Update: In light of the programming.dev update here https://programming.dev/post/8399272, the defederation is no longer going ahead.
However, something more needs to be said. Even here on Blahaj, some of our users took issue with the choice to defederate over this issue.
So I would like to give some background and context.
Blahaj Zone exists, because both Kaity and I left mainstream social media to escape transphobia. Reddit, with its lackluster approach to fighting transphobia, and twitter, with its outright celebration of transphobia pushed us here, to the fediverse, and to create Blahaj Zone and Blahaj Lemmy.
To that end, we will continue to treat transphobia seriously. Our goal is to create a space where gender diverse folk can exist and let our defenses down a little, where we don’t have to worry about getting dragged in to an argument with a transphobe, or a bad faith actor “just asking questions”.
If you are looking for a more reddit like experience, where in the interest of increased engagement, we let low level transphobia slide, and push responsibility for dealing with it on to community mods and individual users, then you will likely not be happy with blahaj going forward. If you choose to stay here, understand that we may defederate again in the future over similar issues.
The choice is yours.
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It has recently been brought to my attention that the lead admin of programming.dev is engaging in ongoing transphobia.
You can see the conversation in question here https://programming.dev/comment/6131539
For that reason we will be defederating from programming.dev in 48 hours.
There are only three communities on that instance used by small number of our users, so this won’t have a big impact, but if you are one of those users, you will need to use an alt account on another instance if you wish to access the communities.
Totally agree. This is breaking the community apart. You need to have thick skin in this world.
Then go run an instance where you federate with everyone. Or join one. Telling other folks what to do with their instances seems a bit wrong to me.
This is always something people say about problems other people have.
I also don’t see why anyone would choose a social media experience in which they need thick skin. The world can be annoying enough already, no need to make it worse.
It sucks if Blåhaj feels the need to defederate from programming.dev, especially since there are so many prominent gay and trans programmers in the open source world and the Fediverse. But that’s life, they have aimed to create a safe space since the beginning and that’s what they should stick to.
Doesn’t sound very ‘social’ by limiting the types of social contact.
That’s what social life is all about! Very few people walk around talking to everyone we see on the street - generally we limit the types of social contact we participate in. If I want to talk about painting model aeroplanes I might not be very interested in hanging out with the lumberjack community.
I’m giving feedback and hopefully they will reconsider. The fediverse is stronger together and people can decide if they don’t like the content to block it themselves.
What is the reason for federation in your opinion? Why aren’t we all on Lemmy.world or kbin.social?
Edit:
It doesn’t seem like it would fit the description of the instance if they did. Unless they are going to force programming.dev to comply with their rules, which again, defeats the purpose of federation.