@staff I really am a supporter of free speech and free expression, but I *really* wish you would ban people posting homosexual pornography on your instance.

Gay pride is not about publishing gay pornography.

And it's especially a real pity because mastodon.social is a big instance and pretty central to the Mastodon corner of the Fediverse.

I really do not want to block your whole instance. But it's a real nuisance trying to Limit those accounts.

If people want to publish pornography of whatever kind, they really should join or create focused instances for that.

Don't we want to cultivate a more "family-friendly" environment that will attract a bigger public?

Uncensored pornography on Free Open Source Software networks is precisely what "Big Tech" points at when they say that only corporate social tools are child-safe. And yet we *know* that it's not the case.

It's already a certain workload moderating a Mastodon instance.

If we don't sandbox pornography, when why don't we allow gore and other offensive content?

I actually did a some six weeks of training as a moderator for Meta, so I do have some personal knowledge of the range of content you could be exposed to if nobody moderates anything.

#mastodon #pornography

Replying to @staff@mastodon.social

@staff mastodon.social is easily perceived by many newcomers as a central, general-purpose entry point into Mastodon and the wider Fediverse.

That gives it a particular responsibility.

A general-purpose public instance that carries the Mastodon brand up front in its domain name should not normalize exposure to pornography, regardless of orientation.

My opinion is that content warnings, sensitive-media blurring, and hashtags are not sufficient containment for pornography on "flagship" instances like mastodon.social, mastodon.world, et cetera.

Some content belongs behind warnings. Some belongs on specialist instances. Some should not be hosted at all.

In the case of mastodon.social and other flagship instances, it shouldn't be hosted at all.

I think that's a defensible viewpoint.

If other people are considered to have the right to publish pornography, which they do continually, I have the right to publish my reservations and opinions about it.

Or is "free speech" just for some people?

#mastodon #fediverse #pornography #moderation

Jul 5, 2026, 09:05 UTCen