[jack1243star]

Yes, I forgot about this feature (is this opt-in or default on by the instance owner?) This addresses my last point.

But admins can still choose to block instances in the future that I might have interest interacting with. It is like a gamble choosing an instance.

Making an instance is tedious, and once someone in charge finds out who you hangout with, your domain name gets blocked. Such is socializing.

[cjslep]

> But admins can still choose to block instances in the future that I might have interest interacting with. It is like a gamble choosing an instance.

Then have multiple accounts and abide by each instances' rules.

> Making an instance is tedious, and once someone in charge finds out who you hangout with, your domain name gets blocked. Such is socializing.

You can still hang out with the folks you were hanging out with. They blocking you has no bearing over who you hang out with, unless you let them get under your skin.

Based on your responses here and elsewhere it sounds like you have a bone to pick with Mastodon because you can't find a solution where you get to be heard by everyone all the time, from the far-left to the far-right. That's not a right and that's not "free speech", that's trampling on others' freedom of association and their right to build communities as they see fit: Not every person is welcome in every community. Who are you and I to dictate what a "correct, healthy community" is?

[jack1243star]

Please don't put words in my mouth, personally I don't have anything worthy of being heard.

I really wanted Mastodon to be where I can find everyone. To be free of censorship, ads and algorithm-induced bubbles. I am lucky to have the "right" mentality (in regard to the tech industry), so I am not often suppressed, but everyone is different.

I don't want to impose on someone a "correct, healthy community". Blocking an instance seems to do so.

[cjslep]

Sorry, didn't mean to put words in your mouth.

However, it's very presumptuous to say:

"I really wanted Mastodon to be where I can find everyone."

That's Facebook and Twitter. And even then you can't find everyone.

People go to the Fediverse to build the community they want, not be subjected to "everyone". It's this clash of collective rights vs individualism that seems to drive so many of these ridiculous arguments. It's no different (or, in fact, it may be better now) than getting banned from one of the many phpBB forums of 20 years ago. Those communities thrived and the banned didn't even have an instance leftover to call a home: everything was gone when they got banned.

Just because you want to find everyone, doesn't mean everyone wants you to find them.

[jack1243star]

Hmm, maybe I should see the fediverse as multiple loosely-connected Twitter clones, rather than one place maybe? I seemed to have a malformed expectation regarding Mastodon. Thanks for clarifying that for me.

"Mastodon is a decentralized network! Remember, regardless of server choice you can talk to and follow anyone on Mastodon!" -- mastodon.social

I was perhaps misreading the developer's intentions.

[cjslep]

Mastodon is just one ActivityPub software. PeerTube and Pixelfed let your loosely-connected Twitter clones also be loosely connected to Instagram clones. It's a big world.

So I wouldn't get too hung up on one developer (me included).