*contemplating*
we could actually federate with icosa now that private posts federate
i think we can also drop our requirement that folks blacklist certain sites since we can protect our visibility now
awoo.spacers: have you got opinions on this? I would love to hear from you
@vahnj for a latecomer, what's the significance of icosa?
@Mycroft icosa doesn't block anything and federating with them comes with a lot of potential exposure to people we don't want to be able to see folks from our instance as much as possible to limit abuse
having private post federation means that we can sidestep that problem bc people can use private posts to avoid that now
but it comes with its own set of problems, mainly that it effectively asks people to enforce themselves in *more* of a bubble to allow us to federate with icosa
@vahnj I'm usually critical of walled gardens, but if I'm understanding the situation right, I'd rather have a walled garden than a public dump. Otherwise, I don't think I have an informed enough opinion.
@vahnj We dont know much how the protection stuff works. But we are in support of anything that protects its users. If the change is made still accompanies that, then we are all good.
@vahnj So, here's what I'm not quite clear on:
Dramatis Personae:
alice.space - An instance we like.
mallory.spcae - An instance we don't like.
Let's say we are federating with alice.space, and they are federating with everyone, including mallory.space.
1) Previously, without private toot federation, under what specific circumstances would users on mallory.space see our toots?
2) Now, with private toot federation, how has that changed?
@indi 1. alice.space would be required in almost all cases to suspend mallory.space, or else be asked to be extremely selective and ask before they boost.
2. Public posts would be expected to become visible since we would no longer ask alice.space to suspend federation with mallory.space- and we'd be asking our users to use private posts if they want to limit that.
@vahnj You're answering from a "do we federate with these people" POV though. What I want to know is let's take as a given that alice IS federating with mallory. In that case, when do mallory users see our stuff?
@indi They'll only be able to see content if alice boosts our posts, then.
@vahnj *nods* This gets to something that's never actually been clear to me, which is (leaving boosts aside for the moment) "Is federation transitive?
@indi Only via boosts- boosting literally copies posts, which is why boosting bypasses domain blocks and is why we ask people suspend the instances we most want to avoid attention from
@vahnj We has question.
When we get way better at art and start our webcomic which will be heavy trans themes and very left, will there be protection for us from bad places if we post it in the public section. Like would there be a way that it wont reach the hands of bad people unless they are sneaky and on a safe instance?
@Freylet The worst case scenario is they will be able to see your posts if someone boosts them
That is actually a possible problem right now, but our policy helps limit that *A LOT* because it's very unlikely things will jump more than one instance away from us
In addition, if any of these folks start trying to bother you, you won't see *any* notifications from them without them doing the sneaky thing you're talking about.
@vahnj *nods lots* Thanks for clarrifying. <3
pros:
- can federate with friends on icosa
- less social negotiation to whitelist new sites
- friendlier outlook on whitelisting
cons:
- pushes control of privacy to our users (making sure sites outside of our whitelisted sites don't see you means you must use private posts)
- boosts are more likely to become visible by sites we care most about keeping blacklisted
considerations:
- non-whitelisted sites will still not appear in notifications - but they can boost your boosted posts