The End of an Era? - Thoughts on Fosstodon

The End of an Era? – Thoughts on Fosstodon

April 29, 2025

Introduction

Late last week it was revealed that a moderator on Fosstodon had some rather abhorrent views that were posted on Reddit and that moderator made some extremely questionable moderation choices on that platform.

Fosstodon's initial response was “Well the mod's not doing it on here, so it's fine.”

Many folks on the Fediverse, including myself felt differently. There was a point where Fosstodon could have put a message going “We are aware of the allegations against the mod. Bear with us while we investigate.”

They did not do that.

The mod came back on and started defending themselves. Other Fosstodon users defended their community with vibes of “so much for the tolerant left.”

I get the defensiveness. I do. No one likes to be told that folks don't like their community. Folks do take exception to the idea that they are sitting in the Nazi bar. We tend to think of Fascism as being violent and taking over a space violently. We don't think of them in our spaces quietly having a cup of tea. But that's how it works, there's no one way for it to take over our space. If it was purely violent, folks would push back.

So normal folks, comfortable in the status quo, don't know about the dog whistles. They repeat words said by Fascists using those dog-whistles and it becomes mainstream. The left are seen as the unstable ones for pointing out the elephant in the room that's about to go on the rampage. So it becomes easier to leave the bar. Leave the community because it isn't safe. It's not just Fosstodon, it's everywhere. So in the end it's Nazis and you. You're not a Fascist, you aren't a Nazi why are those folks saying your space is the Nazi bar?

It's not exactly a secret that over the years Fosstodon has been the home of the reply guy. It's also the home of some awesome FOSS folks and projects. Fosstodon is FOSS Centrism personified. It's a safe space for FOSS centrists and that's fine. But don't expect queer fediverse to give you the benefit of the doubt when you have a Fascist modding your instance.

Mike and Kev quit. Reading Kev's post it was everything I expected it to be. Kev's never been diplomatic. Kev's also uncomfortable with pronouns and likes poking progressives in his posts occasionally. Mike was more diplomatic and laid out how they got there. Starting from just two friends doing an instance, then others joined.

Yet another example of how some of us shouldn't be in charge of spaces, especially when they grow to a large size. To be clear I'm not saying I would be. There's a reason I'm on an instance with excellent instance owners. It's a mostly drama-free instance, and some of that comes from the boundaries that are set in the instance rules.

I moved there from Fosstodon. I'd wanted to move for a while, not because of anything bad. It just didn't quite fit me.

My First Mastodon instance

Fosstodon was my first instance and for me, as a privileged individual in FOSS, it was a good instance. Mike in particular was very good at handling disputes in the early days of it as a small community. But as open sign-up instances do it grew.

Reading the Instance admins posts it sounds like the responsibility of this small community was no longer fun. Which I understand. As the numbers get bigger and you feel attacked by people it can cause a bit of a hunkering down mentality.

We all changed and grew. In time I was given an invitation to an instance that is a better fit for me. Which is how it should work here. When I moved we only just had the tools to move followers etc. Mastodon is changing and the more upfront about the things that we need the better.

Users need better tools for moving posts, although that brings up a can of worms for other instances depending on the size of the account. Instance owners need more guidance and help setting up their communities. Moderators need more tools to help them moderate a community.

But any community needs a set of rules and some guidance so that when they do have folks helping them out in positions of power they choose people very carefully and do some due diligence. Fosstodon also has always made an explicit political statement “No Politics”. Which is reflective of its community. There are a lot of folks in FOSS who believe that Tech can exist without political bias.

Tech is political. Of course it is. Making a sandwich is political. – Zen and the Art of Multicast, Brett Sheffield

Fosstodon has faced a lot of drama. Some of that drama can be placed at the point of creation of that community. It's about values. More of us need to consider that when we create our community spaces.

As Brett Sheffield wrote in Zen and the Art of Multicast

A good Code of Conduct sets out the kinds of behaviour expected by all members of the community. Those that aren’t in alignment with your Values are less likely to get involved, and it is much easier to tap the sign later if you actually have one.

In other words, we need to be more open about our values. On the fediverse, this is incredibly important to do. We can reduce drama on the network if we state our boundaries and accept the idea that not every node on our network needs to talk to every other node on the network.

On here we don't have to repeat the model of the early 2010s of scale to connect everyone on the planet. Some of us want our cozy groups and we wish to state our boundaries.

Many of us know that you cannot escape politics. Making Free Software is an explicitly political act.

When you write (or choose not to write) a piece of software, this is a political act. The choice of whether and what to write, how you make it, where you publish it, if you publish it, under which license you release it, who you collaborate with, the types of users you target etc. are all political considerations. Perhaps you don’t consider it political, as the developer. You were just scratching a personal itch, but the consequences of your choices can have wide-ranging impacts, whether you choose to consider them or not.

Choosing not to play the game is also a move. You cannot escape politics.

Zen and the Art of Multicast, Brett Sheffield

Power, Instance Owners and Mods

Frankly, though the Nazi bar analogy is correct. Just because a mod isn't openly doing their bigotry on the Fediverse doesn't mean you should trust them in a position of power. But in tech, we've been conditioned to consider working with all sorts of people. Now in our political systems, we can see the results of that. You only have to look at DOGE and how it's destroying a lot of the limited good the US was funding in the world.

Fosstodon's pains at the moment are a reflection of what we're facing in tech. We do need to take responsibility for our choices. We need to take a look at the people who are abusing others. We need to stop letting people in our community abuse others or hold frankly inhumane views because they do good work. This issue isn't a fediverse only issue. It's in all of our Tech communities. FOSS isn't immune because of the magic of the licence we choose. It takes more than that.

To think that a mod who is a bigot and for forced deportation of Immigrants is at all appropriate on an instance where there are a lot of FOSS projects was carelessness. Fascists are very good at appearing reasonable in public. That's how you edge the status quo and the centre to the far right.

I understand that for some folks it's easier not to confront the elephant in the room. But it takes up a lot of space and forces others out of the room. At a time when we need new ideas, new life experiences new voices.

Shared Power, Shared Responsibility

Years ago I wrote an essay that was about Threads and the Fedipact. But what it really was about Power and how we give power to instance owners and we should choose carefully.

As a community, we need to give more tools to help instance owners and mods. Because being an instance owner or a mod is a thankless job. A community has a balance and if you can you should contribute something to your online home. Perhaps money, perhaps time for admin.

At least the small community work of gently calling out poor behaviour when you see it, this is something everyone in a community can do. But you have to want to do it. You have to want to grow to change. It is uncomfortable.

Instance owners are not the same as Community Managers

Fosstodon's story is the same as many community stories on the fediverse and in tech. A group of people get together and start a small instance. Like-minded people join and before you know it you have thousands of people who join your “vanity handled themed instance.”

This was a lost opportunity. Let's compare the pariah of some parts of the fediverse. Mastodon Art. The instance was handed over and the instance owner has learned. Mastodon art has a fairly straightforward set of ground rules and it balances the need for an audience for .art members with a safe space.

Everyone needs a safe space. Even FOSSBros. That's fine. You are allowed a safe space. But declare those boundaries upfront. Accept the fact that not everyone wants to federate with you.

If it does grow beyond you, start considering that at a certain size, you need someone who understands community. It's a skill. We have folks in our networks who do this for a living.

Small is better

But many instances are run on a shoestring, as a labour of love. Like Fosstodon was. We are many nodes on a network. Federation is complicated. But there's nothing wrong with staying small, going invite only. Vet who you let moderate your community

Vet the instances you want to join. Yes, we need more education and an idea of who federates with who. But there are valid reasons for some instances to not publish those relationships too.

Curate your space.

The Future of FOSSTODON

It's in the hands of the Fosstodon community now. Which is perhaps the best thing. Communities do outgrow their founders and a responsible founder should have a succession plan. Especially when it's essentially a flagship instance for FOSS.

Gina a former mod is stepping up and working with Kev and Mike to see if the instance can be saved. There is enough technical experience in that community. The challenge will be for the community to take a look at itself and decide what it wants to be in relation to the wider fediverse.

Perhaps it will only want to federate with the bigger instances. Perhaps it will change its rules. Now's the time to do the best for Fosstodon's community. What's comfortable for the Fosstodon community may be incompatible with some parts of the fediverse.

Which is fine. It's best to declare this now. It's literally the point of the fediverse. It's the choice of everyone involved. From you in your choice of instance, to the instance owners choosing who to federate with.

cobbles