Sooo … Mastodon ISN’T a Leftist, woke Utopia after all? HA HA HA HA HA
SAY IT AIN’T SO.
Sounds like they’re having some issues with a bunch of activist journalists all hanging out in one spot (sorry, server) although to be completely honest, we’re not 100% how the heck any of this works on Mastodon BUT it doesn’t sound good.
Especially since Parker Molloy was suspended already.
No, seriously.
Start reading here:
🧵Journalists signing up on mastodon at the journa[.]host server should know that through no deliberate fault (that i can tell), the server has quickly gained a reputation for transphobia and has been widely banned/blocked.
— Aja Romano (@ajaromano) November 20, 2022
A server has a reputation for transphobia on LEFTIST Mastodon?
Get outta here.
So if you are using https://t.co/L1MJpgCBBs as your home server, you should know that people on many of those servers can't find or follow you, and won't be able to see your content on their feeds. Some of the servers banning you are major ones, too, like https://t.co/JpVLksjxus.
— Aja Romano (@ajaromano) November 20, 2022
GASP.
Not the art server.
I'll spend the rest of this thread trying to unpack why this is happening (it's complicated?) but the bottom line is that the server is tainted and now its reputation precedes it. If you're using it, that may well extend to you, too, as you try to network there.
— Aja Romano (@ajaromano) November 20, 2022
The server is tainted.
Sort of like bad yogurt?
There are 3 main reasons for the bannings as far as i can tell.
1) The server used a scrape tool that came from k*w*f*rms. I can't find any details at all regarding how they found this tool, and they have since stopped using it.
— Aja Romano (@ajaromano) November 20, 2022
Recommended
Look at the asterisks … HA HA HA HA HA HA
This has naturally made people think the whole server is transphobic, because wtf how would they get a tool from KWF unless they were affiliated with KWF?! I'd love to have more context for the k*w*f*rms thing if anyone knows; if their only association is a single dev tool, then+
— Aja Romano (@ajaromano) November 20, 2022
So the mere connection to Kiwifarms makes the server transphobic.
Alrighty then.
—i'm not sure that justifies labeling them as transphobic; they could have gotten the tool some other way, and they stopped using it. And it seems to be more complicated than that; their mods skew liberal to progressive, and one of them is trans.
— Aja Romano (@ajaromano) November 20, 2022
BUT THAT’S STILL TRANSPHOBIC.
2) Mike Pesca, fired from slate for defending his right to use the N-word, posted a transphobic NYT article and allegedly the first thing the journa[.]host mods did was ban another user for complaining that they hadn’t banned Pesca. (cont'd)
— Aja Romano (@ajaromano) November 20, 2022
Banning this person and that person for wrong think.
They’re eating each other … ain’t it great?
I say allegedly because the only post I can find about this has since been deleted. (It probably says something about how difficult it is to access info on mastodon that i've spent HOURS searching for info about this today and all i can come up with is a single deleted post.)
— Aja Romano (@ajaromano) November 20, 2022
Imagine spending hours looking for posts on Mastodon.
The mods did eventually also ban Pesca, so that interaction is also gone, but here's a screenshot of Parker Molloy yelling at him pic.twitter.com/esLeC83R1K
— Aja Romano (@ajaromano) November 20, 2022
Awww, poor Parker.
*snorts*
The third reason is a lot more nebulous and has to do with the nature of journalism on the internet. It's not connected, but a lot of servers who really seem to distrust journalists on principle are using "they're transphobic" to justify their hostility in this case.
— Aja Romano (@ajaromano) November 20, 2022
Not just journalists but anyone who disagrees with them but we digress.
Because so little of this is transparent and source-able, it's really hard for me to parse how much of this is just negative spin and how much of it is valid concern. The journa[.]host server skews liberal blue-check journalist overall and has lots of influential users;
— Aja Romano (@ajaromano) November 20, 2022
Who are clearly transphobic.
Ahem.
the server also recently got a boost from CUNY's school of journalism and @jeffjarvis https://t.co/N2BHmUANlm
— Aja Romano (@ajaromano) November 20, 2022
HA HA HA HA HA HA HA
This is hilarious.
I'm flummoxed about this because i want to follow many journalists on journa[.]host. the server has lots of professional support behind it and honestly seems…fine?? but i also feel obligated to warn other journalists away from using it at this point.
— Aja Romano (@ajaromano) November 20, 2022
OMG STAY AWAY FROM THE TRANSPHOBIC SERVER.
I'm not trying to suggest that journa[.]host doesn't deserve its reputation for transphobia, either, just admitting that i can't *source* that reputation. Meanwhile what i can source doesn't really tell me much. Please let me know if you have any more info!
— Aja Romano (@ajaromano) November 20, 2022
Holy Hell.
Bonus: A lot of servers have also begun to blacklist https://t.co/gwQ3PV2rfH for a bunch of reasons including its size and lack of heavy moderation. If banning whole servers instead of individual people is really the prevailing 🦣cultural norm, i'm not sure that's sustainable.
— Aja Romano (@ajaromano) November 20, 2022
Shutting down people and servers because you disagree with them and create TRANSPHOBIA in your minds isn’t sustainable, period the end.
Aha! Parker Molloy *was* the banned journalist and also thinks banning the whole server is a bad move https://t.co/112uQwtore
— Aja Romano (@ajaromano) November 20, 2022
Clarification about the KWF thing from server creator Adam Davidson: https://t.co/sLG61Xlqdj
— Aja Romano (@ajaromano) November 20, 2022
HORRIFIED.
HA HA HA HA
Sorry, we just can’t stop laughing.
*correction, Pesca was suspended from Slate, not fired
— Aja Romano (@ajaromano) November 20, 2022
What. A. Mess.
So, it’s not the platform, it’s not Elon Musk, it’s not really even the EVIL RIGHT, it’s the ridiculously entitled behavior of activist journalists who somehow manage to find a way to make everything and anything racist or homophobic.
Have fun with that, Mastodon.
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