I don't even want to hear about free speech. You aren't entitled to someone else's attention. Trolling is not a Constitutional right. You want to do that, spin up your own instance.
And certainly, someone could start a free-speech-anarchist instance with all pest controls off. For mastodon.social, though, I think they have a real responsibility to crack down on this shit.
The right to abuse is not about freedom. It silences people. It restricts freedom and expression—it never enhances it.
@csilverman Free speech is overrated and the ones always going on about how important and fundamental it is are those most likely to use it against the powerless.
@elronxenu That's been my experience: the people most passionately opposed to controls are the people least likely to be abused.
I ran a forum in college. The previous admins did nothing about abuse, and when I took it over, it was not some grand utopia of ideas and freedom—it was a sewer of trolling and hate speech. All the smart, interesting people had left.
Since then, I've never bought the idea that unfettered freedom means better conversations. I've seen for myself that it doesn't.
