A regrettable but completely understandable action. I think this highlights the need for improved moderation tools in Lemmy. Right now the only available option is a sledgehammer of defederation which nobody is happy with. Instances absolutely have the right to protect their members in whatever ways they deem appropriate, this is the benefit of a decentralized platform, but we clearly need more granular options.
No I think improved moderation is the last thing we need. We need moderation, but moderation is supposed to be an in the background thing, not this end all be all dictatorship bullshit, submit or watch me ban you and censor you bullshit, like we saw Reddit turn into. I mean exhibit A, look how that’s turning out for them.
This kills Lemmy, I guess? It’s not practical for the second and third largest instances to defederate - it just creates two separate networks depending on which side people pick.
It was nice while it lasted, but I can’t see Lemmy surviving this.
I see it this way: federation is unironically a feature, not a bug. What will the platform look like in 5 years? Maybe none of the currently “big” instances will exist anymore, but others will have taken their place. Maybe a rotation of popular instances will be normal (probably not), I don’t know. I can always make a new account and move to another instance - I find that beautiful.
I think if you retain the expectation of a monolithic all-in-one network like Reddit is, the Fediverse might not be for you - but for others, it will be right! Federation won’t kill Lemmy, it may attract a certain demographic for sure, but again, I see the merit in that.
