See the tool here: https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/post/95652
And some discussion of the issue here: https://lemm.ee/post/177673
This tool produces a list of instances which have a very high number of users compared to the number of comments and posts. These instances are assumed to have high number of bot accounts on them.
Some other instances have started blocking them, should sh.itjust.works follow suit?
Of course, this need not be permanent, and will be reversed when those instances resolve the issue.
For reference, this is a list of instances suspected of being botted by the tool’s default settings: https://overseer.dbzer0.com/api/v1/instances?activity_suspicion=20&domains=true
Ayes and nays please!
Nay.
I do support blocking spam servers and bot farms, but what’s our criteria?
We need more information. How sure are we that they’re bot farms?
Aye!
Aye.
It’s pretty obvious which ones are botted instances. 30,000 users and 20 total posts on the instance? That’s a bot.
Not necessarily, my account is on SDF because of their solid uptime, lack of defederated instances, relatively low user count compared to the more bloated instances, and a general appreciation for SDF’s ethos. I generally don’t post in many local communities.
However there will be some where it’s obvious for sure. I just worry about people on lesser know instances that might not allow free creation of communities, but have policies they agree with.
Hey! It’s the hypothetical software we were just talking about!
This sounds really useful. Having to have each admin independently de-federate from spam instances is a huge overhead that a tool like this would help with.
Wow, this platform is growing up before our eyes.
Thanks https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/u/db0.
It’s my understanding that db0 was a mod over at r/piracy and was able to get a big chunk of subscribers to come over to Lemmy. Good on him for being one of the only reddit mods to take a stand.
Aye
Aye, as long as there’s an easy way to unblock.
Aye
Aye
Nay.
I don’t like bots much, but this is still an assumption. I don’t want to get into preventative de-federation, if it is at all possible to avoid it.
The Meta/Facebook instance(s) should be though.
Yes
Aye
This is definitely gonna turn into a mess for servers that don’t take care of this pre-emptively
Aye but allow for some process for these instances to get themselves back in good graces. One mistake on the admins end and he wakes up with 30k bots. Might not be totally on purpose.
Aye
Aye But with human review
Nay! We should alert them of their mistake and help them fix it. We should only defederate from instances that are only host bots.
