@freemo Still 403

@admitsWrongIfProven maybe that individual user has us blocked? Can you follow other accounts on social?

@freemo Just tried that and followed the first random account, that worked. Can you follow "https://mastodon.social/@elhotzo"?

@admitsWrongIfProven Yes I can follow them... is it possible they have you blocked personally?

@freemo Since i have no history with that account, it would mean i was on some public malicious block list. That would explain why that other account i have no quarrel with is unfollowable.

I understand that it is neccessary to not notify blocked people for privacy / safety reasons, but it is incredibly frustrating to be blocked without any interaction.

@admitsWrongIfProven It seems unlikely you as an individual (rather thant he server) is on a block list... thats kinda weird...

@freemo Well, i just read Will Wheatons post about why he left masto, that included a block list he used that included trans people (for no good reason), so i guess it does happen that individual people are on block lists.

Anyway, thanks for your help, i think i see clearer now.

@admitsWrongIfProven I beleive the block list you are reading about was the one he used on twitter before moving to mastodon, and people were mad at him for having used (and promoted) that blocklist over on twitter, among other reasons to be mad at him.

As far as I know wil didnt maintain any block lists in his short time here.

@freemo What his post said was that he used one provided by someone else, and that list included individuals that should not be on there.
In any case, it was just to illustrate that i did hear about public block lists with individuals, not servers. I don't know the details about Will.

Seems like masto is a place where one needs a non-controversial (=silent) account to actually read stuff from more than a select few.

@admitsWrongIfProven yea he is talking about the twitter block list by the sound of it (which was a big deal when he was here).

@freemo Side note: Yeah, it's the lefties that block, not the right wingers. My own non-representative data points say the same.

@admitsWrongIfProven My personal expiernces line up with that too.

@freemo And there, the real questions begin:

Are people that are associated left exposed to more abuse, or more violent threats? (-> more incentive to block quickly)

Still open question about the mix, can't count the troll accounts to right wing, they are just trolls and unconcerned about what people think of them.

Also: i would not follow someone openly "right", as in against equal rights for women / lgbtq+, or anyone racist. I would not notice if they blocked me, just think "they don't want to answer".

@admitsWrongIfProven I wouldnt say the right equates to being against equal rights for women neccessary... but yes if someone was openly against equality I wouldnt follow them regardless of their political party.

@freemo Ah, sorry, i was in the "what the media tells me about the usa" space. Of course there are other right wing groups in other places and also i will not get a lot of the less spectacular info from overseas.

Did you know our conservatives* met with DeSantis? Lowering their standards when nobody thought they could.

* A bit misleading, they do not seek to conserve anything.

@freemo Ah, i just noticed there is some reading comprehension / things unsaid left here:

When i said "openly oppose", i meant saying so. They might factually do the opposite, but claim to do otherwise.

So what was meant was that someone associated left would usually not openly oppose, but have some kind of logic error in there. I just set that as "always", i know there can be exceptions.

An interesting example would be TERFs, saying they are for womens rights, but factually doing women a disservice by normalizing exclusion of groups that hurt noone.
Bit of a stretch, because they exclude some, but i hope it serves to explain what i meant.

So if i suspect logic error, not bad intent, i just might follow someone i disagree with to maybe spot an opportunity to explain in an understandable way.

And maybe you thought i would include actual conservatives (which are extremely rare, those that try to conserve what is there and cautiously improve) with the right, which i do not. The right is the monarchists, slowly evolved to "me keep power, even if blood not blue", different thing entirely.