahn
in reply to tools for commensality 🧿 • • •tools for commensality 🧿
in reply to Ulrike Hahn • • •Thanks, Ulrike!
Aaron Brick — אהרן בריק
in reply to tools for commensality 🧿 • • •Disturbing story. Good job summoning the dispassion needed to explain the structural features (macro and micro) enabling these unhappy outcomes.
I am reminded of the link David Golumbia drew between cryptocurrency libertarianism and right-wing, pro-business, anti-government goals.
tools for commensality 🧿
in reply to Aaron Brick — אהרן בריק • • •Thanks for reading and for saying this. I had mixed feelings about trying to publish it and cold feet at points, but the reception has been good, which helps--I don't mean as an ego boost but it sounds like some people have really appreciated the discussion of the dynamics.
I've read and cited a little of Golumbia on those topics but haven't read the full book which was later (maybe even released posthumously?); would still like to. You're right about underlying mores.
Rich Puchalsky ⩜⃝
in reply to tools for commensality 🧿 • • •It's too bad that Scott Eric Kaufmann is no longer with us (he died in 2016). He was an academic (literary, but with a lot of experience in these matters) who was the target of the first contact-your-employer campaign by an irate single person that I can remember, and he would have had something useful to say about this.
ETA: According to the doggerel "drinking song" I wrote about his troubles, his troll contacted everyone in his county's Email roll.
rpuchalsky.blogspot.com/2016/1…
Scott Eric Kaufman
rpuchalsky.blogspot.comRich Puchalsky ⩜⃝
in reply to Rich Puchalsky ⩜⃝ • • •I don't think I can really say anything useful about this; I agree that Mastodon clearly should be modified somehow in the ways you describe but whenever I try to understand the possibilities to do so I get lost in some description of how the protocol works.
It's a good paper.
Rich Puchalsky ⩜⃝
in reply to Rich Puchalsky ⩜⃝ • • •However, inability to say anything useful has never once stopped me from saying anything.
What this reminds me of is the struggle of anarchist groups to handle bad-doing in their communities without going to the police. "The police" in this analogy are the hired moderators of a conventional, centralized network, such as X. I see a lot of the same network behaviors involved.
I should probably write more in my own thread so I don't go on and on in your thread.
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May Likes Toronto
in reply to tools for commensality 🧿 • • •May Likes Toronto
Unknown parent • • •imp >:3
in reply to tools for commensality 🧿 • • •imp >:3
Unknown parent • • •yeah it made me reflect on my own experiences on the web over the years. I can't say I've experienced the worst...I didn't know people would go that far with hate in their heart. But I have been misled many times, enough to leave a mark on my psyche.
It's a very vulnerable thing to discuss, and I'm grateful I came across it 🦥🫶🏾
I hope you have a lovely day ✨
Mike P
in reply to tools for commensality 🧿 • • •Michael Foster
in reply to tools for commensality 🧿 • • •damon likes this.
tools for commensality 🧿
in reply to Michael Foster • • •thanks!!