Feuerfest

That one was a first for me. Someone on Mastodon mentioned me. And at first I was confused. I couldn't remember ever having contact with that person.

Naturally I asked why I was being mentioned. The other toots in that thread didn't make sense to me. Clearly I lacked context.

The person replied with: "Block recommendation for that person/single-user instance."

I groaned immediately. I don't like all this preemptive blocking. Yes, there are scenarios where it can be useful as there are some really nasty & vile Mastodon instances out there. But why should I block that person? Why that person in particular?

I did not know the person who sent me the block recommendation, nor did I know the name of the "blockworthy" person or Mastodon instance. In addition, the admin of the Mastodon instance I use was also mentioned. My best guess was that this person was sending messages to all sorts of administrators of random Mastodon instances. Just the internet being ... the internet.

I replied: "But I have nothing to do with any instance. I'm not an admin anywhere. And why should I block preventively? I actively block when something annoys me. Everything else is a fight against windmills and not worth my time."

And then the following conversation developed:

Internet Person: "Up to you. That's why I also mentioned your instance admin."

Me: "Yes, but why? That took 5 minutes of my time completely unnecessarily. Without you, I would never have found out about the instance. I.. Arg.. Yes, ok. Good. Let's leave it at that. I'm too old and I've been on the internet too long..."

Internet Person: "You were in contact with him, that's why. And whether it costs you 5 minutes of your time is really irrelevant if he simultaneously insults hundreds of others on your instance in a racist, trans- or misogynistic way."

Me: "Ok, THAT is information that I would have liked to have had straight away. Do you still have the link or can you tell me when that was?"

Internet Person: "You were talking about something else, but still. I'm trying to find out from his timeline which major instances have not yet banned him." (Screenshot was attached but isn't shown here.)

It was literally one, ONE reply that person made to a toot of mine about a technical topic. I added several hashtags to that toot and that must have been how that person found my toot. That person doesn't follow me, nor am I. Also I don't know that person. And the conversation happened in February 2025. I had already completely forgotten about it.

I had a brief look at this one-person Mastodon instance and yes, while his profile was private the description that person gave about himself said enough. Also the list of blocked instances he blocked and the reasons he gave for it.

But honestly? I don't fucking care. Hence my answer.

Me: "Thanks for the screenshot! But yes, I'll leave it at that. Since his profile is private, I'll probably never get anything flushed into my feed by accident anyway."

The Internet Person didn't seem happy about this and wished me a good day.

So in the end? What had I gained? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Someone literally made me waste about 20 minutes of my time just because that person thought it'd be better to block this random internet stranger and drag me into their little skirmish. Sorry, I'm too old. I don't have time for this.

Yes, I know that I am somewhat privileged as a white male, despite falling into several categories that the "blockworthy" person seems to truly despise.

But why do I have to carry his weight? Or that of the internet person? I am dead certain I would never have interacted with, let alone read from, that person again. Ever.

One person replied in a perfectly normal way under one of my Toots. Didn't attack anyone, nothing. Yes, this person may still be an asshole (and to be fair, this guy probably is), but why do I have to waste time on it?

Please don't drag me into your private feuds. Thank you.

What do you people think?

Will I really find a Ubuntu repository under the URL: https://ubuntu.ubuntu.ubuntu.ubuntu.ubuntu.ubuntu.ubuntu.ubuntu.ubuntu.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ubuntu/ubuntu/ubuntu/ubuntu/ubuntu/ubuntu/ubuntu/ubuntu/? 😉

Colleague 1 (ironically): "AWS? What's that?"
Colleague 2: "ALDI Webservices South. There is also AWN. ALDI Webservices North."

Colleague 1 (ironically): "GitHub what's that?"
Colleague 2: "Search engine for OpenAI API-Keys, AWS-Credentials and open S3-Buckets. Also private keys and passwords."

Colleague: "Did you know? Shitposting is an anagram of Top Insights."

Today I read a post on LinkedIn (in german) who was criticising that too few IT people speak about their opinions, their views, their stances on various topics. Who was sad that so much Know-how and stories from real projects were left untold.

And I must admit that, at first, I didn't understand what he meant. I was all like:

"What is he talking about? I read a dozens or so post each day from (former) colleagues, people I met on various IT or CCC events or whom I just happen to follow which are highly political. Or taking a technical deep dive on some obscure technology (sometimes even from the 1970s) in which they have taken an interest. I don't get his point."

Only then I happen to realize: Did he solely refer to LinkedIn?

And that explained a lot. Regerettably I must admit: Instantly I had severel prejuicides against that person.

This lead to my writing the following two comments (which I translated into english):

I have to disagree. The IT bubble, at least the one I'm in, is very political. But not on LinkedIn, because that's completely the wrong place for many people. I also had this experience myself when I was researching the status of various alternatives to Google apps for Android mobile phones and noticed how many Russian open source developers have suddenly gone completely silent in the last 3-4 years. Before, the GitHub activity bars were a bright, lush green. Regular posts in the XDA Developers forum, etc. and then, from one day to the next: Nothing. Silence. Completely.

I wrote about it here on LinkedIn. Made a reference to the Ukraine war and Russian recruitment for their war of aggression. And yes, I also got carried away with a ‘4-letter-word Putin!’. (Note: I meant "Fuck Putin!" which I obviously couldn't write again on LinkedIn.)

The result? Less than 10 minutes later, the post was set to invisible. I objected twice, but each time I was automatically rejected by the system.

So sorry, but if you want to see the politically active IT scene: Get out. Get out of the silos of a Silicon Valley tech company. Into the private blogs, into the Fediverse.

I also have a private blog. I'm generally not very reserved with my private opinions. And fortunately, I've received much more praise and recognition for this than criticism.

But not everyone has this luxury. Many companies have very strict social media guidelines on how I am allowed to appear as an employee of a company. And there are judgements that say that simply mentioning your employer in your profile means that these rules apply and you have to comply with them, as you are no longer 100% private.

And some people simply don't want to express their political opinions under their real name. Be it for protection or because they value privacy.

In addition, many IT professionals have a very well-founded (and justified) aversion to so-called social networks. Their content is too soft. Too auto-moderated. Too undemocratic when it comes to appeals against content offences, TOS, etc.

Plus the fact that many networks like LinkedIn are perceived as nothing more than business horseshow (which, unfortunately, it often is).

Yes, LinkedIn is not a good platform if you are interested in IT. For that I recommend the various blogs, Fediverse accounts, some forums (if they are still alive), Newsgroups (if they are still alive) and IRC channels (if they are.. You get the gist..).

Why?

1. IT people are technical, they dislike business mumbo-jumbo and attention farming. They want to write a text about something they care about and discuss it with like-minded individuals. LinkedIn is the completely wrong platform for that.
   • Also, technical content on LinkedIn gets far fewer views, interactions, etc. Believe me, I can see the views here in on my blog and for my content on LinkedIn.
   • Well, yeah, because IT people usually don't like automated feeds that they can't configure. It's much more enjoyable to look in your RSS reader and see which one of the blogs you follow has posted something new.
   • Would you write huge technical texts on LinkedIn knowing that your audience is on a completely different platform? You wouldn't. That's why I blog here and just do a post on LinkedIn to redirect a few people from LinkedIn towards my blog.
2. IT people are generally very prejudiced towards social networks operated by commercial companies. They are well aware of the downsides of Facebook/Meta, Twitter/X, Google Plus, Instagram, TikTok and yes - also LinkedIn. That these networks are about as far away from a democratic platform as you can get. That moderation is largely automated with no chance of "getting a human on the line". Why should we make ourselves dependent on that?
   • LinkedIn doesn't even provide a button to copy the link from a post into your clipboard! All actions are aimed at keeping people on LinkedIn. LinkedIn/Microsoft don't want you to drive people away from LinkedIn! And IT people seriously hate silos and gatekeeping.
3. Many companies have social media guidelines that make it impossible to engage in meaningful conversations about sensitive topics.
4. IT people value their privacy. If they have a LinkedIn account, it shows their real name and employer. And maybe they don't want a connection between the two.
5. Some may see blogging as a hobby that they do in their spare time, so they stay away from LinkedIn.

And there are maybe more points I forgot to mention..