[0.18.0] Lemmy instance updated!

Hey guys, Our Lemmy instance has been updated to 0.18.0 as of this evening. Let us know if anything is off or broken so that our volunteer staff can look into it.

Also something to be aware of, Marbled Fennec Networks has made the preemptive decision to go ahead and block all traffic to and from Meta/FaceBook when it comes to our Lemmy instance. There has been word going around the fediverse that Meta may be working on their own client or integration for ActivityPub, the underlying protocol.

I will admit this decision comes from myself (Skylar) and may appear to be heavy handed, but it is of my belief that good things rarely come from an income driven company wedging themselves into open and free spaces on the internet. Meta has shown time and time again that peoples' privacy, protection and well being is not one of their core values. Until given reason otherwise, they will remain blocked entirely from our instance.

As of right now, however, I have not and most likely will not take a stand on blocking them from the rest of the network. I only aim to protect our Lemmy instance from direct injection of their business practices, which I view as rather unhealthy.

I still stand behind the fact that Marbled Fennec Networks should be and will remain a mostly neutral IP carrier for pretty much every other use case. As long as our project members are doing things on the network that are legal in Canada and the US, it isn't the network's job to police them. I just feel that this is going to lead to a slippery slope if a company like Meta/FaceBook is allowed to enter the fediverse because it could lead to additional spam, poorly adjusted users and attempted commercialization of the space.

Marbled Fennec Networks will be open to considering removing the ASN bans put in place on the instance once and if Meta/FaceBook proves that they can behave and respectful everything that everyone has contributed and built within the fediverse.