this space is envisioned as a space for the diaspora ... the displaced; the sidelined; the marginalised. an option for BiPOC folks on the fediverse to move out of wholly white-controlled instances.

the what and the who?

"diaspora.im" is glitch-soc (a mastodon fork) fediverse server, envisioned as a space for the diaspora - the displaced - the sidelined - the marginalised.

the name of the server is a reference to the dictionary meaning of 'diaspora':

diaspora | dʌɪˈasp(ə)rə | noun the dispersion or spread of a folks from their original homeland

it is also a riff on the notion that non-white folks are necessarily displaced from the "common" or "dominant" culture. and while we prioritise the comfort and safety of black, disabled, queer folk, we welcome all of you here.

the why

the online digital community is a hostile place for us. the fediverse is a constant hotbed of bigotry at any given moment. my goal with this space is to provide an option for us. an option that is not white-centric, not cis- or hetero- centric, and not abled-centric. i am black, queer, and disabled myself so feel comforted in the fact that out of my own sense of self-preservation will come an approach to managing this server with sanity, safety, accessibility, and comfort at the forefront. we do not have enough options. diaspora.im is one more option.

how do i join?

click the "Create account" button and enter your sign-in details. you will be asked to confirm your account via email. please use a valid email address that you will continue to have access to. this is the primary way that you will retain access to your account.

once you have confirmed you email address, you will be asked to enter a reason for joining. all accounts require approval on this server and a reason is required. let us know a little about you and why you want to be here. be aware that there will be a waiting period while we process your join request and allow for some time for that process to complete.

note that we prioritise black, disabled, queer folk here. (see "the what and the who" above.)

moderation policies

we are a proactively moderated server. we take swift and decisive action with reports and pre-emptively issue blocks and suspensions liberally to ensure a minimal amount of the harassment we often get from the rest of the world.

here on diaspora.im, we are explicitly anti-imperialist, anti-fascist, and anti-capitalist and we subscribe to the following political philosophies:

• Black liberation
• gender expansiveness
• disability justice
• fat liberation
• class warfare
• prison abolition

any actions taken by users that align with white supremacy, antiblackness, colorism, ableism, transmisia, misogyny, fat hate, gender binarism, or cissexism/heterosexism will be addressed. warnings, post deletion, silencing, and suspension are all on the table when it comes to moderation.

we started out with thebad.space blocklist export at heat rating 50% because we wanted to make sure we filter out the problematic instances right off the bat. i ( @fyrfli ) personally vetted the list before importing it to confirm the domains on the list were domains we wanted blocked.

our blocklist will be maintained by hand in the immediate future by making instance block decisions on a case by case basis. that might change once thebad.space has matured fully.

whole instance blocks will be communicated to the community with at least 30 days notice.

sibling instances!

these are instances whose mod/admin teams we work very closely with, given our shared vision and goals for building a safer fediverse for marginalised groups and oppressed peoples. think of us as different houses in the same neighbourhood.

if you've used akkoma, you would recognise this as a kind of similar to bubble instances.

these instances are as follows:

• artcrimes.gay - donate here
• h-i.social - donate here
• blackqueer.life - donate here

best practices for accessibility

some of our users are disabled (for example, 1 in 4 black american adults), and to make sure that everyone is provided with the tools they need to participate fully in our community, here are some collective habits that we should adopt:

• alt-text your images. if you are not in a position to do so, please use #AltTextHelp and someone from the community should be able to help and provide it. another tag you can use,#ALT4me, lets you ask for an alt text for your image and #ALT4you or #ALT4U can be used in the comments to indicate to the op that you've written an alt text for them to add to their image
• avoid using too many emojis in a row. example: putting 3 smiley faces in a row, or 60 red flags. screen readers do not handle them well
• use PascalCase for hashtags e.g. #AltTextHelp
• when sharing a link, provide a brief description of where the link directs to
• use captions in uploaded videos

(these best practices were inspired by disabled.social via bql)

a note on privacy and security

the privacy policy is the stock one that comes with glitch, so here is a bit of additional info:

• we only retain data that we absolutely need to log you in and let you post and interact
• we will not retain anything if you delete your account outside of details that may linger as a result of filing a report. the internal moderation page will show your username but crossed out
• we don't control other servers however so we can't control or even know if they're not doing iffy shit, whether they mean to or not - one of the downsides of federation is that once it leaves our server, it's pretty much out of our hands.
• we do not allow scraping or archiving, however we have little power to stop such things. remember, this is the internet. nothing is private really.

(this section shamelessly adapted from the artcrimes.gay code of conduct - thanks evel)

server details

this server is running glitch-soc, a fork of mastodon, using the managed hosting provider, fedi monster. you can see more information by going to their page, but daily backups and regular updates are included.

if you would like to help sustain the server, you can donate via liberapay or ko-fi or contribute to the collective.

at the moment, i ( @fyrfli ) am the only person on the administration team but that will change in the near future as we grow.

final thoughts

i am an open book. you can ask me anything. i try to think of myself as approachable and i expend extra effort to address any and all concerns in a measured manner. please feel free to @ me, dm me, email me, or whatever if you have any concerns, feedback, questions, etc.

(adapted from bql - thanks eva)

1. no antiblackness, colorism, transmisia, cisheterosexism, ableism, misogyny, fat hate, or gender binarism
2. no harassment, bullying, or doxxing other users
3. no misinformation, disinformation, or deliberate obfuscation of facts
4. always add content warnings for lewd content
5. you must be 18 years or older to have an account here
6. every human deserves dignity - treat them with respect

1. aethy.com: suspension
2. emeraldsocial.org: suspension
3. furry.community: suspension
4. gender.systems: suspension
5. social.cutiecluster.cc: suspension
6. squawk.silvereagle.dev: suspension