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Unremoval of Piracy Communities (lemmy.world)

submitted 1 year ago by lwadmin@lemmy.world to c/lemmyworld@lemmy.world

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Hello World!

As we've all known and talked about quite a lot, we previously blocked several piracy-focused communities. These communities, as announced, were:

!piracy@lemmy.dbzer0.com,
!steamdeckpirates@lemmy.dbzer0.com,
!piracy@lemmy.ml, and their local counterparts as follow up actions.

In our removal announcement, we stated that we will continue to look into this more in detail, and re-allow these communities if and when we deem it safe. It was a solid concern at the time, because we were already receiving takedown requests as well as constant attacks, and didn't want to put our volunteer team at risk. We had zero measures in place, and the tools we had were insufficient to deal with anything at scale.

Well, after back and forth with some very cool people, and starting to have proper measures as well as tooling to protect ourselves, we decided it's time to welcome these communities back again. Long live the IT nerds!

We know it's been a rough ride with everything, and we'd like to thank every one of you who were understanding of us, and stayed with us all the way. Please know that as users, you are what makes this platform what it is, and damned we be if we ever forget it.

With love, and as always, stay safe in the high seas!

Lemmy.world Team

❤️

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[-] Brown_dude69@lemmy.world 5 points 3 days ago

Why can't i follow this on lemmy.world instance?

[-] BarbecueCowboy@lemmy.world 5 points 2 days ago

It's real confusing.

They state that they've done this right there, but it seems like there might have been a miscommunication somewhere and doesn't look like anyone ever actually got around to removing the block at a technical level. Both piracy communities are still currently blocked on lemmy.world a year later.

[-] teohhanhui@lemmy.world 3 points 2 days ago

Unfortunately the block is intentional: https://lemmy.world/post/18275511

First the Luigi shit, and now this. I guess it's time to migrate to a different instance.

[-] BarbecueCowboy@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago

I kinda get it as a policy decision. I don't like it, but I understand the risk and I can empathize.

What really bugs me though is this announcement right here and then it just... didn't happen. It feels kind of dishonest to have a big announcement welcoming them back and then nothing comparative saying that they apparently changed their minds immediately. Feels like there should at least be an edit/addendum to this announcement being like 'psych, fingers crossed!'. Trying to defuse with humor, I do know any statement would invite discontent from the userbase, but I feel like the complete lack of one kind of kills our trust in the admins here even more.

[-] teohhanhui@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Honestly, I think federation is the wrong model. It should be P2P, with pinned content, like how IPFS works: https://docs.ipfs.tech/how-to/pin-files/

In other words, users shouldn't have to live on instances and be subjected to the whims and fancies of the admins / server operators.

Or, a less radical change would be simply to allow cross-instance interaction, i.e. your "home" instance doesn't have to host any of the content in question. You'd simply authenticate through OpenID Connect, and be able to interact as yourself on another instance.

Uhh... There is FEP-61cf: https://codeberg.org/fediverse/fep/src/branch/main/fep/61cf/fep-61cf.md

[-] Blaze@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 2 days ago

There are plenty of good instances around !

[-] b3an@lemmy.world 599 points 1 year ago

This is what I like to see. Not just heels digging in, but explanations as to why, the follow-ups, the investigation of options and follow through. Thanks for the transparency. Piracy has and won’t ever go away. I used to pirate due to lack of money and resources. When I had those I went legit. When legit sources started turning into:

monthly subscriptions for everything
when legit sources suddenly delete or remove content from their systems (to avoid paying taxes?)
when the rates go up for everything (internet access AND streaming services)
now ads in your paid services unless you pay more (Amazon)
Plex trying to go legit and police where and how people run their private streaming, fucking over license holders who built the financial footing they could stand on in the first place. Cool.

You can’t rely on any shit from these services, except for one shit… enshittification.

I don’t want to sound negative, but as a consumer, it’s been nothing but ads rammed down our throats from everywhere we go and look. They lie, they change rates, they shrinkflate, while their pockets get bigger. Long live piracy.

[-] CosmicTurtle@lemmy.world 161 points 1 year ago

From lemmy.world's perspective, I get it. Our current legal framework makes it damn near impossible from a financial standpoint to take a stand against corporations with pocketbooks the size of some first world countries.

But the rise in piracy is a direct consequence of these corporations' actions against their very users.

Piracy has and always will be a service problem. I don't think lemmy should be used to share torrents for example. But honest discussion about the current state of affairs and alternatives should be allowed.

The admins took a measured approach here and it's one that is refreshing given the regime that many of us came from.

[-] Bebo@literature.cafe 59 points 1 year ago

One of the reasons I explore the high seas is that some shows I want to watch are not legally available to watch in my region at all.

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[-] ignotum@lemmy.world 182 points 1 year ago

Yet another informative post, and a decision that takes some guts and you're willing to take on some extra work and risk in order to make the instance better

I didn't want to have to do this, but you've brought this upon yourself. You give me no choice but to... donate money to you which you so damn well deserve!

Let this be a reminder that actions have consequences!

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[-] 3minutespast@lemmy.world 136 points 1 year ago

I think this is the mark of a decent admin team, the ability to re-evaluate a decision based on new or better data. I'm more inclined to stick with lemmy.world in the future, even through decisions I don't necessarily agree with .

[-] meejle@lemmy.world 29 points 1 year ago

Whereas on Reddit, it'd be used to justify a slippery slope. "We've already banned X and Y, so banning Z is just an extension of that."

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[-] karpintero@lemmy.world 96 points 1 year ago

I'm glad you guys took a measured approach. This right here is the difference between a corporation and Lemmy. I can't imagine a for-profit reversing its decision in the interest of the community unless it affected their bottom line or stock price. Hats off to the admin team for working through all these complex issues.

[-] psychothumbs@lemmy.world 84 points 1 year ago

Hey that's great, good job! I'm so unused to any disappointing decision being reversed, this really is an amazing site.

[-] MrSilkworm@lemmy.world 82 points 1 year ago

Thank you for the very informative post. Your professional way of handling the issue, puts corporate professionals, "cough" Reddit "cough", look like the amateurs they really are

[-] BallsInTheShredder@lemmy.world 27 points 1 year ago

That's what I thought while reading this. After being on reddit for so long posts like these are such a breathe of fresh air. In my time on Reddit the trend was ALWAYS 1: bad changes 2: worse change 3: nothing, it just becomes the new normal then, if anything 4: even worse changes.

Blows my mind to see a site be cognizant of their users, listen to them and actually idk, work to fix things? Bravo.

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[-] shotgun_crab@lemmy.world 79 points 1 year ago

To all the people saying "too late, I already switched": why bother commenting?

[-] Rentlar@lemmy.ca 55 points 1 year ago

I think it's fine and healthy for the fediverse if people spread out across different servers, it distributes the hosting cost.

I don't see a problem with announcing they "moved and aren't coming back despite the reversal" on this particular thread, it appears relevant.

[-] OrekiWoof@lemmy.ml 28 points 1 year ago

To show what happens if you don't listen to the community before making changes, I'm guessing.

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[-] thrashpipe@lemmy.world 24 points 1 year ago

Why bother pointing out people commenting? I guess we're all a little confused.

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[-] DAMunzy@lemmy.dbzer0.com 21 points 1 year ago

Too late, already commented. And switched. ;)

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[-] TehBamski@lemmy.world 69 points 1 year ago

"Please know that as users, you are what makes this platform what it is, and damned we be if we ever forget it."

A lesson u/spez forgot.

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[-] devious@lemmy.world 67 points 1 year ago

As always, appreciate both the transparency and the hard work and effort to make sure you are doing what is best for the community even if it isn't always easy! ♥️

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[-] antidote101@lemmy.world 65 points 1 year ago

This is my first comment ever using this platform.

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[-] cheer@lemm.ee 61 points 1 year ago

Glad I can use this as my main instance again. Love the transparency of the mod team even if I don't always agree with the decisions.

[-] antik@lemmy.world 68 points 1 year ago

We can't always please everyone. And sometimes we have to make decisions or do things we personally don't like or we would like to see differently but we have to think about both our team and our userbase.

But thank you for your trust and welcome back.