that article gives you a little insight on what the challenges are when running your own Mastodon server

sometimes >> taking responsibility for a social media site is a bad idea:

"Mastodon administrators have access to everyone’s DMs by default. FTAV has no interest in sliding uninvited into anyone’s DMs and the best way to prove it is to remove all opportunity"

Mastodon uses basic encryption to protect direct messages between users, but not end-to-end encryption

Mastodon itself pops up a warning when creating direct messages that explicitly states that posts are not end-to-end encrypted and that you shouldn't share any sensitive information using the service

(For that matter, same applies to Twitter’s DMs)

While it may not be necessary easy for an admin to read your DMs, it is certainly possible.

Social media is not the place to have sensitive conversations. You do not have privacy there

social media 101 >> if you have something to say in a DM think "would I mind if this was public" before hitting send

OH DEAR. THIS POST WAS SET TO SELF-DETONATE 💣 💥 🔥

Ą̷͇̀l̵̩̓̕l̸̩͘ ̸̭̪̈́ť̷̝̍̆h̶̡̛̰̯̏͌a̷͕̞͋̂t̵̩͙͑̈́͝'̵̛̍́ͅͅş̴̬̱͝ ̷̗̊͠l̵͚̕͠ē̸̻͓̐͝f̷̧͙̀̑͝t̶͓̓͊̚ ̶̜̱̓͌́a̴͉͊r̶̡̩͛̀é̵̦̞͕ ̶̮̾ṫ̷̡͈̍ḧ̸̛͍́̊e̴̫̅ş̶̥̰̓e̴̟̪͌͂̇ ̷̞̅͊̚h̷̰͕͈͂e̶̡̹̜̚ŗ̸̗͈̾̇e̴̩̍͐ ̷̪͉̩̀a̵̡̱̐͑͝s̴͎͖̈́h̸͈͌́͜e̴͕̝̐̌ś̶͓̆ͅ.̵̩̉ ̵̱͊͑̀

@0x56 that's true 👍

@ecksmc
Really interesting article that probably describes the dilemma of many a Mastodon instance.

While the authors explore the technical and legal aspects of social media administration, they don't talk about user management, which I suspect is equally if not more tricky. Users are people, and Twitter now looks like what happens if you just set up a site and let things rip.

CoSo is a rare example of a real online community enabled by skillful technical and user administration.