#TopicOfConversation This all happened on the same day, a day after the Supreme Court’s affirmative action ruling. Coincidence? Are we in the midst of another nadir period in American history? See post about nadir.
I, a Black woman, have had a marvelous experience on Mastodon because these mods don't play. For being a place-specific instance, SFBA has a very clearly expressed value system and it's reflected in the mods. They are proactive, even-handed, and respectful.
There's no doubt - the Fediverse acts different from Twitter. Whether it's search or the convention of using tags - things are not the same.
I have found some newcomers' resistance to using tags a little puzzling. Tags are how one navigates and jumps across the Fediverse!
That's absolutely how I'm finding #BlackMastodon#BlackAcademics and other identity-specific content/users. I find the tag, scroll through the posts/users, and either follow the tag wholesale or pick out the users to follow. And so on and so on.
This has allowed me to follow folks on different instances, across topics, regions, etc.
For me, it's clear that there are at least 2 different issues at play, which are unfortunately not creating the best experience for folks: safety and belonging for Black + Brown users and then ease of use for all Fedi newcomers (especially if they come from the Twitters.)