A community index of servers added a new rule recently, that requires every participant to defederate from Threads. Some admins are unhappy.

Server indexes of places for newcomers to join can be instrumental for Fediverse adoption. However, sudden rule changes can leave some admins feeling pressure to change policies in order to remain listed.

  • Thorny_Insight@lemm.ee
    414·
    7 months ago

    I think most people simply just don’t know how federation works and they imagine that defederating blocks Facebook from accessing your content when in reality it’s the exact opposite; it places one way mirror between us from which only they can see thru. There’s also some great irony in the fact that they’re talking about genocide while advocating for using the nuclear option to block Facebook despite the massive number of innocent casualties it’ll cause.

    EDIT: Turns out I was mistaken. Defederation indeed does stop the flow of data both ways.

    • Vendetta9076@sh.itjust.works
      101·
      7 months ago

      Brother these things are in no way the same. One is a tech giant knowingly aiding and abbeting governments who are ethnically cleansing their country and another is not being able to see posts from a different instance. The only great irony is you calling them innocent casualties.

      • Thorny_Insight@lemm.ee
        31·
        7 months ago

        It’s a comparison. By definition they’re not the same thing but there are similarities; you’re doing something that affects 100% of the userbase because you have an issue with 2% of them.

        • GreyEyedGhost@lemmy.ca
          1·
          7 months ago

          This is like comparing requiring students in schools to wash their hands to genocide. The scale is the same but the impact is vastly different, and if you don’t want to wash hands (or be defederated) you can just move. Except for changing activitypub instances is even easier than changing schools and both are easier than leaving Palestine.

        • Vendetta9076@sh.itjust.works
          1·
          7 months ago

          You should think of a better comparison cause this one sucks.

          Also no. You’re doing something that affects 100% of users because the node these users use is malicious. The problem is the underlying structure not the people using said structure. Maybe this makes them stop using said structure.

          Its like being upset that I dont answer unknown numbers. “Well only 10% are scammers so you’re affecting 100% of calls”

    • SorteKanin@feddit.dk
      4·
      7 months ago

      it places one way mirror between us from which only they can see thru

      What do you mean by this? Even if Meta would collect data from defederated servers (I don’t think they would), it would be massively more complicated than if they were federated.

      • Thorny_Insight@lemm.ee
        23·
        7 months ago

        Federarting means there’s a two-way road between your instance and threads.net and traffic can flow both ways. When you defederate it stops the traffic flow from threads.net to you but the traffic from you to them is unchanged. Even if every single instance defederates them they can still see all the content that’s posted there. Nobody else just wont see any of theirs. Only your instance admins know your email, ip-address and so on but all your posts and messages are publicly available to anyone and you can’t stop them from accessing it.

        It’s basically the same thing as blocking an user. You wont no longer see their messages but they will see yours.

        EDIT: Turns out I was mistaken. Defederation indeed does stop the flow of data both ways.

        • SorteKanin@feddit.dk
          51·
          7 months ago

          When you defederate it stops the traffic flow from threads.net to you but the traffic from you to them is unchanged.

          No, that is not how defederation works. One server defederates, traffic stops in both directions. It’s not comparable to user blocking.

          posts and messages are publicly available to anyone

          There’s a big difference between the posts being available publicly on the Web and them being sent to Threads via federation.

          • Thorny_Insight@lemm.ee
            5·
            7 months ago

            I hate to admit when I’ve been wrong but this seems to be one of those cases. I tried to use my lemmyNSFW account to view content on a instance that doesn’t federate with them and I indeed can’t see any. I stand corrected.

            • SorteKanin@feddit.dk
              4·
              7 months ago

              Good on you for admitting it - we’re all wrong sometimes :) take it as a learning opportunity

    • livus@kbin.social
      1·
      7 months ago

      There’s also some great irony in the fact that they’re talking about genocide while advocating for using the nuclear option to block Facebook despite the massive number of innocent casualties it’ll cause.

      Sir/Madame, not being able to see some online content is nothing at all like having your family members murdered in real life.

      Read A Death Sentence For My Father sometime and you will see.

      • VirtualOdour@sh.itjust.works
        1·
        7 months ago

        The thing is your article blames meta for not doing something that would be impossible on lemmy by design. Meta didn’t act to silence messages calling for violence but there is no mechanism to do this top down on lemmy only by defederating instances or individual communities/instance admin banning posts. Exactly the same thing could happen here, if the user base ever got large enough.

      • Thorny_Insight@lemm.ee
        1·
        7 months ago

        It’s a comparison. By definition they’re not the same thing but there are similarities; you’re doing something that affects 100% of the userbase because you have an issue with 2% of them. Like Israel fighting Hamas and the entire Gaza population having to suffer because of it.