I think a lot of the ills of the modern internet can be traced back to the massive grey area between “I am such a dick that I am losing my account” and “I have something of value and my presence here is a good thing for the community at large.”
In the BBS days, it used to be that there was an upload/download ratio. Like you can come on and join this little community, but also we’re watching how much “load” you place on the system and we’re going to ask that you limit your time, and provide something of value back to the other users too.
I do not think that exact system is suitable for the Fediverse era obviously, but there is something of that “This is my hardware, and I am providing it to you with the programmatically enforced understanding that you’ll fulfill your end of the social contract, too” that has been lost. Too much of the time on the modern internet you’re allowed to come on and just be a dickhead, on someone else’s hardware they’re providing for free, at people who actively wish you would stop, and it is your entitlement to do so as long as you’re not being overtly racist or anything, and it’s their job to block you or take countermeasures against you to keep it at a “manageable” level of maliciousness when combined with all the other dickheads who are doing the same thing.
Yeah.
I think a lot of the ills of the modern internet can be traced back to the massive grey area between “I am such a dick that I am losing my account” and “I have something of value and my presence here is a good thing for the community at large.”
In the BBS days, it used to be that there was an upload/download ratio. Like you can come on and join this little community, but also we’re watching how much “load” you place on the system and we’re going to ask that you limit your time, and provide something of value back to the other users too.
I do not think that exact system is suitable for the Fediverse era obviously, but there is something of that “This is my hardware, and I am providing it to you with the programmatically enforced understanding that you’ll fulfill your end of the social contract, too” that has been lost. Too much of the time on the modern internet you’re allowed to come on and just be a dickhead, on someone else’s hardware they’re providing for free, at people who actively wish you would stop, and it is your entitlement to do so as long as you’re not being overtly racist or anything, and it’s their job to block you or take countermeasures against you to keep it at a “manageable” level of maliciousness when combined with all the other dickheads who are doing the same thing.