Anti-fascist PieFed features
37 points by FedericoSchonborn
37 points by FedericoSchonborn
Gonna go ahead and add this to my "definition of done" for any personal code projects before I publish them.
Actually pretty interesting. Worth looking at for the flowchart alone.
I like that they're thinking about how to adapt to the the environment, but also do so in a way that's transparent and intentional.
Without moral beliefs you can't build new tech. You won't know what to build except a copy of something else
It's interesting how the chosen features are not actually about performing antifascist action, but about being unappealing to fascists. For example, detecting and forbidding 4chan screenshots might frustrate meme-droppers, but it does nothing to stop people from using 4chan; moreover, 4chan is nowhere near as harmful or large as Meta's products like Facebook and Threads, or Twitter, which are owned and operated by genocidal oligarchs. I suppose that mere participation in the Fediverse is antifascist to a degree, or at least antiauthoritarian, but I suspect that we can structurally do more.
I'm now imagining adding some of these features to Lobsters. Some, like pronouns, might just enable more harassment. Banning "14" and "88" in usernames would be a great idea based on the fact that such usernames on Hacker News are often spouting low-quality hateful comments or just asking questions, but I don't see those sorts of usernames here. Another idea, ironically borrowed from 4chan, is to crucify the most offensive cryptofascists and see who complains; it's quite interesting to see who comes out to defend them and previously, on Lobsters, I was surprised at how many folks were willing to reveal their power level just because they were irritated at a cartoon mascot causing a ban of one of their heroes.
Banning "14" and "88" in usernames would be a great idea
That won't stop these people from signing up, it will only make them choose less nazi usernames. And, honestly, I would much rather prefer their usernames to be as obvious as possible - it also makes moderation easier!
A lot of this sounds good, but is actually a horrible mess. It isn't only fash sites that are banned, but also the most prominent leftist ones. Besides a hard-coded instance block list that admins have to edit the source to change, it also blocks particular individuals, and has a lot of other very odd decisions.