Justin Russell

@matunos@mastodon.social @Empiricism@scicomm.xyz @nafnlaus@fosstodon.org @stanstallman@sfba.social @jdp23@indieweb.social @mergerson@mastodon.social One way to combat this would be to see if people involved with the #blackbirds on Twitter could get together and create a Mastodon instance focused on Black Mastodon users. There is a lack of diversity in tech overall. In my opinion establishing an instance for and by black users would help establish social media norms and help educate other instances on proper content moderation on issues like racism.

@robinshipton@writing.exchange @BenAveling@mastodon.world @matunos@mastodon.social His post ended by saying, "The post shouldn't have been deleted." Mastodon has an established history of trying to prevent targeted harassment on issues like racism and xenophobia by moderating blatantly racist/xenophobic content. The tech industry is overwhelming white and male. To make progress on how to address issues like race perhaps we should work on educating each another and not tossing incendiary bombs at one another.

@robinshipton@writing.exchange @BenAveling@mastodon.world @matunos@mastodon.social Something I think that is important to note: On Twitter marginalized groups had an upward battle against targeted harassment and hate that was experienced on a daily basis. Twitter users were justified in assuming the worst about other's intentions. Mastodon, by design, wanted to avoid that targeted harassment. There may be issues with moderation moving forward but most Mastodon users aren't here to tone police or attack. We all can learn from this.

@robinshipton@writing.exchange Yes others may have assumed that it was offensive to someone. It wasn't offensive to me nor to him. Mastodon isn't Twitter. It was built on moderating out information deemed racist or xenophobic. Not everyone understands systemic racism correctly. I'm not your enemy and I don't believe the other person you've been conversing with is either. You aren't our enemy either. I hope this can be an opportunity to express our opinions and grow from this experience.