If you're a white person on the Fediverse and you've never seen someone called a slur, or threats made against them--congratulations!

[dragonfrog@mastodon.sdf.org]

@leeloo @dave that was kind of my thought - each account named would publish the replies for its own followers to see.

But yeah, followers of the OP would
Would work just as well for keeping a thread readable, and preventing someone from invisibly harassing.

[woozle@toot.cat]

@dave OMG THIS EXPLAINS SO MUCH. I knew of the phenomenon ("I'm being abused but nobody else can see it") but not the mechanism.

Thank you much!

[dave@alvarado.social]

@TheJen I actually really love this idea, like setting off an alarm.

[woozle@toot.cat]

@dave

Would this change (in the code/design) be helpful, do you think: for posts that are in reply to something, give the original poster the ability to {reveal publicly, if non-public} and/or {completely delete, for everyone} those replies.

Maybe someone has come up with a better idea, but that's what comes quickly to my mind.

@flippac

[thejen@beige.party]

@dave For one thing, nobody could say "I don't see it" anymore, because it would force it all out in the open. Taking the burden off the victim I think is one of the goals here, yes?

[dave@alvarado.social]

@TheJen yeah, and I think "change this to public" is the sort of thing that has a reasonable chance of working in the federated architecture.

[thejen@beige.party]

@dave Yep. That's what I'm thinking too. Fairly simple fix.

[thejen@beige.party]

@dave TBH, I don't even see it most of the time as I heavily use the block button, but I absolutely believe this is happening. There is also nothing that says you can't use the technology to apply social pressure. If bad actors know they will likely be outed and subject to social consequences, they may think twice.

[dave@alvarado.social]

@gunchleoc @chocobo13 this. You can file issues with Mastodon devs and you can spread the word that this happens and how.

Steal my post in good health or describe the issue in your own words.

[boerps@nrw.social]

@semitones @dave
Willst Du den Scheixx noch verbreiten? Dann ist das hier bald wie X.
Und ein Pranger gehört ins Mittelalter.

[anne_delong@musician.social]

@fishidwardrobe @MxAlba @dave

In order to keep their abuse secret, these harassing accounts would have to use "Request to follow", because otherwise their abuse could be easily exposed by those following them.

I have avoided following anyone with this setting, not wanting to be in a group where others are not welcome. I know this is a weak reason, but now I have a stronger one.

[dave@alvarado.social]

Last post I'm going to make in this thread. If you want more visibility into this underside of the Fediverse, follow the #fediblock hashtag (and send some mental thanks and good vibes to MarciaX while you're at it, you're benefiting from the work of a Black woman).

If you want to do something about this, I know of two things anyone can do:

1. Open or comment on issues at https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon/issues

2. Share this info. Steal my posts in good health, or write this issue up in your own words.

[flippac@types.pl]

@woozle @dave (so: first of all, situations where somebody's doing it in good faith like when they'd happily set it to the other person's followers aren't subject to new misbehaviour...

...but also nobody wakes up to an immense volume of shit to shovel overnight)

[thomasfuchs@hachyderm.io]

@flesh @pierrenick @dave how would it be abused?

[flesh@transfem.social]

@thomasfuchs@hachyderm.io @pierrenick@hachyderm.io @dave@alvarado.social Unless I misunderstand the feature described, enabling the original poster in a thread to remove replies would make it pretty easy for someone to censor out any criticism of their claims or fact-checking. Considering that platforms like fedi are used to spread (mis)information and host harassment campaigns, giving just anyone the ability to control the conversation on a post seems like a bad idea.

[thomasfuchs@hachyderm.io]

@flesh @pierrenick @dave I’ve never seen it used for that; meanwhile the thing on Mastodon is actively used to harass.

[flesh@transfem.social]

@thomasfuchs@hachyderm.io @pierrenick@hachyderm.io @dave@alvarado.social I don't think a lack of examples is sufficient evidence to dismiss the risk.
And also, like, it is kinda ironic to argue "I've never seen it" on this thread in particular.

[thomasfuchs@hachyderm.io]

@flesh @pierrenick @dave you’re coming up with a hypothetical that sinply doesn’t matter in real usage ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

removed replies on Bluesky (unless th OP outright blocked the accounts posting) are still visible but hidden by default, so you can see what got removed (these also include moderated removal of low-quality replies, such as stuff that’s just expletives)

[woozle@toot.cat]

@flippac That sounds like an excellent suggestion.

I'm not sure where to poke to try and make this happen, but I'll keep my eyes open for opportunities.

@dave

[raphaelmorgan@disabled.social]

@fishidwardrobe my followers are vetted for shit like that. I guess I can't be certain they're not doing harassment I can't see, but it's way less likely than if my post was public. Do you think I should do DMs instead?