Burnout Café Admin@admin@burnout.cafe
Discussion of pornography moderation

No, I don't think hashtags, content warnings and blurring images is enough on servers like mastodon.social, which carry the Mastodon brand up front in their name.

Those servers will better promote Mastodon and the rest of the Fediverse if they don't expose people to pornography, which many people would qualify as harmful, unhealthy or undesirable content.

Mastodon is free software, and you're free to go set up your own server centered around whatever content or topics you like.

But Mastodon's flagship servers should be safe for people of all ages (including children), including vulnerable and sensitive people.

#mastodon #fediverse #pornography #moderation

Robin Adams@robinadams@mathstodon.xyz

@admin @staff

"Adding the NSFW hashtag, a CW and blurring images is not a sufficient firewall.

I support free expression, but free expression still needs sensible boundaries so public social spaces remain usable for people who do not want explicit sexual material in their feed."

So, this is the most important point. It's still not clear why you think CWs and blurring is enough.

I think a tagging and content warning culture is a wonderful thing. It is a consent model, instead of a top-down "everyone follows these rules" model.

Those who want to see a type of porn and those who want to make it can find each other. Those who do not want to see it can rest assured they will not be shown one without their consent.

Content warnings are a consent check. "Hey, do you want to see a gay porn image? I won't show it to you unless you say yes."

If you click past a content warning, then click again to unblur an image, you have said twice "Yes, I really really do want to see this picture".

Jul 5, 2026, 09:54 UTCen
Burnout Café Admin@admin@burnout.cafe

Replying to @robinadams@mathstodon.xyz

Discussion of pornography moderation

@robinadams Content warnings are not enough on a flagship server like mastodon.social, which the world sees as showcasing what the Mastodon social network is all about.

So, my opinion is that it should not be carrying pornography.

It's the kind of content that the commercial media point at and say, "You really want your kids to see this?"

Mastodon will never go mainstream until it makes a lot more adjustments.

"Free speech" does not mean you can post just whatever you want. There are limits.

Ideally, I'd like Fediverse networks like Mastodon and PeerTube to be child-safe.

But they're not, by any means. They're not even really safe for vulnerable people either.

Basically, they're the Wild West on the Internet. So sad...