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In general I've been loving it here, but the rapid harassment & summary removal of #Supertanskiii is a really worrying sign of things to come. I've seen a good few big-name tweeters come over in the last week or two. If this can happen to her it can happen to them too, & they'll soon be gone, & the place will be worse for it.
https://twitter.com/supertanskiii/status/1592530958422773761
@bazpoint
I really do hope it's just a case of the mods of the larger servers being overwhelmed and not realising the situation; so now they realise what's going on they can fix it.
Regardless of whether or not people agree with her politics, she has suffered some horrible abuse at the hands of trolls on the other site. She would've hoped they didn't follow her here as they would be blocked & removed easier if they posted but it seemed like they tried to go with sick false allegations instead.
@bazpoint
I think it's probably a bit of a wake up call for some larger instance mods. I can't imagine how busy things are for them right now, but the influx from Twitter is happening regardless, and with it a new set of challenges will come. This being one such case when a Twitter user with a large following but who attracts a lot of pathetic trolls joins the site.
@Muz Yeah, I agree with all you say, I just fear the old saying "you don't get a second chance to make a first impression"... now the trolls have had success with such a tactic once they'll be for sure trying it on other targets, & for this place to get a reputation as not worth it for those who might be targeted. Which is a shame, since this may well be the *best* place for such users in the long term, but they won't stick around to find out.
@bazpoint
I think it will settle down in the end. Also seems to have been a bit of inter-server warfare going on with some of the larger servers getting blocked because of posts emanating from them. My suspicion is that people initially migrate to one of the big population instances as an initial lifeboat. Once they get a bit more familiar with the system then they transfer to a smaller instance where they can feel more secure. Upshot will likely be a more even distribution across instances.
@bazpoint
Final point is that once a critical level of engagement is reached then I think a lot of governments/media/high level institutions will start following the lead of the German government and set up their own instances. Will allow easier moderation of trolls and an easy way to differentiate genuine popular accounts from fakes.
Still has the issue of one person/company being in full control of a server but given the way twitter is looking right now then it will be a vast improvement!
@Muz Oh yes, absolutely. There will be many stumbles but I'm sure this is the better path overall.
I think there may also be some realisation over time that (some of) the 'big fish' of the birdsite will not necessarily be the big fish of Mastodon, whether because they don't like it or just don't quite fit. Which is a shame since they're often very funny/smart/interesting people, but equally there are surely many great folks who never really got a following there but who will flourish here.