Oddbean new post about login | logout I've had bots and npubs doing that to me the whole time. You told me to just mute and report. So, mute and report. Tag, you're it.
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Yes, they follow me around and generate a bunch of new npubs to report me. That's where most of my reports are from: bots and trolls.
That sucks. I’m sorry to hear it. I’d say spam bots (like those and the one that guy Rabble was trying to build) is a different category than reports for content. Were they reporting you for ideological reasons? What was the issue?
All npubs are equal. There is no censorship on Nostr, so don't ask for it, regardless of the reason. That isn't how Nostr works. If someone wants to make a list called "Stupid Commies" and troll everyone on it with bots, they are free to do that. There is only mute and report and people freely controlling their own feed or walling themselves into gardens.
Think the 1st Amendment is a good model. Speech cannot be censored for ideological content, but you have no right to libel someone. So if you destroy my reputation by putting me on a list, I could sue you. For nostr, obviously I cannot *prevent* thought-police from putting me on a list because the protocol allows that. But freedom software is necessary but not sufficient. It’s also the people that use it who help determine its free-ness. I don’t know the exact solution to what happened to you (beyond muting the npubs should I ever come across them), but giving some person authority to manage the “good” and “bad” lists is not it.
Nobody needs to give anyone authority to write a list, on Nostr. You could start an army of WeHateRabble bots and retaliate. He can't stop you. He can only mute and report. And this is a good thing. Otherwise, we really would need a central authority deciding which npubs could write.
Yeah, I’m not talking about the code. I’m talking about the ethos. You want to libel people with a list, no one can stop you. But that should be instant reputational suicide. And this should be well known and part of the ethos (the code, In a different sense of that word.) I wouldn’t need to spam the protocol with those bots because in trying to destroy its free speech ethos (by essentially trying to excommunicate or “deplatform” others for their views) he would excommunicate himself. You can build whatever tools you like to help on the spam front (and you should!), but I’m going to advocate for an ethos in the spirit of free speech, which is the free expression of ideas. It’s like Karl Popper’s paradox of tolerance: the only thing we can’t tolerate is intolerance because that’s the end to tolerance.
Why should it be suicide? What is my report list or mute list? Same sort of list. Anyone can write any list and publish it. I'm probably on lots of lists. 😂 I don't know and don't care. We have to get over trying to control what other people write.
Your mute list is just a collection of npubs you personally don’t want to encounter. Not remotely the same thing as someone building a bot/team to monitor bad/unworthy accounts and to serve on purpose as a signal to others to avoid. Sure, those lists are a bunch of randos now that don’t affect you, but if you get put on the “bad” list and suddenly you’re reaching 1/10th of your former audience, you might care quite a bit. It’s Linda Yaccarino saying, “Freedom of speech doesn’t mean freedom of reach to justify Twitter throttling certain accounts.” It *should* be reputational suicide IMO to try to turn nostr into that, no matter the ostensible greater good of the purported motivation.
Welcome to Nostr. The trannies are here ruining it like Mastodon nostr:nevent1qqsrdtcwmk0guzu8uvu62egx6px7jp9363vas5wcd50ew9rpamxf5fqpz3mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuerpd46hxtnfdupzptw4ry97geehdp2xcx94vhdr56vjg8cwq6n4utduq0ccvc73k7e8qvzqqqq8cq6qlhnf