I would encourage every Fediverse software project to implement a “dead-man switch" on registrations: if nobody with moderator permissions has been active in the last week, then disable new account creation.

[renchap@oisaur.com]

I would encourage every Fediverse software project to implement a “dead-man switch" on registrations: if nobody with moderator permissions has been active in the last week, then disable new account creation.

The Fediverse has a significant number of abandoned instances that are used by bad actors to create accounts and send spam.

We implemented this in Mastodon (https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon/pull/29318) and it has been highly effective.

[thisismissem@hachyderm.io]

@renchap unfortunately that's not merged yet, is it?

[thisismissem@hachyderm.io]

@renchap actually, I was thinking of this one: https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon/pull/25032

[renchap@oisaur.com]

@thisismissem It has been merged and quickly backported into a 4.2 patch version

[freeplay@wetdry.world]

@renchap wondering if something similar could be done for rejecting incoming activitypub requests maybe ? or is that a bad idea

[mware@mstdn.ca]

@renchap tagging @dansup

[dansup@mastodon.social]

@mWare @renchap That's a great idea, will be implementing that after work!

[mware@mstdn.ca]

@dansup @renchap wait you have a job OUTSIDE of Pixelfed?

... is it tending to that sweet tuxxy kitty of yours?

[radmin@limepeeps.perchinup.top]

@[email protected] Huh, was this why the recent enspammification a few days ago didn't turn out so effectively?

Aside from that, though, promising work! It's encouraging to see our devs not just be better than Twitter, but build up moderation tools to keep up with the growing userbase (and thus pool of bad actors).

[justinh@twit.social]

@renchap New accounts can't "push" anything until they're followed on another instance, correct?

Not that the idea of a dead-mans switch is a bad one! I would like to see other dead-man switches too such as warning existing users that their accounts could disappear when an admin goes awol.

[bob@beamship.mpaq.org]

@renchap

I like the idea. Is it in 4.3 already? Couldn't tell from the comments.

[jupiter_rowland@hub.netzgemeinde.eu]

@⁂ Justin (StayGrounded.online) @Renaud Chaput Also, if you want to protect your instance from being overrun by spammers, there should be more that you can do than close registrations.

How about manual approval by an admin? Does Mastodon have this feature? Because Hubzilla, (streams) and Forte do.

#FediMeta #FediverseMeta #CWFediMeta #CWFediverseMeta #Fediverse #Spam #Mastodon #Hubzilla #Streams #(streams) #Forte

[qbi@freie-re.de]

@renchap Can you tell how many instances have switched over time?

[dansup@mastodon.social]

@mWare @renchap Yes I have a full time webdev job!

[gunchleoc@mastodon.scot]

@freeplay https://mastodon.scot/@gunchleoc/113327196499943561

[renchap@oisaur.com]

@jupiter_rowland yes, Mastodon supports requiring approval for accounts

[renchap@oisaur.com]

@bob it was even backported in 4.2 last february

[gunchleoc@mastodon.scot]

@radmin @renchap It was a combination of this and of notifying vulnerable servers during the previous spam wave. Many admins took action on the open signups back then.

[gunchleoc@mastodon.scot]

@jupiter_rowland Yes, Mastodon has had this feature for a while, to set registrations to require approval.

[gunchleoc@mastodon.scot]

@JustinH They can by mentioning people, which is what this spam bot does - it mentions 4 accounts per post.