Why content warnings are different on Friendica, Hubzilla and (streams) than on Mastodon

2024-01-31 12:29:04

Jupiter Rowland

jupiter_rowland@hub.netzgemeinde.eu

Fediverse

2024-01-31 12:29:25

Jupiter Rowland

jupiter_rowland@hub.netzgemeinde.eu

First of all, you'll notice that the replies in this thread aren't set to Unlisted. That's because I'm not on Mastodon. I'm on Hubzilla, and Hubzilla doesn't have an Unlisted setting.

Also, you may wonder why Friendica, Hubzilla and (streams) weren't made more like Mastodon. That's because there was no Mastodon yet when Friendica (2010) and Hubzilla (2015) were made. And (streams) from 2021 is a direct descendant of Hubzilla.

2/11

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2024-01-31 12:29:36

Jupiter Rowland

jupiter_rowland@hub.netzgemeinde.eu

2024-01-31 12:29:52

Jupiter Rowland

jupiter_rowland@hub.netzgemeinde.eu

That is, Hubzilla and (streams) do have a text field that corresponds to Mastodon's "content warning" field. But on Hubzilla and (streams), it serves the purpose which it has served since it was created for StatusNet. It is for a summary. Not to be confused with the title.

But since this field is labelled "Summary" and not "Content Warning" or "CW", not everyone knows that it's the same as Mastodon's "content warning".

4/11

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2024-01-31 12:30:04

Jupiter Rowland

jupiter_rowland@hub.netzgemeinde.eu

Friendica, the oldest one of the three, doesn't even have that summary field. What is a "content warning" on Mastodon is an "abstract" on Friendica, and it is made in the post itself by putting it between the [abstract][/abstract] or [abstract=apub][/abstract] BBcode tags.

However, when you write a post, neither the existence of these tags nor their purpose is clear. So hardly anyone makes content warnings with them.

5/11

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2024-01-31 12:30:15

Jupiter Rowland

jupiter_rowland@hub.netzgemeinde.eu

Content warnings on replies or what's called "subtoots" on Mastodon are another issue. On Mastodon, you can either write your own CW for a reply, or if an earlier post has one, it's automatically taken over unless you manually remove it. This behaviour is hard-coded.

Friendica can do both, but again, only with BBcode, not with a dedicated text field. And while the latter is possible, it's optional and off by default.

6/11

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2024-01-31 12:30:26

Jupiter Rowland

jupiter_rowland@hub.netzgemeinde.eu

Hubzilla and (streams) can't do Mastodon CWs on replies/"subtoots" at all. That's because replies/"subtoots" aren't posts on Friendica, Hubzilla and (streams). They're something entirely different. They're comments like on a blog or Tumblr or Facebook.

Remember that Mastodon's CW field is named "summary" on Hubzilla and (streams). Now, why would someone want to add a summary to a blog comment?! That doesn't make sense, does it?

7/11

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2024-01-31 12:30:35

Jupiter Rowland

jupiter_rowland@hub.netzgemeinde.eu

In addition, Friendica, Hubzilla and (streams) don't use the same entry mask for posts and comments, in stark contrast to Mastodon. Instead, they have a post editor at the top of the stream, and they have one separate comment field under each post, just like a blog or Facebook or Tumblr. Thus, there is no entry field for a summary (or a Mastodon CW) for comments at all.

There simply is no way to add a Mastodon CW to a Hubzilla comment.

8/11

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2024-01-31 12:30:39

killer of px.mathias777.com

criiii@px.mathias777.com

hi wassup =)

2024-01-31 12:30:44

Jupiter Rowland

jupiter_rowland@hub.netzgemeinde.eu

As Friendica, Hubzilla and (streams) have it in their technology, their culture and their tradition to handle content warnings reader-side with text filters rather than writer-side in the summary field like Mastodon, there are no rules on any of their instances that enforce Mastodon-style CWs. Look for their rules all you want, you won't find any on CWs.

Reporting Friendica, Hubzilla or (streams) users for not using CWs is pointless.

9/11

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2024-01-31 12:30:57

Jupiter Rowland

jupiter_rowland@hub.netzgemeinde.eu

If there's no CW on a post from Friendica, Hubzilla or (streams) where you feel there should be one, it may be disturbing to you as a Mastodon user.

But on Friendica, Hubzilla and (streams), it's perfectly normal and perfectly legal. And Mastodon-style CWs aren't and have never been part of their culture.

Also, the tools to make Mastodon-style CWs with may be unknown or, in the case of replies, not exist at all.

10/11

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2024-01-31 12:31:07

Jupiter Rowland

jupiter_rowland@hub.netzgemeinde.eu

2024-02-02 08:06:20

Scott M. Stolz

scott@loves.tech