Burnout Café Admin

We are living through a period of serious conflict and political instability. In times like these, Free and independent spaces such as Mastodon matter more than ever.

That also means we need to think carefully about how we protect them.

Soon, it's going to be shields up, guys.

Hostile governments, commercial media, and Big Tech already look for excuses to portray independent social networks as unsafe, irresponsible, or impossible to regulate. One of the tools they are likely to use is age verification, especially where adult content is concerned.

This is not about attacking LGBT+ people, sex workers, artists, or adults who share consensual adult material. Nor is it about pretending that sexuality is shameful. It is about making sure our communities are moderated responsibly, legally defensible, and safe for people who did not consent to seeing explicit material - especially minors.

The Fediverse needs a defensible position: clear content warnings, proper moderation, separation of adult spaces from general public spaces, respect for consent, and protection for vulnerable communities.

We should not allow opponents of Free social networks to use poorly-handled adult content as a weapon against political speech, minority communities, activists, journalists, and ordinary people who need independent online spaces.

The goal should not be moral panic. The goal should be resilience.

We need to keep our house in order so we can defend what really matters: freedom of expression, political independence, privacy, democracy, and the right of targeted communities to exist openly and safely.

@staff
@ruud
@jeroen
@bannanaente.mastodon.world
@paul
@solarbranka
@mwadmin
@sokian
@Rooki
@SigurdVie
@Gargron

Nous vivons une période de conflits graves et d’instabilité politique. Dans des moments comme celui-ci, les espaces libres et indépendants comme Mastodon sont plus importants que jamais.

Cela signifie aussi que nous devons réfléchir sérieusement à la manière de les protéger.

Bientôt, ce sera : boucliers levés, les amis.

Les gouvernements hostiles, les médias commerciaux et les grandes plateformes du numérique cherchent déjà des prétextes pour présenter les réseaux sociaux indépendants comme dangereux, irresponsables ou impossibles à réguler. L’un des outils qu’ils risquent d’utiliser est la vérification de l’âge, en particulier lorsqu’il est question de contenus pour adultes.

Il ne s’agit pas d’attaquer les personnes LGBT+, les travailleuses et travailleurs du sexe, les artistes, ni les adultes qui partagent du contenu adulte consensuel. Il ne s’agit pas non plus de prétendre que la sexualité serait honteuse. Il s’agit de faire en sorte que nos communautés soient modérées de manière responsable, juridiquement défendables, et sûres pour les personnes qui n’ont pas consenti à voir du contenu explicite — en particulier les mineurs.

Le Fédiverse a besoin d’une position défendable : des avertissements de contenu clairs, une modération appropriée, une séparation entre les espaces adultes et les espaces publics généraux, le respect du consentement, et la protection des communautés vulnérables.

Nous ne devons pas permettre aux adversaires des réseaux sociaux libres d’utiliser une mauvaise gestion des contenus adultes comme une arme contre la parole politique, les minorités, les activistes, les journalistes et les personnes ordinaires qui ont besoin d’espaces en ligne indépendants.

L’objectif ne doit pas être la panique morale. L’objectif doit être la résilience.

Nous devons garder notre maison en ordre afin de défendre ce qui compte vraiment : la liberté d’expression, l’indépendance politique, la vie privée, la démocratie, et le droit des communautés ciblées à exister ouvertement et en sécurité.

cc: @Yeichiel_Om_Intl @staff @Gargron

@puppygirlhornypost2 @staff @bachimusprime

Why are gore and execution videos any less acceptable than gay or other pornography?

And if you allow gay or whatever other kind of pornography, then why not allow a lot of other things?

It's a debatable point as to whether pornography is harmful and unhealthy.

But it's uncensored presence is certainly one of the reasons why networks like Mastodon are not going to become "mainstream" anytime soon.

Mastodon is not considered a "safe" environment for many people.

@bachimusprime @staff If we don't sandbox pornography, why should we not allow gore and other content that YOU would probably find offensive?

No, I definitely stand by what I'm saying.

@Yeichiel_Om_Intl @staff @Gargron We are living through a period of serious conflict and political instability. In times like these, Free and independent spaces such as Mastodon matter more than ever.

That also means we need to think carefully about how we protect them.

Soon, it's going to be shields up, guys.

Hostile governments, commercial media, and Big Tech already look for excuses to portray independent social networks as unsafe, irresponsible, or impossible to regulate. One of the tools they are likely to use is age verification, especially where adult content is concerned.

This is not about attacking LGBT+ people, sex workers, artists, or adults who share consensual adult material. Nor is it about pretending that sexuality is shameful. It is about making sure our communities are moderated responsibly, legally defensible, and safe for people who did not consent to seeing explicit material — especially minors.

The Fediverse needs a defensible position: clear content warnings, proper moderation, separation of adult spaces from general public spaces, respect for consent, and protection for vulnerable communities.

We should not allow opponents of Free social networks to use poorly-handled adult content as a weapon against political speech, minority communities, activists, journalists, and ordinary people who need independent online spaces.

The goal should not be moral panic. The goal should be resilience.

We need to keep our house in order so we can defend what really matters: freedom of expression, political independence, privacy, democracy, and the right of targeted communities to exist openly and safely.

@Yeichiel_Om_Intl @staff @Gargron Nous vivons une période de conflits graves et d’instabilité politique. Dans des moments comme celui-ci, les espaces libres et indépendants comme Mastodon sont plus importants que jamais.

Cela signifie aussi que nous devons réfléchir sérieusement à la manière de les protéger.

Bientôt, ce sera : boucliers levés, les amis.

Les gouvernements hostiles, les médias commerciaux et les grandes plateformes du numérique cherchent déjà des prétextes pour présenter les réseaux sociaux indépendants comme dangereux, irresponsables ou impossibles à réguler. L’un des outils qu’ils risquent d’utiliser est la vérification de l’âge, en particulier lorsqu’il est question de contenus pour adultes.

Il ne s’agit pas d’attaquer les personnes LGBT+, les travailleuses et travailleurs du sexe, les artistes, ni les adultes qui partagent du contenu adulte consensuel. Il ne s’agit pas non plus de prétendre que la sexualité serait honteuse. Il s’agit de faire en sorte que nos communautés soient modérées de manière responsable, juridiquement défendables, et sûres pour les personnes qui n’ont pas consenti à voir du contenu explicite — en particulier les mineurs.

Le Fédiverse a besoin d’une position défendable : des avertissements de contenu clairs, une modération appropriée, une séparation entre les espaces adultes et les espaces publics généraux, le respect du consentement, et la protection des communautés vulnérables.

Nous ne devons pas permettre aux adversaires des réseaux sociaux libres d’utiliser une mauvaise gestion des contenus adultes comme une arme contre la parole politique, les minorités, les activistes, les journalistes et les personnes ordinaires qui ont besoin d’espaces en ligne indépendants.

L’objectif ne doit pas être la panique morale. L’objectif doit être la résilience.

Nous devons garder notre maison en ordre afin de défendre ce qui compte vraiment : la liberté d’expression, l’indépendance politique, la vie privée, la démocratie, et le droit des communautés ciblées à exister ouvertement et en sécurité.

To the admins of mastodon.social and mastodon.world:

I respectfully ask you to consider amending your Server Rules to prohibit the publication of pornography on your instances.

Flagship Mastodon instances such as mastodon.social and mastodon.world are easily perceived by many newcomers as central, general-purpose entry points into Mastodon and the wider Fediverse. That gives those flagship sites a particular responsibility.

Flagship general-purpose instances should not normalize unexpected exposure to pornography, regardless of orientation.

Pornography is commonly considered by many people to be harmful, offensive or inappropriate in general-purpose public spaces. People who want to view, publish or discuss pornography can already do so on other instances that allow it, or on dedicated adult-focused instances where users knowingly choose that environment.

Content warnings, sensitive-media blurring and hashtags are not sufficient containment for pornography on large general-purpose instances. In practice, many users who publish pornography do not reliably apply content warnings, sensitive-media settings or suitable hashtags, and other users who do not want to be exposed to that content can still encounter it unexpectedly.

There is also a legal and regulatory issue. In Germany and the UK, for instance, legal adult pornography is not simply prohibited online, but making pornography publicly accessible to minors without effective age-gating or age assurance is heavily restricted and may be unlawful or legally non-compliant. Large public social-media instances should not rely on ordinary Mastodon content warnings or media blurring as if they were equivalent to age verification.

For those reasons, I ask you to consider changing the server rules to prohibit pornography on mastodon.social and mastodon.world, rather than merely requiring it to be marked as sensitive.

This would not be anti-sex, anti-LGBT, anti-expression or anti-Fediverse. It would simply recognize that large general-purpose onboarding instances have a different role from adult-focused communities. A general-purpose flagship instance should be safe and predictable for ordinary users, including people who do not consent to unexpected exposure to pornography.

@staff
@ruud
@jeroen
@bannanaente.mastodon.world
@paul
@solarbranka
@mwadmin
@sokian
@Rooki
@SigurdVie
@Gargron

#mastodon #fediverse #pornography #moderation

@Gargron I ask you, Eugen, because I really don't think that allowing the publication of pornography on flagship instances like mastodon.social and mastodon.world is advancing the causes that were in your heart when you wrote the Mastodon software.

Mastodon is seen by many to be "your baby".

And thank you again for having brought it to us.

But pornography can be published on other servers, just not on Mastodon's flagship servers (yeah, that post was from mastodon.world - my mistake - but I do see plenty of such posts from mastodon.social as well).

Please consider banning the publication of pornography on mastodon.social

And since you're almost certainly very influential with the administrators of mastodon.world, please consider encouraging them to adopt the same policy.

Thank you for your time reading, and have a fine Sunday afternoon. 🙂

@petererer @Gargron They are both central to the Mastodon project.

I really don't thing you all should be telling me just to "let it roll past".

This is not acceptable content for flagship Mastodon instances like mastodon.social and mastodon.world

This is not really what you want Big Media and The Government to think we really stand for.

I love Free Software and the Fediverse. I spend not-inconsiderable time and money every month running Free public-service tools and websites.

I also have a right to free speech. And a right to protection for me and my children.

How about it, Eugen? @Gargron

#mastodon #fediverse #pornography #moderation

@en3py @staff @Gargron See below? This is what I object to.

I operate my own instance at Burnout Café, so I already do my own moderation.

But the thing is that I don't want to simply block the entire mastodon.social instance because it's one of the biggest (or even actually the biggest?)

There are many interesting accounts to follow on mastodon.social But also plenty of trash like what's quoted below, as illustration of what I'm saying.

This does not present a positive image of the Mastodon network. Mastodon will NEVER go mainstream until you sandbox this kind of content.

The person who posted this may or may not be in compliance with law. And I defend his right to be gay.

But many people would qualify this to be offensive, harmful, undesirable content. For children and vulnerable people, this is harmful content.

And I really don't thing it is "Gay Pride" stands for.

#mastodon #fediverse #pornography #moderation

And there was no CW on that, guys.

This does not present a positive

@Iveyline @PixelRobot Erm... Wot? With him or me? 😂

Correct. You only read part of the entire sentence, which actually stated the contrary.

But there's very little moderation on Mastodon. I actually got a reply from @staff and he/she/they didn't even fully read what I said, before making a knee-jerk reply.😄

People on Mastodon get banned with no appeal. Multiple instances have now blocked my whole server, not just my account, with no consideration of *my* free speech.

There is plenty of violent content and speech on Mastodon - I know! I've been a target for it over the past hours.

And "wild discrimination"? Try speaking out against pornography and see what you get!
Bigotry, trolling, brigading, insults, distortion, misquoting... 😂

So, yes, maybe you misread.🙂

@EddiDoUms You're just gaslighting me 😉 Go back, read properly what I said, think about it and understand what the real actual meaning was.

Then please stop trolling me. 😄

#trolling #astroturfing #brigading

Well, it's been a real eye opener for me too! So many hostile attacks! And so many bigoted, reactionary posts from people who didn't actually read, or didn't fully read, what I said in the first place.

And all of them supporting "free speech", yet failing to recognize that I also have a right to free speech. 😂

All I said is that mastodon.social should not be allowing the publishing of pornography.

And see all the hate speech, personal attacks, foul language and insults that got me! 😎

Not to mention the disinformation: people who totally misquoted what I really said.

I didn't really feel anyone recognizing my right to free speech. 😂

I disagree. You support free speech, right? So I have the right to repeat that Gay Rights do not necessarily include the right to publish pornography.

The right to publish pornography is not actually a central demand of the Gay Rights movement, as far as I know. 😄

There are actually gay people who are quite conservative in their views about that.

The "server rules" (or "code of conduct") on Burnout Café have been updated.

They're basically the same as before, but with some additions and alterations to take account of the fact that artificial intelligence is now a factor in everyday life.

You can read them at:

https://burnout.cafe/about