A very long text that comes two years after the proposal explaining how allowlist-based networks could work, why they are needed and all:
https://writer.oliphant.social/oliphant/islands
In short, it’s not just about each instance having its own allowlist, it’s about multiple instances in allowlist-mode creating a network with each other, all of them bidirectionally federating, based on commonly agreed rules. It’s a way to favor a nice experience by default rather than the neverending task of getting harassed, moderating, etc…
Tools needed to be built. Shared reporting and actions, endorsements, dynamic additions/removal, shared spaces for communicating… This link explains it all and is an invitation for everyone to consider building such networks, small and large, closed or open
Is it right to understand it as a concept for next-level federation byusing shared and co-moderating whitelists?
Yes ! Instead of going in with no clue expecting everyone but a small minority to be nice, this is the part where we grow up, we know that many (most, in some cases) of the interactions will be bad, so 1) we’re not naive and 2) we share information about that.
Activitypub is the technical federation, this is the social federation