I’ve created this post: https://sh.itjust.works/post/8898162

And some admin showed they can see how the upvotes\downvotes go.

If you are concerned about privacy, you should know, that this data on Lemmy can be easily mined and tracked.

  • OtterAEnglish
    3•6 months ago

    Appreciate the thoughts, it gives me more to think about. I’ve also been avoiding controversial subject matter and I think I’ll avoid it even more now.

    I do think the Fediverse needs to improve privacy and ease of use for alts. I’ve seen a lot of stuff over the years on Reddit that an authoritarian government would love to get their hands on. I guess the fediverse, by design, can’t be private? I worry that someone who doesn’t know better will get hurt because they don’t understand the risks.

    All the more reason to join trusted instances with solid admins, and to keep your Lemmy profile separate from your real identity.

    A possible workflow right now might be to browse on one account, and post comments from another. Boost on Reddit made that easier, but I don’t think the Lemmy one does that yet

      • OtterAEnglish
        2•6 months ago

        The internet is a messy place and I like my privacy

        I think people will feel more comfortable voting if it wasn’t made public. Same reason we add privacy booths during elections, or put our heads down in class when voting on simple things

          • OtterAEnglish
            4•6 months ago

            I’m not sure I understand

            If everyone can see what I upvote, then I’m going to take that into consideration before voting. If it was private, then I wouldn’t worry about it and vote whenever I want to.

            Overall this might be a good thing because it exposes bad behaviour, such as downvoting the person who disagrees with you.

            This might be a problem if, for example, there’s a post critical of moderators / admins. You might want to upvote it, but worry about getting banned. If your Lemmy profile can be linked to your real identity, you might worry about real world consequences too.

            • @[email protected]English
              3•6 months ago

              I just keep my posting habits the same as on reddit. I mostly comment on things instead of making posts myself unless I have a specific question, but I also have never paid much attention to how others might think of me from my statements or votes. If someone tries to message me privately to argue something I just block them if I don’t feel like it.

              Ultimately this account is not my personal identity and I couldn’t care less what others think of it. I just state what I think on a subject and if that is upvoted, fine, if not who cares.