longer.blue

Moderation lists It seems like moderation lists (blocklists) are a pain in the (well you know.) A lot of people feel they are being targeted to suppress their Free Speech and want a way to remove themselves from any given blocklist. Bluesky’s Community Policing Program consists of moderation lists and labeling. Anyone is enabled to create a moderation list and identify specific categories or behaviors that other people might want to avoid. Labeling require costly equipment and in-depth coding skills that limit those services. Same labelers can be categorized Moderation Services and are listed as such for their subscribers (only) under Reports. Bluesky designed these programs to allow individuals and communities to set their own standards; to control what they see in their feeds. This allows the small moderation staff to focus on investigating serious TOS violations. A good example of moderation list use is the 💙 and Resisters’ lists. The immediate reaction of anyone in the US focused on the real wrongs that are happening here and now is to take insult, feel targeted, think they must be lists made by MAGA. The truth is Bluesky has an international user base. There are wonderful people in other countries who are using social media the way it used to be used here in the U.S. before politics got so real, so deadly and so focused. There are many wonderful topics, people and experiences that have to do with pleasant interactions. There is even a feed of cat videos. Those people may not want to be immersed in 24/7 U.S. political angst. A 💙 moderation list allows people, on an individual basis, to choose to subscribe, blocking or muting the people most likely to post disturbing pictures, news articles and lamentations about the U.S. slide into authoritarianism, oligarchy and fascism. So would you rather have Bluesky put limits on political speech to appease those folks or let them subscribe to lists that allow preemptive blocking or muting? Can you see how being able to take oneself off those lists would increase the discomfort of the subscribers, invalidate the ability for community policing and force Bluesky to become Big Daddy Censor? There are all kinds of moderation lists used for any situation you could imagine being on either side of an issue. A personal example for me is I am presently on 3 AI lists. I have and use some personally treasured graphics that were made with AI specifically for me by a former friend in the beginning of the AI phenomenon. We parted ways over Fox News and the election. Now, while I’m not thrilled about those lists, they allow me to continue using my cherished graphics while at the same time allowing the people who are disturbed and offended by that a means to avoiding seeing them. I would much rather this situation than Bluesky having to decide who to please on the issue and maybe losing the ability to use my beloved graphics or force people who are offended to see them. A good blocklist has an understandable title and description that focuses on one or two types of people or posts the subscribers want to avoid. There are a few really lazy people who jam 10 different behaviors they believe should be avoided on one list. It is important that one who is going to subscribe to any given list, vet the creator. If you wouldn’t trust them with your children, why in the world would you trust their value judgements for what you see and don’t see? Are there bad actors? Yes there are. Especially troublesome are the MAGA blocklists actually created by MAGA to wedge us apart by mixing Resister usernames with garbage and a few sacrificial bots. The second largest offenders are people who are actually targeting people to crap all over them. These blocklists have unpleasant names and/or nasty descriptions. What is a violation of the TOS are explicitly deceitful lists, vulgar titles and descriptions and descriptions that are written to castigate the people listed. All those kinds of lists need to be reported by the people who are put on them. A good explanation of exactly why the list is being reported helps get faster action from Bluesky. Another targeting method uses custom lists. They are much easier to create and some people don’t seem to know the difference. These tend to have really unpleasant names and the people that employ this strategy to torment their victims usually have several lists with awful titles at the same time. (This behavior is a real shame because it gives custom lists a bad name. The great thing about custom lists is they shows all the posts the people in those lists make. They can be pinned and act as a mini-feed. I have several ones for several different categories of people I follow more closely. Examples: alt text ARTISTS, LMFAO - I needed that, The Biggest Heart, Voices of the Opposition.) While blocking the creator/curator of a moderation list does not (and should not) remove one’s name from that list, that technique does work with customs lists. A block by either the person that created the list or the person added to the list will prevent that username from being shown on that custom list. So these geniuses thwart their own devices by slapping people on nasty lists, blocking them and erasing them from view. The only places that person who’s on a blocked custom list is seen is in Listifications and one Bluesky-adjacent app I no longer discuss or recommend. (It is currently less useful and useable due to a change to a required login with a complex password system.) Usually the only person who sees it is who was targeted and it serves as a tool to troll. Technically, they are still on the list and if unblocked would pop back up but, in reality, a block makes that listee invisible. How did you do that, Mister Wizard?