Comment by moron4hire
4 months ago
F-Droid "Anti-Feature flags" are not block lists. They are for users to filter content. The content is still available.
>> When reviewing apps to accept, F-Droid takes the user’s point of view, first and foremost. We start with strict acceptance criteria based on the principles of free software and user control. There are some things about an app that might not block it from inclusion, but many users might not want to accept them. For these kinds of things, F-Droid has a defined set of Anti-Features. Apps can then be marked with these Anti-Features so users can clearly choose whether the app is still acceptable.
>> Anti-Features are organized into “flags” that packagers can use to mark apps, warning of possibly undesirable behaviour from the user’s perspective, often serving the interest of the developer or a third party. Free software packages do not exist in a bubble. For one piece of software to be useful, it usually has to integrate with some other software. Therefore, users that want free software also want to know if an app depends on or promotes any proprietary software. Sometimes, there are concepts in Anti-Features that overlap with tactics used by third parties against users. F-Droid always marks Anti-Features from the user’s point of view. For example, NSFW might be construed as similar to a censor’s blocklists, but in our case, the focus is on the user’s context and keeping the user in control.
Emphasis mine.
F-Droid is no longer accepting "NSFW" apps (as they dubiously define them) and will eventually remove them from the repo. This tag is only a stopgap until they figure out how to move them out of the F-Droid repo.
https://gitlab.com/fdroid/admin/-/issues/252
Was not aware of this and it does put the flagging in a different light.
Honestly, that feels like someone doing malicious compliance to jam up the nsfw ban. Of course by most standards that include written content the bible, quran etc. (and plenty of popular media series like a song of ice and fire) are nsfw, but the people pushing for age restriction/nsfw bans would usually strongly feel "except those ones" and by applying the label you force them to either explain or codify the double standard.
Oh that's disappointing. I have no issue with them flagging bible apps (it's just a flag and I welcome the ability to filter) but I do think nsfw content does belong in an open app ecosystem under the appropriate flagging. Including religion for those who subscribe to that.
This hides those apps from the search unless that user enables the NSFW filter. When seen through that lens, I can’t imagine the overlap of users who are searching for a Bible app and who also want to show NSFW apps with them. When seen through that lens, it doesn’t seem like this is a user-friendly decision or one that is taking the user in control or taking their context into account.