Today we're sharing the first in a series of three posts from our leadership team, starting with @mellifluousbox discussing our mission, and priorities for 2026.

@benroyce @ariarhythmic @Mastodon @mellifluousbox None of that contradicts what I said. You don't run it as a citizen or resident of the hostile jurisdiction. You pass ownership to an entity in a safe location, and you put the fronting IP in a safe location. Physical servers can be somewhere else, but shouldn't be somewhere under the hostile jurisdiction unless you're confident there's no trail to them.

@dalias @ariarhythmic @Mastodon @mellifluousbox

if you're already in a safe jurisdiction, yes, get your servers out of a bad jurisdiction, absolutely

but if you're in an unsafe jurisdiction, it doesn't matter where your servers are. if they want to target you, they'll target you, and no amount of obfuscation will protect you from that

of course if you're a small fish doing small fish things, you'll probably be fine for a long time

@benroyce @ariarhythmic @Mastodon @mellifluousbox You just make it so it's no longer you running it. It's been passed off to an entity legally incorporated someplace else, and your involvement is as a volunteer or contractor working with a foreign entity for which you have no authority to implement the type of "age verification" your government wants them to impose.

@iju @ariarhythmic @mellifluousbox

i have a better idea:

do what valve does

you need a credit card

they run a $0 authorization

*no id docs needed*

the server doesn't deal with sensitive data

even better:

now your cc is attached to your mastodon profile

your cc is right there for donating to the server later

as more people should be doing

snag:

germany doesn't consider a cc legally acceptable

but other jurisdictions do

https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2025/08/steam-uk-users-will-now-need-a-credit-card-to-access-mature-content-due-to-the-online-safety-act/

@Mastodon @MastodonEngineering @Gargron

@benroyce @mark @nitrml @meowki @iju @ariarhythmic Shutting down is also an option. I could not in good conscience run anything that asks for ID. If I owned a store I would refuse to carry age restriced products for the same reason.

@benroyce @iju @ariarhythmic @mellifluousbox @Mastodon @MastodonEngineering @Gargron it is to utter idea, I don’t want to have amd I know a lot of people who doesn’t want to have credit cards and are completely ok with Debit Cards. 1. There are people who do not want to be formally in debt, 2. There are people who do not want to be formally in higher loan to salary ratio. (Yes when I was asking for mortgage, I got rid of CC, because it was literally increasing my debt to salary ratio even when it is not used, by its credit limits) and as last thing asking gamers (and yes gaming is addictive) when there are games with concept of in game payments for credit card is just wrong. It shall be regulated the same way as online gambling is.

@LukefromDC @benroyce @mark @nitrml @meowki @iju @ariarhythmic In case of mastodon you don’t need to possess ID, there are several KYC services, who verifies your customer and issue proof he is eg age verified. And you never posses any ID, CC etc. I would say this will be smaller burden (perhaps even cheaper) that setting whole payment infrastructure.

@benroyce @ariarhythmic @Mastodon @mellifluousbox You just make it so it's no longer you running it. It's been passed off to an entity legally incorporated someplace else, and your involvement is as a volunteer or contractor working with a foreign entity for which you have no authority to implement the type of "age verification" your government wants them to impose.

@dalias
Thank you for standing up for what is right. It is terrible seeing the excuses.

@benroyce @ariarhythmic @Mastodon @mellifluousbox

@Mastodon @mellifluousbox Mastodon could aspire to replace X in Europe (given the current situation in the U.S. and the state of X). It is urgent that it include translation capabilities for this multilingual region

Today we're sharing the first in a series of three posts from our leadership team, starting with @mellifluousbox discussing our mission, and priorities for 2026. Stay tuned this week for more.

https://blog.joinmastodon.org/2026/02/connecting-the-world-through-thriving-online-communities/

@iju @ariarhythmic @Mastodon @mellifluousbox

looking at the emoji in aria's profile, not knowing if they are trans, but if they are i understand why they feel threatened by id checks

if i were trans i would feel intensely threatened, physically, mortally, by id checks

especially in countries like my like stupid fucking country (the usa)

at the same time:

if i *really* cared about id checks, i wouldn't be attacking the wrong entity

aria's heart is in the right place but their brain is AWOL

@vervain @dalias @ariarhythmic @Mastodon @mellifluousbox

it's about what works or not

there isn't excuses, there's dealing with reality

if someone wants to be pure and not deal with reality, ok

but the rest of us are trying to deal with the bullshit

and for that, i suppose we're a vast evil

same old toxic idealism, not achieving shit, but sure good at whining

Today we're sharing the first in a series of three posts from our leadership team, starting with @mellifluousbox discussing our mission, and priorities for 2026. Stay tuned this week for more.

https://blog.joinmastodon.org/2026/02/connecting-the-world-through-thriving-online-communities/

@benroyce @meowki @iju @ariarhythmic

1. Mastodon's code already includes a setting which server admins can enable to set a minimum age for their server, which will ask for a date of birth to be entered during sign-up. The date of birth is not stored, only checked once. This has been part of Mastodon's code since multiple months now: https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon/pull/34150

2. What they say in the blog is that they will audit the GmbH's own servers, which probably includes an audit of this feature.

3. The interesting stuff is what that "working group" will come up with.

@janantos @iju @ariarhythmic @mellifluousbox @Mastodon @MastodonEngineering @Gargron

It's entirely possible to own a credit card and not use it

The point is to solve the problem of age verification without asking anyone's age, and using cc solves that problem

But you also want to solve the problem of addictive personalities who wind up stuck on gambling?

What

You ask far too much

Nothing can function in this world on this level of concern

Scope your concerns to reasonable goals please

@benroyce @iju @ariarhythmic @mellifluousbox @Mastodon @MastodonEngineering @Gargron absolutely. However that time, even if you don’t use it, the credit limit goes negative to your credit score in bank risk assesment.