We should do our absolute best to not become a siloed instance. I predict we will start seeing certain instances be almost inaccessible which will lead to their users migrating to more open instances. It’s already becoming clear to me that certain instances will lose users over time if they continue actively segregating their instance from others.
Individual bad actors on other instances is not a good enough reason to defederate. If a troll is bothing someone they can be blocked/banned on sh.itjust.works. I don’t expect instance creators to ban all trolls, it’s not possible.
Defederation should be reserved for severe cases when another instance shows no interest in moderating. The two instances defederated right now are justified: one condones the denial historical events and actively censors opposition, and the other was condoning heinous illegal activies regarding underage individuals. These are two clear examples of where defederation makes sense.
Defederation should only be used as a last resort.
My previous post continues this sentiment from a couple days ago here: https://sh.itjust.works/post/281126
Unfortunately, this is true. We’ll never convince everyone in the Fediverse to see things our way, nor vice versa. And we shouldn’t. So, some instances will pick and choose, while others will stay wide open to federation.
The other side of this coin, though, is when an instance gets large enough to be able to host differing views. At that point, federation or defederation can’t simply be what I want, or what the loudest voice wants, but what everyone can live with.
What I see eventually happening, is there will be several large instances with large user bases. These will federate with almost everyone. Then you’ll have smaller niche instances, for those looking to fine-tune their experience.