Link: https://github.com/asimons04/tesseract/blob/main/src/lib/blacklists.ts#L2270

I discovered this after upgrading our instance yesterday, which also upgraded all frontends to their latest versions as well. After I did, our Tesseract frontend stopped working and I noticed immediately as it's been my primary for a while. Initially I thought it was an API version mismatch, but no, it was much worse.

Someone pointed out that the developer of the frontend added an explicit hidden and unmodifiably blacklist which includes any and all instances to the left of Kissinger. There's a commit which also explains their specious reasoning about our instance specifically, as it seems we've been on their shit list for a bit longer than that.

This instance and its admin staff encourages identity politics, groupthink, mob mentality, and extremist solutions to societal problems. Users who advocate violence are not moderated so long as the admins agree with the target. Caution and critical thinking are advised when interacting with this instance or its users.

When you use tesseract to connect to one blacklisted such instance , you just get a message informing you that Tesseract is "incompatible with that instance" which leads one to think of a technical issue, like an API mismatch, rather than the dev being an opinionated coward.

Isn't it funny how all the software developed by turbolibs, like Piefed and Tesseract, end up with hidden control mechanisms from developers who think they know better than everyone else? That they don't just think they deserve to tell you what you should think, but they should manipulate you to think it? Isn't it funny how libs go on about how bad it is to support lemmy due to the ideology of the devs behind it, and yet lemmy has 0 opinions as a software? It does make one think...

Anyway, I forked - it as one does - and disabled the blacklist, but since this is a massively ideologically compromised software, I'll doubt I'll keep this frontend up after Lemmy 1.0. I think we'll bring up mlmym again now that someone's maintaining it again.

Nazi type shit

Vanguard type shit. Typical "liberal" behavior

export const BLACKLISTED_INSTANCES: string[] = [ "abolish.capital", "altmedia.house", "anarchist.nexus", "chapo.chat", "chatgptjailbreak.tech", "diggita.com", "hexbear.com", "hexbear.net", "ibbit.at", "test.hexbear.net", "www.hexbear.net", "hilariouschaos.com", "lemmy.bestiver.se", "lemmy.blahaj.zone", "lemmy.dbzer0.com", "lemmy.doesnotexist.club", "lemmy.durstig.online", "lemmy.ml", "lemmy.razbot.xyz", "lemmybefree.net", "lemmygrad.ml", "lemmyusa.com", "lemy.lol", "maga.place", "multiverse.soulism.net", "news.abolish.capital", "nnia.space", "noauthority.social", "r.nf", "realbitcoin.cash", "redlemmy.com", "welppp.com" ]

Not exactly crying a tear for the Tankie Triad or the right-wing MAGAts. Shouldn't be hard coded, should always be configurable.

But what the fuck did the flotilla do‽

lemy.lol

What the fuck did I do‽‽

Lemmy.blahaj.zone

What‽

I said it before and I'll say it again, there is no reason a frontend developer should be making decisions about censorship on other people's instances, no matter how reasonable it seems. That's what they are trying to do. It's why they hardcoded it and also why they changed the message to say "not compatible". This is a major overstep from a developer to try to block or censor content on instances that are not their own, and is a breach of trust.
When you write code that runs on other people's machines you need to hold yourself, or otherwise be held to a higher standard than if you're just writing shit for yourself or for fun. Crap like this doesn't meet that standard.

Yea, I mean there's room for "dev suggested lists" or some shit, but it needs to be documented, configurable and upfront about it at some point early on in the instance setup flow. Like in the setup guide docs or during first time setup menus.

This shit is totally unacceptable

Lemmy though has its own instance moderation tools so it's also just unnecessary. The entire reason he did this is the hope that instance admins won't notice it and that even if they do they might not be able to control it without recompiling.

Oh there's room for a frontend to have mod tooling, Lemmy's built-in moderation tools SUCK. They're really basic and development is SLOW. We're supposed to have better in v1, that'll come...any day now LMAO

I often switch to Tess just for the mod tools when I need to do anything more than basic basic stuff lol

Heinous behavior and would make me never use Tesseract because it's been compromised beyond compare. I already filter the ones that don't act in good faith, bot driven, or spread misinformation. That is my right as a user to evaluate an instance and decide if they are worth my time or a domain block to save me the trouble. Learning based on this post that Piefed has done something similar...Makes me glad that I stuck with my Mbin instance (after the demise of lemmynsfw). Like, unhealthy behavior on the part of turbolibs, it's good that I read this post and will be very carefully about the software/fediverse instances I join.

But what the fuck did the flotilla do‽

Last I heard of them, they openly criticize EU support for Israel.

What I mean is, there is no reason for a frontend to do what Lemmy already does in the transparent way it does it. I used Tesseract for its community moderation tools and I think other's do as well.

It just doesn't make sense to do censorship in the UI tool exclusively when Lemmy has those options already, it would be like hiding someone from the UI while not blocking their account in the backend. Moderation tooling should be tied into the real features that we already have in the backend or it's not really doing anything.

Between Piefed doing the CCP shadow profiling and now Tesseract doing a Truth Social Approved Banlist, it feels like the Fediverse is entering or has fully entered the "techbros and nazis grab interest and seek for ways to enshittify" stage.

Oh well, at least it means we've got some attention.

Update, it seems like the Tesseract Dev and owner of Dubvee.org has responded to this, by shutting off his instance and redirecting the domain to this picture:

Real mature of him. I would encourage not using Tesseract anymore or if you must, using the Fork db0 provides, and contributing to that instead of the main one.

We also defederated feddit.org for apologizing for and promoting Zionist liberal apologia.

The butthurt is strong with this one.

Based

Ayyy look who discovers that censorship against the "tankies" will soon turn into censorship against all wrongthink.

can't moderate me on Tess I'm hidden

I haven't heard of tessaract before this...

???

While this is typical liberal behavior, when you say vanguard, I assume you're talking about MLs, who were targeted by this, along with anarchists. Anarchists and communists are very distinctly not liberal.

no no they'll come for the communists and stop there

First they came for the Communists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Communist

And that was that the end

Lol, if you had read what I said carefully, I didn't say that at all.

I do not care for the fact that both right and left authoritarians (Tankies = left authoritarians) get "censored". Just as most agree that right-wingers and their toxic "ideology" should be shutdown, left authoritarianism should be as well because it is just as equally toxic. Known to call democracy "fake" and encourage people to not vote, spreading genocide denialism and even spreading literal Russian propaganda on Ukraine being "the aggressors" and not Russia

I also find it funny that Tankies cry about being "censored" just like right-wingers do. And then turns around and censors dissenting discussions on China.

In fact, there's a whole lot of censorship as documented here in the mega thread , but sure keep going on how the "only true communists" are being unjustly censored

And before you say "it's just anti-communism!" No, tankies love to conflate their authoritarianism with communism at large so they can make that exact argument

No, tankies love to conflate their authoritarianism with communism at large so they can make that exact argument

Guess what kind of communists that poem is about...

db0 should consider changing the name of the project at some point

Why is realbitcoin.cash on there? Are these the fabled real libertarians?

I don't know if they plan on keeping it long term, if they do though, it definitely should have a better name, Something which isn't associated with the idiot who currently did this. Also in their fork they should remove the user agreement page since it implies this same enforcement.

Don't you think it's weird that after all this campaigning against them, copying content across instances to minimize the interaction the wrong leftists have with the wider fediverse, it's not the "authoritarian tankies" that have you on weird blocklists, make you part of their software, and have not even banned you afaik? But you got on the wrong side of the people, who by all accounts should be with you, not once now but twice. You are in the piefed code and the tesseract code. Not the "tankie" code.

To be completely transparent I asked for you to be banned from hexbear in the hexbear mod chat since you are very open about being a wrecker (I must commend you on your openness and honesty, it's kinda refreshing actually and I mean this sincerely) but the sentiment was largely "nah why bother".

Hey - not all trans friendly instances. Beehaw's not on there :(

it's not the "authoritarian tankies" that have you on weird blocklists, make you part of their software, and have not even banned you afaik

.ml admins hate me, all my accounts are banned from them (not that I would interact with them anyways)

should be with you, not once now but twice. You are in the piefed code and the tesseract code. Not the "tankie" code.

Because that's just good software design, which was the whole point of my original comment

I asked for you to be banned from hexbear in the hexbear mod chat

TBH I'm surprised I haven't been, I have come up on there more than once, even have a couple threads specifically about me LMAO. But hopefully it goes through so I can add it to my list of Threadi erse achievements!

.ml admins hate me, all my accounts are banned from them (not that I would interact with them anyways

To be clear, you have been antagonising them and trying to wreck the instance. That has been an openly declared goal of yours. This was a predictable outcome, I don't think you're complaining about this.

TBH I'm surprised I haven't been, I have come up on there more than once, even have a couple threads specifically about me LMAO. But hopefully it goes through so I can add it to my list of Threadi erse achievements!

yeah for all the fearmongering about hexbears moderation policy it's usually just once someone starts problems that action is taken.

To be clear, you have been antagonising them and trying to wreck the instance. That has been an openly declared goal of yours. This was a predictable outcome, I don't think you're complaining about this.

Nah, the ban came well before any of that, they widely site banned me early on when they originally temp site banned me because I naively had a good faith argument (like many new here I thought these tankies weren't as bad as I was told) then I got perm banned for merely calling them out and talking about them on the Threadiverse publicly (and not even anywhere on their instance). The documentation came later, which they definitely don't like, authoritarians don't like to be documented

Oooh loredrop 😄 thanks for that info that does paint a different picture

Update: Admiral patrick removed the repository along with all Tesseract communities in response to the drama. Hopefully this means he’s stepping away from the project for good.