Mastodon is generally a great platform. There are no algorithms, and since it’s made up of thousands of independent servers running on open source software, the chances of a billionaire buying over the whole network is slim. However, let us not forget that it is still social media, and because it is social media, you will still see toxicity. Fortunately, Mastodon has safeguards that will prevent me from being glomped by a host of anonymous accounts with anime avatars.

I wrote about this on Mastodon recently:

I’m feeling a bit down about Mastodon due to something that happened a few days ago. Some will know what I’m talking about. I’m just sad that we have seemingly lost the ability to listen to differing views without engaging in harassment. But I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised, it IS social media after all, even if it’s in the Fediverse.

I think what makes me sad is that I now have the compulsion to self-censor & clam up lest I attract trolls. That’s what bullying does to you.

Take my podcast which I released yesterday. I tooted about it, but kept it among my followers only. Because I didn’t want to attract unwanted attention. And I thought to myself. This is ridiculous. I didn’t say anything controversial in that podcast. However, I don’t if some rando will see it as such and report me.

I’ve also taken the step to filter out certain words, and as I type these words I thought to myself, these are topics I care about, but I don’t want to be tempted to engage in them.

This self-censorship is annoying. But something I did a lot on Twitter because I was always conscious that I’d get into trouble if I do share my opinions. For eg, I once shared my lived experience with racism, only to have someone threaten to report me to the police – a real threat in Malaysia where people could end up in jail for their social media posts.

And to be honest, I’m conflicted about the advice I gave in my podcast – to avoid hot topics because it is far too costly.
I’ve always been a strong advocate for speaking up … so this stance is something I don’t really want to support, but I undertsand the physical, mental and even, monetary cost of speaking up. Oh well. If anything, this has been a good lesson in how important Indie Web is, and how I need to own the spaces I dwell online. I love #Mastodon but it’s time to build my website 🙂

Publish (on your) Own Site, Syndicate Elsewhere (POSSE) so that if those spaces are taken away, we still have our home.

It was a good reminder that despite our idealism about social media, it is not a town square but a forum. A badly moderated one most of the time, that exposes people to dangers. So let’s act accordingly. Protect yourself online and be careful not to rely on it 100%. Your space could be taken away from you without warning.