View source for Qoto.org

[[category:instance]]
[[category:Mastodon]]
[[category:silenced]]
{{fmt/title|qoto.org: "Question Others to Teach Ourselves. A STEM-oriented instance."}}
* '''site''': [https://qoto.org/about qoto.org]
* '''status''': silenced (November 2022)
==About==
[[qoto.org]] is a STEM-oriented Mastodon instance with a "free speech" approach to moderation.

The domain was registered on 2008-05-31<sup>{{l/sub|whois}}</sup>, long before Mastodon existed, and appears to have first been used in 2011 to present content<ref name=qoto-archive-1 /> from [[Syncleus]], Jeffrey Freeman's think-tank<ref name=syncleus-freeman-bio />. The earliest evidence of its being a Mastodon instance is in July, 2018<ref name=qoto-archive-2 />, at which time the slogan was "Question Others, Teach Others" and the site had 19 users.
==Issues==
While having a lot of valid science content, they have also unfortunately chosen a "free speech" approach to moderation, potentially allowing anti-science content and toxic users to proliferate. Numerous users (on and off TootCat) have brought this problem to our attention. At the present time, however, we have no specific examples of problematic posts. Using "#[https://qoto.org/tags/woke woke]" as an example of a politically-charged tag, I found mostly positive/reasonable posts and relatively few which seem problematic. (Notes: [https://qoto.org/@b_chocolatey/109329018486628722]) They do federate with [[noagendasocial.com|NoAgendaSocial]] and with [[brighteon.social]] which hosts anti-science site Natural News, and their main feed consequently does contain a small but significant quantity of right-wing BS.

On [[2022/11/17]], Jeffrey Freeman (apparently the domain owner) used a tool published by the now-defunct {{l/ip|Kiwi Farms}} online-terrorism organization to identify instances which had blocked QOTO, and sent out [[2022/11/17/QOTO|an email]] to the admins of each asking to have the block removed. The email, unfortunately, did not really address the issues, and made a number of questionable claims.
==History==
* '''2022-12-08''' [https://stop.voring.me/notes/98j7helkhr stop.voring.me/@thatonecalculator] comments {{fmt/quote|#fediblock qoto.org -- for those of you who don't know, they made an organization called UFOI and tricked instance admins like me into joining, while hiding manipulative subclauses far down in their TOS.}} Includes screenshots of posts by Freeman.
* '''2022-11-30''' Freeman starts a [https://gitlab.com/ufoi United Federation of Instances] project, with high-minded-sounding [https://gitlab.com/ufoi/constitution Constitution] draft. [https://social.pixie.town/@joepie91/109433103633543373 some analysis]
* '''2022-11-17''' [[2022/11/17/QOTO|email from QOTO]] sent to numerous instances, requesting lift of limitations
* '''2022-11-12''' On request from a new user, [https://toot.cat/@woozle/109331146818085671 this was changed] from block to silence.
* '''2022-11-??''' Instance suspended. "An inclusive free speech instance," transmisia, COVID-19 vaccine misinformation, etc.
* '''2018-12-06''' qoto.org has 2149 users<ref name=qoto-archive-8 />
* '''2018-11-07''' qoto.org has 1936 users<ref name=qoto-archive-7 />
* '''2018-10-07''' qoto.org has 1799 users<ref name=qoto-archive-6 />
* '''2018-09-02''' qoto.org has 1433 users<ref name=qoto-archive-5 />
* '''2018-08-15''' qoto.org has 112 users<ref name=qoto-archive-4 />
* '''2018-08-07''' qoto.org has 102 users<ref name=qoto-archive-3 />
* '''2018-07-10''' qoto.org has 19 users<ref name=qoto-archive-2 />; first appearance in archive.org

==Footnotes==
<references>
<ref name=qoto-archive-1>'''2011-09-23 archive''': [https://web.archive.org/web/20110923131305/http://www.qoto.org/ qoto.org home page]</ref>
<ref name=qoto-archive-2>'''2018-07-10 archive''': [https://web.archive.org/web/20180710004851/https://qoto.org/about qoto.org about page]</ref>
<ref name=qoto-archive-3>'''2018-08-07 archive''': [https://web.archive.org/web/20180807123948/https://qoto.org/about qoto.org about page]</ref>
<ref name=qoto-archive-4>'''2018-08-15 archive''': [https://web.archive.org/web/20180815233147/https://qoto.org/about qoto.org about page]</ref>
<ref name=qoto-archive-5>'''2018-09-02 archive''': [https://web.archive.org/web/20180902134516/https://qoto.org/about qoto.org about page]</ref>
<ref name=qoto-archive-6>'''2018-10-07 archive''': [https://web.archive.org/web/20181007173538/https://qoto.org/about qoto.org about page]</ref>
<ref name=qoto-archive-7>'''2018-11-07 archive''': [https://web.archive.org/web/20181107154717/https://qoto.org/about qoto.org about page]</ref>
<ref name=qoto-archive-8>'''2018-12-06 archive''': [https://web.archive.org/web/20181206143118/https://qoto.org/about qoto.org about page]</ref>
<ref name=syncleus-freeman-bio>'''2011-07-16 archive''': [https://web.archive.org/web/20110716181415/http://www.syncleus.com/about-us/our-team/ Syncleus: Our Team: Jeffrey Freeman, CTO, President, & Chairman]</ref>
</references>