Repeating this as many times as necessary:
A space being online doesn't mean it needs to be public space.
A space being part of a social network doesn't mean it needs to be public space.
I don't *want* to be in a public space. If I did, I'd go somewhere else.
I thought the entire point of distributed instances was so that people could build connected but not-public spaces in ways that worked for them.
I remember, just barely, the days of existing on the internet when you could have a rich social life on some random forum and be reasonably confident that even though technically public, niche visibility would shield your words from being exposed to groups who wanted to cause harm.
I want that back.
@starkatt That is really well put. It's how I remember the earlier blogging days. Encouraging instances to develop their own idiosyncratic codes of content and anti-harassment policies seems like a perfectly reasonable way to carve out similar environments (but even better, with all the semi-permeable elements afforded by federation).
