Because of the starting discussion here about #moderation and #BIPoC and #LGBTQIA in the fediverse, may I add my very small 2¢?
IMHO instances should be governed by the same principles any modern democracy functions.
Legislative: All users of the instance decide about its rules.
Executive: A number of moderators act on these rules, voted by the people
Judiciary: A number of judges control the moderators and are voted by the people.
Financing then also has to be done by the people.
@gurubert Apart from the issues I see according to German Law at least, I haven't seen this approach working unless there's a single controlling instance that can enforce who's in and who's out. After all, you shouldn't be allowed to force by Law to become a community member either; I don't think that's how the idea of a "community" works.
@wusel I am at birth member of a community called my state (usually) where I am usually forced to pay taxes as soon as I can afford it.
If I want to take part in an association (a german Verein) I also have to become member and pay fees. Such an association is usually democratically organized.
But maybe Internet communities need another model. How does democracy come into play here?
@gurubert Let's me tell you my view on e. g. the #Freifunk movement. There are registered associations, there are non-registered ones or people that just work together (which legally may be an partnership unter the Cocil Code (dt.: GbR ) or a non-registered association (dt.: nicht-eingetragener Verein). These work together unter the Freifunk umbrella, broadly sharing the same goals but apply different ways of working towards those locally. 1/x
@gurubert Now, to consider yourself a part of the movement, you don't have to join any of these associations at all, but just to work with
others towards the generic goals. 2+ people IIRC doing that already count as a "Community".
Those smaller Communities form the bigger, german wide, Freifunk Community. 2/x
@gurubert hey together somehow decide on things, but by having trademarked the name "Freifunk", one registered association from Berlin – that kind of invented it in the first place – in theory could excersise some power on "misbehaving" communities to at least not call themselves "Freifunk" anymore. 3/x
@gurubert The #Fediverse, AFAICS, lacks this top-level authority. Similarily to how the email system works, you "add a server" and are part of it. The powers that are in these systems somehow define standards for "good" and "bad" behavior, and ways to keep the "bad guys" from causing to much friction. 4/4
@wusel Exactly. But each email provider has its own rules (called AGB in Germany).
And I just proposed rules for one instance that is governed democratically. Others do not have to play by these democratic rules, but then people are able to chose.
@gurubert I don't have any AGB for may personal mail (server) ... Nor do those of e. g. Google or GMX apply to my email to them.
Well, you stated initially "IMHO instances should be governed", to me that applied to any instance. If that's supposed to be a hint on choosing one's homeinstance(s), sure, that would be ideal for the "people" (users of that instance) — OTOH, "you have the code to fix it" or, similarily: you're free to setup your own, set your own rules there, no?
@wusel The discussion seems to be that non-technical people are not able to do that and these are often from said groups.
@gurubert Group together, found an association, hire some admin(s) to run the thing technically for your association, and then join that instance as members? If the group has no funds, they should try to raise them ...
I just don't think the proper way is to kind of hijack an instance and press your groups rules on that instance's owner, admins and users. As that's what I read as the long term idea between your initial toot's lines ...
@wusel Quite the contrary. I was just thinking about rules for instances that are well goverened and welcoming to such groups. But as an outsider I am not very qualified.
@gurubert Do I want the EU or the UN to step in and regulate? For God's Sake, No!