josh

@josh@union.place

Activist, geek, community organizer. Deeply involved with open source, open standards, and federated tech.

Mod account, posts are pure admin and activism.

he/they 🏳️‍🌈 bi+disabled white guy 🦓

Server rules: https://union.place/about

Tag a modmin if you need us! @tim @josh https://union.place/@kabrams @crs

#HumanRights #hEDS #ADHD #CripTheVote #Solidarity #BlackTransLivesMatter #LandBack #SolarPunk #HopePunk

This profile is from a federated server and may be incomplete. Browse more on the original instance.

josh, to random

I got banned from a large leftist meme group for articulating why I think tactical voting is consistent with being angry and dissatisfied with the political duopoly in the US.

(Briefly, it's easier to continue advancing ranked choice voting and the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact when we don't have to be so wholly focused on fighting a slide into authoritarian white Christian nationalism.)

Feels a little weird, and makes me all the more worried about this election year.

josh,

@seachanger @mdylanbell Yeah, that's kinda how I see it too.

I, like many of the folks who don't share my views on tactical voting, am incandescent with rage at the current administration (even while I see some bright spots).

How we arrive at such different conclusions is worthy of exploration ... and a very very long conversation 😅

josh,

@seachanger @mdylanbell Oooh, that is an insightful analysis.

And I've fallen into those reactionary patterns at times, too. Thankfully getting more hands on with organizing, both locally and online, has been extremely instructive. I've yet to see a win achieved by atomizing ourselves into ever more "pure" camps 😅

Some days the flame of hope is harder to keep alive than others, but I remain hopeful!

josh, to meta

Thanks to all the people tooting about #SOTU tonight.

Love to have a decent second screen experience for live events on an open protocol like ActivityPub!

#Meta #Fediverse #USPol

josh, to Sports

"Hours before their final game of the season, the Dartmouth men's basketball team has voted to join a union, becoming the first unionized college sports team in the U.S. and opening many thorny questions about the future of college sports."

https://www.npr.org/2024/03/05/1235877656/ncaa-dartmouth-mens-basketball-union-election-nlrb

#Sports #Union

josh, to trustandsafety

The is glad to sign on to the @iftas pledge against misgendering and deadnaming on the fediverse: https://about.iftas.org/2024/01/30/targeted-misgendering-and-deadnaming-in-the-fediverse/

We're proud to have had those rules in place here since day 1 and will be reviewing our policies to further strengthen them as needed.

There is no room for bigotry against gender and sexual minorities here, and we thank IFTAS for their work on making the fediverse a safer and more welcoming place.

josh, to fediverse

This is a remarkably lively night here at #UnionPlace and across the #Fediverse.

A definite sense of a communing around the good news.

Thanks for being here, y'all :solidarity:

josh, to fediverse

Oooh, I'm 8 days late but #UnionPlace has now been around for a full year 🥳

Here's to continuing our work to connect and build worker power across the globe, free from proprietary centralized platforms that answer only to their shareholders.

#Fediverse #Labor #ProtocolsNotPlatforms #UnionStrong #1U

josh, to random

There are things swirling around fedi meta about union.place following our decision to stop offering our blocklist to aggregators.

I've been taking my time before commenting, as hastiness does not serve anyone well as we build cross-movement solidarity in the fight against power structures that divide, extract, surveil, and oppress.

As of now, accusations are being levied against the entire modmin team and are circulating in public.

I'd like to offer my own commentary. 1/6 🧵

josh,

If you’re not tuned into the cutting edge of fedi meta, you’ve missed much of this. Basically, u.p offered our blocklist up as a source for several aggregator projects, as we believe that is an important way to contribute to advancing Trust & Safety.

One project run by a prominent person launched with flaws. It happens, nothing is perfect. More concerning, this project had less in the way of process, receipts, and safeguards than others, and it showed in the results. 2/6

josh,

Not wanting to be a party to harm, u.p stepped back. What followed was messy. Through inappropriate disclosure of PMs, it came out that one of our modmins had been attempting to coexist with the aforementioned project leader despite a history of interpersonal harm, because we all shared a belief that the work being done was important.

People began projecting onto that, and u.p was removed from a backchannel (which we understand was disbanded by its leaders shortly thereafter). 3/6

josh,

Plainly: u.p has been accused of harboring racism, and my fellow team members are being publicly maligned.

And look, insofar as everyone has learned racism from the cultures we were brought up in, and white people are least clued into this, it’s true. I’m as racist as the next marginalized white person. I’m also anti-racist, and constantly evolving on that front so as to uplift the most vulnerable and build solidarity.

But that’s not what’s at play here. 4/6

josh,

The facts are:

  1. u.p continues to support blocklist projects,
  2. u.p is wary of solo maintainer projects which are less accountable and sustainable than those which prioritize movement and institution building, and
  3. a private history of interpersonal conflict doesn’t fit neatly into the kind of simplistic and accusatory main character narrative that speeds around the network.

We invite critical feedback, and we have a track record of evolving in response to it. 5/6

josh,

To conclude: people on the internet are trading in hearsay, and the truth is getting harder to find. It’s frustratingly familiar. But don’t take my word for it. Tune in to community leaders who have a track record of personal accountability and resisting reactionary instincts.

Meanwhile, the u.p team continues to be dedicated to building cross-movement solidarity through online community organizing, and we invite you to call us in and call us out so we can grow together. 6/6

josh, to accessibility

One of the finer points of making your hashtags accessible for people who use screen readers, beyond using #camelCase or #PascalCase:

If you're using an acronym as a hashtag, don't lowercase any of the letters the way you might if it was title case.

Why? A lowercase letter following an uppercase letter is treated as a word, so title casing your acronym will muddle your meaning for those reliant on screen readers.

#Accessibility

josh, to accessibility

A gentle reminder to folks who are new to Mastodon. In solidarity with those in the disabled community who rely on screen readers, we ask that you:

  • Add alt text/image descriptions when you post media
  • Capitalize the first letter of every word in a hashtag #LikeThis
  • Avoid emojis in your display name

UPDATE: So many great questions! Please check the replies to see if your question has been asked and answered ❤️

#StrongerTogether #Accessibility #AltText #Disability #Solidarity #FediTips

  • All
  • Subscribed
  • Moderated
  • Favorites
  • •
  • megavids
  • mdbf
  • ngwrru68w68
  • modclub
  • magazineikmin
  • thenastyranch
  • rosin
  • khanakhh
  • InstantRegret
  • Youngstown
  • slotface
  • Durango
  • kavyap
  • DreamBathrooms
  • JUstTest
  • GTA5RPClips
  • tacticalgear
  • normalnudes
  • tester
  • osvaldo12
  • everett
  • cubers
  • ethstaker
  • anitta
  • Leos
  • cisconetworking
  • provamag3
  • lostlight
  • All magazines
    •