Context: Admiral Patrick replied and included this gem:

And might I add that not one person complained until db0 went internet Karen with his hissy fit because I took his toy away from him.

“Not one person complained about my explicitly obfuscated blacklists! Damn internet Karens making a big deal!”

    • TropicalDingdong@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      0
      ·
      10 days ago

      From another user:

      Big frontend called Tessarect did a sneaky.

      They made a hidden shadow-ban list of instances, users, and phrases, keeping it secret from users and admins by not including it in the open source code and instead loading it at runtime, and added in there all non-centrist (instances, users, and phrases) they could think of. They also lied about it, by claiming it to be a technical issue, when any user looked for the banned instances from the front-end, instead of calling it what it is, a targeted exclusion.

      Essentially, hidden censorship, and sliminess.

      • OwOarchist@pawb.social
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        0
        ·
        10 days ago

        the snuck the ban list in in such a way you couldn’t review it or even know of its existence.

        *In such a way that it made it slightly harder to review it or know of its existence.

        Any thorough look at the source code would notice it loading that list at runtime. And also notice it getting called and referred to in other parts of the code when it checks whether or not to block something. And that’s not hypothetical, of course – we’re only talking about it because somebody did check, and it was found.

        • Axolotl@feddit.it
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          0
          ·
          edit-2
          9 days ago

          we’re only talking about it because somebody did check, and it was found.

          If it was closed source no one would’ve know, common open source W

          • TropicalDingdong@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            0
            ·
            9 days ago

            You can still decompile things in closed source, which is what basically had to be done to identify this was happening.

            Its about as scummy and antithetical to fediverse culture as could possibly be.

            • Axolotl@feddit.it
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              0
              ·
              9 days ago

              It’s harder to look in to it though, especially with obfuscation techniques and you need asm knowledge