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This shit demonstrates exactly some of the arguments I've been making here. The thing that I want to direct everyone to is this:
"There is a fundamentally diferent culture here that you will need to understand or accept or you won't make it here... This is a world of builders.. you won't get anywhere by publishing social thesis or critiques."
https://soapbox.midwaytrades.com/objects/0c9b5e2b-1673-408d-acef-e6e7024ff3f1
The post, and the poster's replies, indicate one of my broader critiques: the "open source world of builders" that the OP points to is one that, by OP's own admission, does not care about the social critique of the things they are building.
That is, in a "world of builders" the social organization of what is being built is less important than actually being able to build something. To the extent that the social is less relevant, this is that I "need to understand."
Here, then, is a problem: insofar as this is a general attitude among members of the fediverse, it is predictable that folks are quick to say "build your own instance" as a solution BECAUSE it is an engineering solution presenting within the context of a "builder's world," but this ignores the fact that people have to LIVE in the world built by... uh... builders?
This points back to something that I've been saying and, honestly, is something that mastodonians of color have been saying: you cannot engineer a solution to a cultural problem. And, insofar as OP makes clear the cultural context of the cultural problems facing Mastodon, I actually agree with them.
Mastodon is a world of builders, but the myopic focus on the ability to build ignores what is being built and who is supposed to "live" there.
And, insofar as this "world of builders" keeps spitting out engineering solutions to cultural problems, the same cultural problems will continue to arise within the fediverse.
Why do you THINK the fediverse has never heard the end of CW and QT discourse? Why do you think that other replies in my threads have said "I've heard this whinging before?" It's because y'all keep trying to engineer a solution to a cultural problem.
And insofar as the dominant culture of mastodon keeps trying to treat its social problems as engineering problems, it'll keep having these problems and people will keep pointing them out until they leave or mastodon grapples with them.
@shengokai This one toot speaks to so many issues in our techie world. On top of the social and cultural, I'd add psychological. Tech is not a panacea for personal productivity and well being, ditto frictions and worse in our social and cultural worlds. But it sure helps to have people understand the tech and its limitations, especially if they can find a way to converse with the people who build these things, maybe even help them do so.