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glitch-soc / mastodon

A glitchy but lovable microblogging server
https://glitch-soc.github.io/docs/
GNU Affero General Public License v3.0
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Allow for admins to disable the severed relationships tab #2778

Open DraconicNEO opened 1 month ago

DraconicNEO commented 1 month ago

Pitch

I think we should allow for admins to disable or hide the severed relationships tab which is now present in mastodon

Motivation

I believe this is a necessary feature because the severed relationships feature of mastodon can be quite divisive against server admins and create a strong point of contention and push-back surrounding defederation. It is clear to me that this was introduced as a way to get people upset about defederation and harass or pushback against server admins who defederate popular servers like threads. It almost reads as a "hey your admins are doing all this nasty stuff" attidude. So being able to disable this feature which mastodon is trying to push on your own instances can help combat some of this toxicity.

ClearlyClaire commented 1 month ago

It is clear to me that this was introduced as a way to get people upset about defederation and harass or pushback against server admins who defederate popular servers like threads.

This is absolutely not why it was introduced. It was introduced to provide users with transparency and agency. Breaking follow relationships can have very real social impact, especially if the affected users are not immediately aware. This change makes it so that users who have been cut off from their friends know about it immediately without uncertainty, instead of figuring that out days, weeks or months later.

Regarding the example of Threads, most servers which block Threads already did so even before Threads started federating, so there would be no severed relationships.

DraconicNEO commented 1 month ago

Regarding the example of Threads, most servers which block Threads already did so even before Threads started federating, so there would be no severed relationships.

Just would like to point out, I was pointing this out as an issue for servers who do not currently block threads but may in the future. In these cases there would absolutely be severed relationships, and likely subsequent hostility towards management on that server.

Also in many cases it isn't in the server or community's best interests to share this information willingly with the users (why do you think many servers disable their de-federation list), since servers and users are almost always suspended for a very good reason. People following users on those servers could be following their friends, or they could be following bad actors to seed their content or spread their ideas, in the latter case you absolutely don't want to give them said feedback and it's better for everyone they be left in the dark, rather than potentially find a way to proxy and share that content on the server which was banned for a reason (i.e. transphobia or conspiracy theories).