Our Antifa Bar is Being Surrounded

The Nazi bar analogy argues that if you let any Nazis in, eventually it becomes a Nazi bar. Their presence bothers everyone such that only Nazis want to come there. Everybody else leaves or stays quiet. But this assumes that their presence is allowed to be bothersome.

Imagine the fedi as a bar. Each server is a table. The people at each table regulate that local conversation, but mostly don't know what's being discussed at the other tables. They are quiet enough and nobody wears swastikas etc. People can also interact with different tables as they wish.

When somebody at a table does get loud and annoys other tables, the other tables take action. That patron is either kicked out or if it becomes a normal issue with that table, they all gotta go. If you don't do this, the Nazi bar downward spiral ensues.

But another problem is also possible, and I think it's happening on fedi. Instead of just being concerned about our own tables and waiting for a troublemaker at another table, we're on the lookout for suspect conversations. Nice family members of ours who are culturally conservative. We're kicking them out or using their presence to kick out entire tables. Or allowing them to be harassed. We're loudly saying they are not welcome here.

And so they have to go to the bad places to have a social media presence. The people who want to interact with them on social media have to join them there. The journalists and other creators who want them as an audience have to be there. And they all then get bombarded by trolls and shitty algorithms, while missing out on any contributions we could make to the conversation. We're inadvertently feeding the beast. Staying small while they get bigger and more influential.

I understand where these norms came from. The early days here were about small groups escaping the mainstream social media experience. There was no hope of having an effect on the wider culture. But I don't think that's where we are today. The big platforms have gotten worse and people want somewhere else to go. More and more, they understand enshittification and the fascist politics of big tech.

And we have more than enough tools to handle a wider array of content and perspectives here. The web has had horrific sites and users for over twenty years but did not become a Nazi bar. Because it's decentralized, doesn't have algos and email spam blocking. We can browse where we want to and are mostly protected from others forcing us to see what we don't. We could do more to protect people from junk on the web but it would also limit free expression on both sides. It would eventually lead to the creation of another web for those then excluded, a second web that would grow bigger than ours as our empathy standards got higher. Being unable to support infrastructure on both, we'd have to go there sometimes. I hope you see the parallels.

So what I'm arguing for is a new norm for the fediverse: Good Faith Federation. That we federate with everyone who isn't acting like a troll and with instances that do not support them. While I understand that not everyone will or can follow this, it will make fedi more likely to grow and pull people away from the platforms full of propaganda. It will make it slightly more common that one stumbles upon upsetting content, it will help pull the larger society away from the hate and misinformation that seems to be growing everywhere.

Let's talk about it. Thanks.