Defederation may be the only solution to the problem without changing the source code to allow for better administration tools.
Defederation may be the only solution to the problem without changing the source code to allow for better administration tools.
I understand the push back and I don’t think it could ever reach the ideal for decentralization without sacrificing much of what it currently is. The average person will need an entry point or some general instance before moving to one that more fits their needs. What’s on the front page, determined entirely by federation and defederation, will be a person’s first impression. If it’s bad, that person may never be back, and growth will likely be slowed or stopped. If it’s a single-user instance, the chance that it’s a bad first impression becomes higher because a user will start without a blocklist.
To me it sounds like they’re advocating for decentralization. Defederation means less traffic for an instance. If the majority of users are already on one instance, defederation could end it. I imagine most people want an instance where they can reach the most people. If they, understandably, pick the largest instance, it may not be long before it holds all the power, in terms of user acivity or count, and becomes the center.
I can’t either. “Allow” and “block” has always made more sense to me, though, so I wouldn’t mind the change.
Interesting.