Threads and hear-me.social FAQ

Threads has turned on Fediverse integration for all their users. Threads users can opt-in to use it. So, it’s time to address how this impacts hear-me.social and threads.net. Note that this feature in Threads is still Beta and not all the functions are working. You’ll need to check Threads to find out what does and does not yet work.

What does it mean that Threads is now integrated with the Fediverse?

To make this easy to understand, think of a Mastodon server named notsocial.social. And the unusual thing about notsocial.social is that every new account is set up to block every other Mastodon server. In so doing, @[email protected] will only be able to read posts from other members of notsocial.social, and anything Fred posts will only be seen by other members of notsocial.social.

As an aside, this scenario already exists. Trump’s Truth Social is a Mastodon server, which has disabled all connections to other Mastodon servers. There is no connection there to the Fediverse.

This is also the default situation for people who join threads (threads.net). They are blocked from seeing accounts on any Mastodon (or any Fediverse) server. They can only see posts from threads.net, and they can only be seen by people on threads.net.

Suppose @[email protected] wants to talk to people on other Mastodon (or misskey, whatever) servers. Well, Fred would simply delete the server blocks that were originally set up for his account, and now Fred can interact with people on any Mastodon server.

This is the same on Threads. Someone can go into their Threads profile and, under privacy, and if they have a public account, enable access to the Fediverse. And now, just like @[email protected], @[email protected] can interact with people on Mastodon servers because the blocks are gone.

So, yep, threads.net, in reality, is just like another Mastodon server, except it has a unique UI, unique UX features, will probably serve ads, will integrate into Meta things, and will do other commercial things, but only for members of threads.net. It’s just another Mastodon server in essence.

Does hear-me.social treat threads.net like it treats every other server?

hear-me.social treats threads.net like it treats every other poorly moderated server. Because of the millions of people on threads.net and the expectation that threads.net will not moderate as well as a Mastodon server, which therefore might cause threads.net to become a platform of trolls, spammers, scammers, and bots (oh my!), they are set to “Limited” just as other poorly moderated servers are.

What does it mean that threads.net is limited?

A “limited” server means:

You can follow anyone on that server. So, for example, you can follow @[email protected]

Anyone on that server can follow you, with your permission. When they request to follow you, you will need to approve it (not yet available in the Threads beta, but promised soon).

Nobody on threads.net can DM anyone who doesn’t follow them (also not in beta Threads)

You cannot boost anything they post.

Their posts will not show in the public timeline. Only their followers will see their posts.

This way, trolls, spammers, scammers, and bots can’t target anyone on hear-me.social.

But there are some people on threads.net that I know don’t deserve to be limited. I want to boost their posts and I think their posts should appear in the public timeline

If you have someone that you follow, and you want them to be unlimited, or they deserve to be unlimited, send a DM to @[email protected] and the limit will be removed for their account specifically. Some people have already been exempted from being limited.

What if I don’t want to see any posts from threads.net? Can I block threads.net?

Yes. Anybody can block threads.net. The way to do it varies by which Mastodon app you use, so you’ll need to look up how to do it.

Are all Mastodon servers treating threads.net the way hear-me.social is?

No. Some are doing a total block. Some are doing nothing.

Some Admins have determined that threads.net, run by a corporate, is evil and should not be allowed onto the Fediverse and should be blocked. Some fear, although it isn’t possible, that advertising will come from threads.net. Others fear that threads.net will begin scraping user data from their Mastodon server without permission, but since Mastodon is not private nor encrypted, anyone can already do this. Most likely, Meta has been scraping user data for a long time and trying to match Mastodon accounts to their accounts, along with many other corporates and governments. Blocking threads won’t change this.

Some, like mastodon.social, appear to have no restrictions.

On hear-me.social, blocking of threads.net is an individual decision, not an Admin decision. Block them if you like.

I would like to follow someone on threads, but I can’t connect to them

The person hasn’t enabled Fediverse integration on their Threads account. Once they do, you will be able to find them. Ask them to do it.

Can I open a report about a Threads user?

Yes, treat them like any other Mastodon user. And, if appropriate, they will be blocked.

Which accounts have had the Threads.net server limit individually removed?

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