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.

@starlily

yes i agree with you that edgelord ego masturbation drama over what mastodon is forced to do, and blaming the wrong culprit, is stupid

and that it is more effective to attack the government for doing this. as long as one has enough neurons to realize the fucking obvious. instead of deciding that pumping up their ego with uselessly and moronically blaming mastodon instead like an emotionally unregulated cringelord because they like taking "brave stands" for the drama points

thank you

@benroyce @starlily Have you ever heard of the idea of disobedience?

@ariarhythmic @benroyce @Mastodon @mellifluousbox

Your definition may of course vary, but if age-check in itself is fascism, it becomes hard to run any community or society where people don't know a lot about each other by other means.

(Eg. a small town pub where "everybody knows your name".)

The question of fascism comes up when we start talking about how the age-check is made, and what other information gets shared in addition to age. Or how that age-check can be misused, even in theory.

@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

@benroyce @starlily It's when you don't do as you're told when asked to do something stupid. It's what a person with a conscience does when faced with authoritarian laws.

@ariarhythmic @starlily

so disobey

run a server

do not abide by id checks

then the govt shows up

now you are REALLY identified to the authorities

aria:

if you are trans (just going off the emoji in your profile), i understand why id checks are threatening to you. physically. mortally even

your heart is in the right place

but your brain is completely missing!

go after your government!

@benroyce @iju @Mastodon @mellifluousbox my point is when a fascist orders you do a fascist thing and you do as you're told, you're a moral failure.

@benroyce @starlily Why can't we *both* go after the governments and refuse to obey in advance?

@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

@benroyce @ariarhythmic @Mastodon @mellifluousbox

Yeah, I noticed the emoji, and I do understand they're problably really raw about the developments of the past few years. Particularly if they're in the States.

Opposing fascism is really healthy! I'm just concerned that jumping the gun with the GmbH leads to being ignored when sensible applications of age-checks (and what happens if you don't participate) are done.

This seems paramount.

@benroyce @iju @Mastodon @mellifluousbox my point is when a fascist orders you do a fascist thing and you do as you're told, you're a moral failure.

@benroyce @ariarhythmic @Mastodon @mellifluousbox

Yeah, I noticed the emoji, and I do understand they're problably really raw about the developments of the past few years. Particularly if they're in the States.

Opposing fascism is really healthy! I'm just concerned that jumping the gun with the GmbH leads to being ignored when sensible applications of age-checks (and what happens if you don't participate) are done.

This seems paramount.

@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

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 @iju @ariarhythmic @mellifluousbox @Mastodon @MastodonEngineering @Gargron i think they are discussing that they may have to perform verification on their own servers: mastodon.social. I don’t think they can enforce verification on other servers.

@benroyce @iju @ariarhythmic @mellifluousbox @Mastodon @MastodonEngineering @Gargron i think they are discussing that they may have to perform verification on their own servers: mastodon.social. I don’t think they can enforce verification on other servers.

@meowki @iju @ariarhythmic @mellifluousbox @Mastodon @MastodonEngineering @Gargron

My understanding is that they will be making the software updates available to other servers that are also forced to comply or get shut down. Is my understanding wrong? It could be

@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.

@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.

@nitrml @benroyce @meowki @iju @ariarhythmic Age verification won't, of course, stop someone from setting up their own server.

... which, at least regarding the federation choices this little node will be making... Is enough of its own age-gating process that we will welcome all nodes regardless of age of their admins.