Merge pull request #441 from hachyderm/july-mod-minute

July Moderator Minutes

community.hachyderm.io/content/en/blog/posts/2023-07-moderator-minute/index.md

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+---
+date: 2023-07-07
+title: "A Minute from the Moderators"
+linkTitle: "July Moderator Minute"
+description: |
+  Moderator volunteers, Reddit alternatives, and Meta
+author: Quintessence ([@quintessence](https://hachyderm.io/@quintessence))
+---
+
+Hello and welcome to this month’s Moderator Minutes. Apologies for missing June, we
+have a blog post that we’ll post later this month as a belated post for June. The
+short version is we were completing that one while compiling for this one, and a
+lot is going on for the summer. So let’s get started!
+
+This month we will cover: welcoming new users to Mastodon, volunteering with
+Hachyderm, decisions around Lemmy/kbin, and what’s going on with the Meta instance.
+
+<!-- do not manually edit: table generated by Markdown All-In-One -->
+- [New to Hachyderm and Mastodon? Welcome!](#new-to-hachyderm-and-mastodon-welcome)
+- [Interested in volunteering? We’re growing our moderation team!](#interested-in-volunteering-were-growing-our-moderation-team)
+- [What did we decide about Lemmy and kbin?](#what-did-we-decide-about-lemmy-and-kbin)
+- [Let’s talk about Meta.](#lets-talk-about-meta)
+  - [How the Hachyderm instance will reach consensus about Meta and communicate about it](#how-the-hachyderm-instance-will-reach-consensus-about-meta-and-communicate-about-it)
+    - [How Hachyderm handles federating with other instances](#how-hachyderm-handles-federating-with-other-instances)
+    - [The current status of Meta / Threads](#the-current-status-of-meta--threads)
+    - [Resources for finding out more about the implications of Meta / Threads](#resources-for-finding-out-more-about-the-implications-of-meta--threads)
+- [Hachyderm inbound and outbound communications](#hachyderm-inbound-and-outbound-communications)
+  - [Reminder that we use Github Issues for consolidated, searchable, discussion threads](#reminder-that-we-use-github-issues-for-consolidated-searchable-discussion-threads)
+  - [How we communicate site-wide](#how-we-communicate-site-wide)
+
+
+# New to Hachyderm and Mastodon? Welcome!
+
+We’re seeing an increase in Fediverse usage of users arriving from other platforms.
+Welcome new users! We have an explainer for [How to Hachyderm](https://community.hachyderm.io/docs/hachyderm/)
+in our documentation,
+which includes both Hachyderm specific information as well as links to common
+sources you’ll want to keep handy for general Mastodon or Fediverse information.
+Some things you’ll want to make sure to explore:
+
+* Understanding home, local, and federated timelines
+* Understanding how DMs work and their visibility (importantly: if you add someone
+  to a DM thread they see the history, Mastodon doesn’t create a new thread).
+* There’s a strong culture of [content warning](https://community.hachyderm.io/docs/hachyderm/content-warnings/)
+  and alt-text (in our [Accessible Posting](https://community.hachyderm.io/docs/hachyderm/accessible-posts/)
+  doc) usage in the Fediverse. We do not expect anyone to be experts on these, only
+  to iterate and improve over time.
+
+As always, we encourage everyone to be welcoming to new transfers from other platforms.
+Everyone is encouraged to help new users learn the new tools and features available to
+them. Please keep in mind that shaming people for not knowing something goes against
+the ethos of the Hachyderm server, so please only enter conversations you can participate
+in that will foster the growth of others. 
+
+# Interested in volunteering? We’re growing our moderation team!
+
+Also as a response to the growth we’re seeing, we’re scaling the Moderation team!
+If you’re interested in volunteering on the moderation team, please read on.
+
+Hachyderm is operated by two teams: moderation and infrastructure. In an effort to
+protect the instance, we have implemented a SOD (separation of duties) policy, where
+team members can only operate in one team at a time. For those that know that they
+will be interested in volunteering with different teams over time, we ask that you
+commit to a given team for a minimum of three months (within reason). At this point
+in time, we are calling for volunteers to support the moderation team.
+
+Hachyderm Moderators are expected to be able to create and maintain safe spaces.
+The easiest moderation decisions we make are around “banning the Nazis”. This can
+include literal Nazis, of course, but also extends to all forms of extremism and
+their “friendly federators”. It is more difficult and nuanced to handle genuine
+interpersonal conflict than to simply remove harmful content and sources, local or
+remote. In order to handle interpersonal conflict on the instance, understanding
+if there’s a path back into the community or not is important. In order to handle
+interpersonal conflict where there are one or more remote users, who have agreed
+to different instance rules, involves understanding which of Hachyderm’s rules
+are local and which are global.
+
+As part of our current call for moderators, we included some Q&A that showcases
+this in the application form. It’s important to know that there are no right or
+wrong answers on the volunteer form and that everything we do here on the instance
+is covered in moderation training. What we’re looking for from you is just for
+you to explain to us how you’d interpret and handle the concepts and two examples
+we’ve provided. If you are interested in applying, please respond to our call for
+moderators here:
+
+* [volunteer.hachyderm.io](https://volunteer.hachyderm.io) ([direct Airtable link](https://airtable.com/shrW3YMOgB6vm2QJS))
+
+If you have any questions about volunteering in general, the application form,
+and so on please email us at [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]).
+
+# What did we decide about Lemmy and kbin?
+Many of you have been waiting for the results about whether or not Hachyderm
+will be running a Lemmy or kbin instance. The short, at the top, answer is:
+
+> We’ve decided that a Lemmy / kbin instance will actually need to be a Nivenly
+> project, rather than be a sub-project of Hachyderm. There will be an upcoming
+> announcement from Nivenly about this.
+
+In addition to information about how to apply to Nivenly as a Lemmy or kbin
+instance, their post will include other project announcements and exciting status
+updates that they know everyone has been waiting for. While the Nivenly post
+will have more details about what they’re looking for specifically, we can share
+a bit of our experience to help as well.
+
+As one of the first two (the other being Aurae) Nivenly Projects, we can share
+that two things to be aware of if you’re interesting in scoping out the project:
+Nivenly will want to ensure that any projects brought on can commit to safe spaces
+and there will be expectations for what that means as well as projects that are
+interested in improving the community space overall. This can mean that an infra
+team will need to have one or more members (but not all) that are interested in
+contributing to the project’s software where / as applicable.
+
+For anyone with pre-emptive questions about this, please reach out to Nivenly
+using their email: [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]).
+
+# Let’s talk about Meta.
+
+Lastly, let’s talk about Meta and Threads. We’ve received a lot of questions
+and discourse about this in general over a few different comms channels,
+including Hachyderm itself, email, and Nivenly’s Community Discord.
+By the nature of these different communication pathways, this means that essentially
+small bubbles of conversation have appeared that don’t have a lot of visibility.
+We’re consolidating some of the outcomes of those discussions here, for reference.
+And of course, since information is ongoing that means we’ve had to make a few
+revisions to this blog post while we were writing it to account for newly
+released information.
+
+For this section, the first thing that we’ll be covering is how we’ll come to
+consensus about Meta’s instance, Threads. Then we’ll go into a bit about how
+Hachydermians can communicate their wants and needs to us as well as a refresher
+for how we send out communications. 
+
+## How the Hachyderm instance will reach consensus about Meta and communicate about it
+
+### How Hachyderm handles federating with other instances
+
+Due to the size of our instance, we openly federate by default. This is not unchanging:
+as we research and become aware of instances that have a negative impact on the Hachyderm
+community or otherwise pose a risk, we can limit or fully defederate from other instances.
+The most common situation for this is when we research DarkFedi instances, though this is
+not exclusive.
+
+In general, there are two sets of criteria that determine whether we federate with an
+instance. One set for moderation, the other for infrastructure. In both cases, the instance
+must be federating in order to prompt defederation research.
+
+For moderation:
+
+* The instance must not be a source of extremist content of any format
+* The instance must not be a source of illegal content of any format
+* The instance must not engage in trolling or brigading of other instances or users
+* The instance must not stalk or otherwise harass other instances or users
+* The instance must not monetize their users’ data without their informed consent or
+  monetize the data of other users on the Fediverse without their informed consent
+* The instance must not be a “friendly federator” with an instance engaging with one or more of the above
+
+Note: in the above criteria, we specifically do not allow instances to stalk, target,
+and otherwise harass either instances or individuals. Users that target other users
+will be defederated from, and instances that target individuals will also be defederated
+from. We also evaluate “friendly federation”, which analyzes the federation impact of
+instances actively federating with instances who are engaging in these behaviors or who
+are joining in outright. We take steps, which can include defederation, to protect our
+space from “friendly federators” just as we do the source instances.
+
+For infrastructure:
+
+* The instance must not be a source of spam
+* The instance must not be a source of excessive traffic, such as a denial of service (DDoS)
+* The instance must not be a source of any other malicious traffic or activity, including
+  but not limited to attempts to compromise the security of the servers or the data they store.
+
+Hachyderm teams also differentiate if an activity is limited to a specific account
+or accounts, rather than instance-wide. To put it another way, “is there a spam
+account on the instance or is the instance being overrun by spam”. In order for
+action to be taken against an instance in its entirety, what we surface in our
+research must be consistent on the instance as a whole.
+
+As a point of clarification: although an instance must be federating for us to
+evaluate if we should be federating with them or not, that instance does not need
+to be directly engaging with Hachyderm in any way to prompt our research. The
+vast majority of instances that we end up researching are found proactively.
+
+### The current status of Meta / Threads
+
+Meta formally released their Threads product this week. Currently, Threads is
+not federating, and cannot be defederated from until it does. Current news
+sources (e.g. [this TechCrunch article](https://techcrunch.com/2023/07/05/threads-metas-twitter-competitor-is-now-live/))
+indicate that Meta does plan to
+federate with Threads and support the ActivityPub protocol, which is in use
+on the Fediverse, but is not doing so at this time. Less than a day into launch,
+and there are already reports that Twitter is threatening to sue Meta over
+intellectual property. ([Ars Technica article here](https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2023/07/musk-and-zuck-may-fight-in-court-twitter-threatens-to-sue-meta-over-threads/).)
+Basically: it launced, and there is uncertainty to the product's future.
+
+If and when Threads starts federating, similar to other instances on the Fediverse,
+Hachyderm will evaluate our federation status using the above criteria. If Threads
+is found to be a source of harm or risk to the Hachyderm community or Hachyderm itself,
+then we would defederate from them.
+
+Several Hachydermians have indicated an interest in the above analysis and how they
+will know what our stance is. As a reminder, we send out announcements using one or
+more of the following:
+
+* Site wide announcements
+* Posts on the Hachyderm account, which are cross posted to the Nivenly Community Discord
+* Blog posts
+
+Due to high user impact of any decisions on Meta / Threads, Hachydermians should expect:
+
+* A post from our Hachyderm account when research has begun. 
+* A blog post with the results of our research once it’s concluded. We will announce
+  the blog post via a site-wide announcement and a post on the Hachyderm Hachyderm account.
+
+Once Threads starts federating, we will do research and commit to take action, with initial
+announcement, within two weeks. We will follow up with a more detailed blog post within 30
+days of the decision.
+
+As a reminder, any Hachydermian can bring up questions, concerns, and requests for changes
+at any time. This means that regardless of the decision that is ultimately made regarding
+Threads, users can voice their concerns and request that decision be reversed.
+
+### Resources for finding out more about the implications of Meta / Threads
+
+We’ve received some Q&A over a few different channels as more information started coming out
+over the course of June. Some of the questions asked around what would happen if the Meta
+instance / Threads was a source of extremism, illegal content, and so forth. The answer to
+all of these is the same as the above: we block and ban users and instances that engage in
+those activities.
+
+There are also lots of questions about “what would happen if”. For example, what would happen
+if the Meta instance becomes large or starts federating? There is also a lot of speculation
+around concern that Meta could deploy what’s called the “embrace, extend, extinguish” strategy
+against ActivityPub. This basically means that Meta would adopt it, start to build it out, and
+then (try to) eliminate its use.
+
+Another concern in this area is what would happen with user data. **To state it clearly: Hachyderm
+does not and will not ever sell user data. Due to the consequences of federation, we also cannot
+federate with instances that sell user data.**
+
+This means that if Hachyderm does ultimately federate with Threads, if and when they start
+federating, it will be because they pass all the above tests and, importantly, doing so does
+not result in Hachydermians data being used or sold without their consent. If Hachyderm does
+not ultimately federate with Threads, then it will be because the instance violated one or
+more of our policies for federation.
+
+As the situation is still evolving, there is a lot of speculation to be answered.
+[The Mastodon project has a blog post](https://blog.joinmastodon.org/2023/07/what-to-know-about-threads/)
+that answers some of these, including what can
+(and cannot) be done with ActivityPub or the Mastodon software. Similarly,
+[Nexus of Privacy is writing a long deep dive into issues and concerns with Fediverse Privacy and Threat Modeling](https://privacy.thenexus.today/fediverse-threat-modeling-privacy-and-meta/). 
+The article is still a draft, but already contains great points to consider if you or your
+instance are not doing so already.
+
+# Hachyderm inbound and outbound communications
+
+A few quick reminders for how to communicate with the Hachyderm maintainers, if you have
+questions or concerns or need to request changes.
+
+## Reminder that we use Github Issues for consolidated, searchable, discussion threads
+
+We use [Github Issues](https://github.com/hachyderm/community/issues) as a means of communication - including intentionally leaving some
+threads open as Community Discussions. For 1:1 conversations, please feel free to continue
+to use email and Hachyderm’s Hachyderm account. We’ve also created a Hachyderm Maintainers
+Discord user that we use for Q&A in Nivenly’s Community Discord. That said, for wider
+conversations please consider using the Github Issues, as other users can search for and
+join in on the conversation! We mention this here mostly because Github Issues is the only
+place we haven’t received Q&A about Meta yet.
+
+## How we communicate site-wide
+
+We also wanted to provide a refresher for how we communicate anything that is user impacting,
+including decisions, outages, and so forth, as it’ll be relevant to the other subsections about Meta.
+The tools we use to send **announcements** are one or more of the following:
+
+* Hachyderm site announcements 
+* Posts on [Hachyderm’s Hachyderm](https://hachyderm.io/@hachyderm) account, which
+  are also cross posted in the Hachyderm category of Nivenly’s Community Discord
+* [Blog posts and documentation](https://community.hachyderm.io)
+
+All site announcements are also cross posted as a post on Hachyderm’s Hachyderm account. We include
+blog posts when there is additional detail that needs to be included, for example the
+[Crypto Spam incident from May 2023](https://community.hachyderm.io/blog/2023/05/17/crypto-spam-attacks-on-fediverse/). 
+
+We take into account how high the user impact of a decision is before choosing which, or all,
+of the communication paths to use. So in a case where the user impact is high you can expect
+to see site announcements and Hachyderm posts, as well as a blog post if additional detail is
+needed; whereas in situations where there is low to no user impact we’d only make a Hachyderm
+post if one is needed.
+
+For **1:1 communications**, like Q&A and other discussions that are not announcements, we use:
+
+* The Hachyderm Hachyderm account
+* The Hachyderm Maintainers Github account
+* The Hachyderm Maintainers Discord account
+* Our email, which is [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected])
+
+We have communications documented on [our Reporting and Communications documentation page](https://community.hachyderm.io/docs/moderation/reporting/) for reference.