Hey, Evan, this shit isn't okay.
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@bitbraindev are you tring to say we came here to get away from the algorithms and don't want to see them come back? @matty @alice
@brass75 @bitbraindev @matty @alice When someone asks for the posts with a particular tag, I don’t think it’s unreasonable for them to expect to get the posts with that tag on them. While *an* algorithm, that’s the opposite of what people mean when they say “The Algorithm
”.The way tags work is deeply non-obvious to new users. These are exactly the people who initially rely on tools like tags to help them find new people to follow.
Creating an account for a tag and having that account boost posts with the tag is a naïve workaround, but clearly not a good one. Should have been discussed more broadly to learn of objections first.
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Hey, Evan, this shit isn't okay. You and your bots don't have permission to share my communities outside of Fedi (or at all).
Again, I didn't even know you were doing this, because you *didn't ask*—you just assumed you had the right.
I know I blocked you and defederated all your projects already, so maybe one of your friends or bots can let you know you should delete these (and any other @alice, @AltAfterDark, @alice_watson@infosec.exchange, @alice@masto.thefword.club, and @alice_watson@mastodon.social posts).
@alice@lgbtqia.space
> don't have permission to share my communitiesI left him instructions but IDNK whether the very notion of "in" direction in "opt-in" clicks there, as seen in:
https://github.com/social-web-foundation/tags.pub/issues/37#issuecomment-4867669076
@AltAfterDark @alice_watson@infosec.exchange @alice@masto.thefword.club @alice_watson@mastodon.social
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Hey, Evan, this shit isn't okay. You and your bots don't have permission to share my communities outside of Fedi (or at all).
Again, I didn't even know you were doing this, because you *didn't ask*—you just assumed you had the right.
I know I blocked you and defederated all your projects already, so maybe one of your friends or bots can let you know you should delete these (and any other @alice, @AltAfterDark, @alice_watson@infosec.exchange, @alice@masto.thefword.club, and @alice_watson@mastodon.social posts).
@alice just adding my voice here that this is bullshit and not okay.
Thank you for fighting this. I'll be keeping an eye out to see if there is anything I can do to support the fight.
This is also nonsense from a technical perspective: It's working around a perceived limitation of how federation is implemented. Why are you doing that instead of working on a proposal to fix that limitation?
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@alice @toothpaste_sandwich I think it should be added that Alice is not the only person who views the infection of the Fedi by Threads to be a hostile act. I blocked that weaselly little fuck previously just for that - being a Zuckerberg cuck working to co-opt the Fedi. He’s now scraping and stealing people’s posts for unauthorized uses. The fucker should be banned.
@lawyersgunsnmoney @alice I see. Yes, I have also always seen Threads as a Threat to the Fediverse. (Ha see what I did there.)
I was not aware of Evan's involvement with them. That is worrisome. I suppose I just assumed anyone working on the Fediverse was going to be a conscientious person... (And I do realise how that is always a poor assumption in any scenario.)
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Hey, Evan, this shit isn't okay. You and your bots don't have permission to share my communities outside of Fedi (or at all).
Again, I didn't even know you were doing this, because you *didn't ask*—you just assumed you had the right.
I know I blocked you and defederated all your projects already, so maybe one of your friends or bots can let you know you should delete these (and any other @alice, @AltAfterDark, @alice_watson@infosec.exchange, @alice@masto.thefword.club, and @alice_watson@mastodon.social posts).
@alice@lgbtqia.space @AltAfterDark @alice_watson @alice@masto.thefword.club @alice_watson@mastodon.social
Great look for someone giving a workshop aye ?
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@ireneista @alice I most vividly remember his little poll trying to show that the fediverse was too hostile towards AI. The interactions around that were so completely toxic and boosterish that I think of Evan as a bad-faith actor as a result.
(Another for the annals of AI and boosterism damaging trust.)
@xgranade @ireneista @alice if it smells like "push polling" then it probably is...
Edit: more context: https://bayes.club/@wronglang/116853627591651418
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@alice@lgbtqia.space @AltAfterDark @alice_watson @alice@masto.thefword.club @alice_watson@mastodon.social
Great look for someone giving a workshop aye ?
@heckinteagan *sigh*
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@brass75 @bitbraindev @matty @alice When someone asks for the posts with a particular tag, I don’t think it’s unreasonable for them to expect to get the posts with that tag on them. While *an* algorithm, that’s the opposite of what people mean when they say “The Algorithm
”.The way tags work is deeply non-obvious to new users. These are exactly the people who initially rely on tools like tags to help them find new people to follow.
Creating an account for a tag and having that account boost posts with the tag is a naïve workaround, but clearly not a good one. Should have been discussed more broadly to learn of objections first.
@brass75 @bitbraindev @matty @alice For example, if he had started with the fifty most popular tags across each of the ten most populous servers, that would have shown people what it does with posts which are already practically guaranteed to propagate. Limited utility, but also very limited potential negative impact. Selecting what tags get included in something like that is what people mean when they talk about The Algorithm
, though: somebody else deciding what gets promoted and what doesn’t.Doing it for all tags is arguably the least Algorithm
way. Treat everything equally. But people use tags in ways he didn’t expect or understand, thence harm. -
@alice@lgbtqia.space
And Evan is the Research Director at Social Web Foundation, with tags.pub operated by Social Web Foundation.
https://socialwebfoundation.org/2026/06/28/unsubscribing-tags-pub-from-open-registration-relays/
Tells us a lot about what Social Web Foundation is
@Orca @alice It is like when you get stuff delivered that you didn't order but have to pay for it (automatically) and you have to send it back in time on your own cost to get out of that shitty deal. In social media, in software general - if you use any form of computing - this stuff is sent to you daily and in great numbers and you are fully occupied to block those deliveries.
Opt-IN must become law world-wide with expensive consequenses when one doesn't follow it. -
@bitbraindev @FinchHaven @winst0nsmith @alice Back soon. I'm going to claim #(redacted)FuckYourselfWithARustySpork
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@alice @evan I feel like I'm not completely understanding the issue here. These bots boost all posts tagged with a certain hashtag, right? One bot per hashtag. And that's all they do, right?
I assume the point of them is to make it so instances that the original post maybe isn't federating with, now also receive the post, right? But if that's the case, what's the issue? Are there instances you don't want to be able to see your post?
The point of a hashtag is to get more people to see your post, right? I ask this out of genuine curiosity, I hope I don't come across as "just asking questions" while downplaying your concern. That is not my intention.
@toothpaste_sandwich @alice @evan@cosocial.ca no
The point of a hashtag is to organize and label things.
If we are writing our musings on 20th century aviation with a tag nobody used. Because we just want to go back to our musings and keep everything handy so people can mute it. We do not want a bunch of machines ingesting all our thoughts and broadcasting them to the world.
The fact those accounts have the name of the hashtag makes it half a step removed from impersonation. People using their aliases as a tag for art for example now see their name plastered everywhere ***as an account***
This is a violation of privacy and that man can take his bots and go to hell with them.
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