Lmao at those saying Fedilab is basically Gab now. Are ya'll that fucking sense? 😂

@switchingsocial
If you start making political decisions, you have to start making lots of them. By deciding to not make political decisions at all, you alleviate yourself of the added draining responsibility.
@rugk @dublinux @mastalab

@switchingsocial

He doesn't "design a weapon", he designs an app to use social networks.

Also, what if he decides to add Switter to the blacklist?

(also, I see your instance mastodon.at only blocked a handful of other instances, shouldn't you get involved with your own moderation before explaining to others, or are there no nazi instances to block actually?)

@rugk @dublinux @mastalab

@rugk @dublinux @mastalab

To mangle a famous phrase, "you might not be interested in politics, but politics is interested in you".

Social media is innately political, and so is development work around it, because it affects who can use it and how their message can spread.

Social networks are now, whether we like it or not, powerful political weapons, and those who design weapons bear some responsibility for how they are likely to be used.

@switchingsocial i'd say it was never true for any technology.

best to err in favour of advancing that tech in ways that give decisionmaking power to those directly affected by the decision, albeit perhaps making the more dangerous decisions opt-in.

(but that too is obviously a politically charged stance)

@rugk @dublinux @mastalab

"Being a dev is not intrinsically political."

...with the best will in the world, this isn't true any more, not in the social media age.

A long time ago, being an atomic scientist was once seen as a purely academic profession with no connection to politics or ethics.

I will stop here with #Gab by removing the block feature inside the app in the next release.

My motivations:

- I didn't receive a reply from Google policy team about a potential ban of the application.
- Without the previous risk, I clearly think that's not my role. I can't hard-code instance blocks especially when every tools are here for that.
- If you want a strong block, it's in the hands of social network developers or your admins.

@mastalab
It isn't fair for devs to have to make political decisions in public and inevitably be harassed by users no matter which decision they make.

Some app devs chose to block/others didn't.
All instance blocks can be implemented by admins anyway so no one loses blocking abilities.

Harassment of devs on this issue no matter which side they take is unfair and could lead to devs not partaking as fully in public discussions.

Being a dev is not intrinsically political.

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