J
@zm Good luck!
I think we should really have a website that serves as an introduction to the Fediverse which has been focus-tested with a group of teenagers. At the very least.
For all its faults, #Bluesky in the early phases understood marketing and outreach. The #Fediverse never really did - the basic attitude is: "If we build it, they will come". And that's why our Monthly Active Users keep hovering beneath a million, instead of growing.
Is anyone doing any #youth outreach for the #Fediverse ?
Because I think we should try to break out of our core demographic of 40-somethings. And we do want them to spend time here, rather than on Instagram and TikTok - right?
Because of recent, er, discussions, let repeat me it once more time for those in the back:
Being an ally to a marginalized group means to LISTEN, first and foremost. Do NOT propose solutions in advance of actual data. People from marginalized groups have almost certainly thought about their marginalization in oppressive spaces (which, yes, can include the #Fediverse ) longer and harder than you have, and thus your proposed solution is likely something that they have already discussed at length.
So listen to them. And when they are done talking, your reaction should not be:
"Here is how to fix your problems!"
but
"How can I help?"
With the recent influx of newcomers from #Bluesky , it behooves us to contemplate what we can do to improve #moderation on the #Fediverse - something that has been a problem in the past, and is one of the major reasons why the Fediverse is not as big and as diverse as it could be.
The first and most important step is a cultural change - we need to be _aware_ of how harassment operates, _especially_ if we are not its target. Thus, everyone around here - admins most of all, but really everyone - needs to drill the following into their brains:
If you are not a member of a marginalized group, you are unlikely to ever see much of the #harassment they are experiencing. Heck, you might not even be able to recognize it as such! Thus, if members of said group talk about their experiences with harassment on the Fediverse, _take them at their word_ instead of reacting with disbelief or demands for explanation and elaboration.
It is this frequent reaction disbelief that has done more than anything else to harm the reputation of the Fediverse. Because let's face it, we are still a space that is overwhelmingly white and European/North American. If we want to change that - and it is my fervent belief that we should - then we need to take the lived experiences of others seriously.
Once we have accepted that we need to expand our understanding of how harassment on the Fediverse occurs, _then_ we can work out what tools are needed to improve the situation. Because I too often see the reaction:
"If someone experiences harassment on a large scale, they are not using the tools of the Fediverse correctly to prevent this."
This is blaming the victims of harassment for the problem, and not the Fediverse as a whole. And then we will have the same trainwreck as before, and the Fediverse will remain the same hobbyist's collective rather than the serious challenge to commercial social media platforms it should be if we ever want to stop the world's plunge into #fascism .
I remember reading an article somewhere about the loss of trust in companies undergoing an enshittification cycle.
Basically, a company can get away in making their services worse for quite some time - but eventually, trust will break permanently, and their customers will move permanently as well. Trust, once broken in this manner, cannot be rebuilt.
My study of old #folklore gets more and more relevant to current-day affairs.
Example: All of these narratives about "Things That Cause #Autism " are basically recycled folk tales about #changelings .
Right now, we are at the: "The child is WRONG somehow - the mother must have been careless!" stage.
And it's only a very small step to: "My child is WRONG somehow! Thus, I must abuse it until I get my REAL child back - the one I always wanted!"
The context changes, but the underlying narratives stay the same.
As a consoling thought, when you look outside of the so-called "Western World", it becomes clear that #FossiFuels have already lost.
The surge in #fascism around here is in part a last-ditch effort to prop up a failing business model. This might "work" for a while, but it can only delay the end of the Fossil Fuel Age, not stop it.
Which doesn't make fighting fascism unimportant, of course. Any harm we can stop, we should. But they _will_ lose this, in the end.