It just occurred to me. It’s scale that’s the problem with tying up with Threads. I hold no illusions that people here in the fediverse are somehow better than folks on Meta properties. I doubt we are, as folks have similar complaints about reply guys, racists, misogynists here too.

The difference is folks on the fediverse are subject to greater scrutiny and consequences by people who are not prioritizing profit and ad impressions. If an instance’s admins don’t police their people, their instance ends up on a block list and adrift on an ever shrinking island of misery.

Meta’s properties are cesspools because they couldn’t adequately moderate even if they tried (and that priority’s lower than profit anyway). The fediverse’s advantage is that a real human can and does review reports with a range of escalating penalties.

If the influx of Meta users makes that infeasible/impossible due to volume from their poorly- or unmanaged masses–hell, even if they’re well managed, a tiny, tiny fraction of billions of users would overwhelm most instances moderated by volunteers. Rather than give up like Meta largely has, limiting/blocking them will be the only option.

My concern here’s one of scale, not a moral panic or purity test. My fear and prediction is that so many bright folks from a much larger population will be looking to test the rules in novel ways, which will become death by a thousand papercuts.