this post was submitted on 05 May 2026
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I'm perpetually shocked that there's zero vetting for federation...
Like, I get needing to give a new instance a chance, but it feels like shared between all the admins that federate, keeping an eye on them wouldn't be hard for a probationary period.
But like..
Admins really saw a blank instance with "chan" being the only other word besides "lemmy" and thought shit was gonna cool?
Is federation really automated to the point no human makes a decision? If so, that's an obvious flaw and trolls will just keep spinning up instances to troll from. If one person has to pay it all the time, it's a hassle. If ~100 people are pitching in or taking turns and they don't care what the domain is because they know it's temporary...
Have admins even considered how to prepare for that?
Some instances operate on an allowlist rather than just blindly being open, but honestly the number of problem instances is much lower than you might expect. Most are just wide open. Spinning up an instance will cost you some time and a domain, so it's not exactly a zero cost effort.
Honestly I have no idea what "chan" has to do with this, I only know it as the japanese honorific. Edit: Oh, chan like 4chan? That one didn't occur to me.
Chan is short for channel
“Chan boards” are a thing. 4chan wasn’t even the first.
It all started with trains.
Instances can either be blocklisted or allowlisted. A given instance must choose one method or the other, and almost all instances choose the former. Hexbear is the only one I know that chose the later. They vet instances individually before allowing them. Keep in mind that the fediverse is not just Lemmy. It would be a lot of work to vet each new fediverse instance that comes along.
Thanks!
So it's just a setting they can flip at any time. When (not if) instance spam becomes an issue, there's already a way to address it.
This could (hopefully would) be mitigated by blocklist admins monitoring one of the resources that quantify instance activity after like x months. If everything checks out, let em in with a reminder in y months to circle back.
Semi related:
I've always wanted to see a mod list that breaks down "local". Like, you look at .worlds modlist from the main page, and it's every mod action from every federate instance.
It makes it hard for users to see what their own admins are up, especially with how frequent these discussions is, I feel that option would increase transparency for how an instance moderates so users can make informed decisions where to set up roots.
Yeah that'd be nice. Modlog has always left much to be desired. Although the core concept is great, it's not fleshed out enough to be as useful as it should be. Sometimes it can even be weaponized by rogue mods to slander certain users. Because when you ban someone, that mod action is permanent and you get to put whatever text you want as the ban reason.
It definitely needs work but I can understand other things taking priority, considering most users will never interact with the modlog anyway.
That was a question I asked our admins. When a new instance spins up is there any kind of probationary or quarantine period? Nope, not really. 😔
Apparently it's an option. I'm assuming that means it can be changed later, I can't imagine it being locked in.