I’m still trying to understand all this. I thought all instances “see” (federate) each other. If they can defederate (block) others from seeing an instance, isn’t that going to make discovery a problem? Wouldn’t that also mean I need to create a new account just to see that instance?
Sorta, but as long as they default to federate everything you could always view it from another instance, or even start a new one yourself (inconvenient but doable).
For most instances the default stance is to federate everything, and defederate as last resort. Defederatipon isn’t used just because you disagree with someone’s taste in memes. It’s used to isolate servers that are doing something you consider unhealthy for your community. A common example is unmoderated hate speech. It’s better to defederate the problem server than to expose your own users and risk an exodus. And then if/when the instance fixes the problem that caused the defederation, you can refederate them.
I’m still trying to understand all this. I thought all instances “see” (federate) each other. If they can defederate (block) others from seeing an instance, isn’t that going to make discovery a problem? Wouldn’t that also mean I need to create a new account just to see that instance?
deleted by creator
Sorta, but as long as they default to federate everything you could always view it from another instance, or even start a new one yourself (inconvenient but doable).
For most instances the default stance is to federate everything, and defederate as last resort. Defederatipon isn’t used just because you disagree with someone’s taste in memes. It’s used to isolate servers that are doing something you consider unhealthy for your community. A common example is unmoderated hate speech. It’s better to defederate the problem server than to expose your own users and risk an exodus. And then if/when the instance fixes the problem that caused the defederation, you can refederate them.