The Treachery of Vibes

Overvaluing an aesthetic of moderation can be treacherous. Part of its appeal may lie in the expectation that a moderate stance arises from a cautious, level-headed, well-reasoned approach, but mistaking the former for the latter can be a trap. Where the two are conflated, superficial assertions can skate by undetected, which means they can mislead people into buying ideas that don’t really hold up to scrutiny.

A terminal prompt roulette to make your panel moderation more exciting.

In the findings, we get into…

Why we think the fediverse’s structure can allow for particularly humane and high-context moderation—and which of the cultural, technical, and financial gaps that our participants identified must be filled before the network can achieve its potential.
The interrelated governance configurations that make a server more or less manageable, and the different ways servers in our sample approached those configurations to serve their various communities.
The biggest gaps and annoyances in available governance tooling—spoiler, it’s mostly moderation stuff, but it also includes some fascinating things related to shared/coalitional moderation and better communication between servers.
What kinds of future threats are most on server operators’ minds, and which things they’re not particularly concerned about.
The things that keep volunteer server runners on the fediverse, give them hope, and make them feel excited about possible futures.

"The Second Life Police Blotter displays the 25 most recent disciplinary actions taken by the Second Life Abuse Team. The date shown reflects when the incident occurred."