Oliphant Is Completely Fine on Nostr: #[0] The T3 list is half the size it used to be, before I required at least 2 ...

npub1kpwlxpzkxfmuxjmzc2wp3rf9vjg0sgydmlhsnrgqr3maf59h86qqdxxzz4 (npub1kpw…xzz4) The T3 list is half the size it used to be, before I required at least 2 matching sources to make it onto the T3 list.

It went from about 2500 blocks to 1200.

Adding consensus reduced the false positives considerably (see the "max" list for an enormous list that includes all blocks that I would never recommend anyone import).

Qoto isn't suspended, just silenced on the T0 list, so at least it's not defederation.

I've got some insight into how these blocks are determined. Lax federation policy with bad actors or untrustworthy sources plays a role, but so many times it comes down to the behavior of the admin of the instance, and what sorts of content or sources they boost or follow, what actions or positions the admin takes.

The admin sets the tone for their instance, so if the admin is known for boosting content from poa.st or gleason, for instance, that's reason enough for some (although not all) to suspend, or silence. Out of an abundance of caution for users on their server.

Mastodon.art, artisan.chat, rage.love, these are highly-moderated spaces whose members consider federation to be a privilege not an entitlement, and will often make a risk assessment that might seem a bit extreme to you, but it's all got a basis.

For the most part, there is zero tolerance for any right-wing/fash content, "free speech zones" that refuse to moderate their users, etc. They do research and look for connections and endorsements between admins to get a sense of the character of an instance, as well as posts.

There's a lot of rigor that goes into it, and most of the time what happens is someone recommends a block, and some follow up with their own investigations or checking of
the receipts, and then they'll execute a block, or a silence, or do nothing as they see fit. (I do nothing quite often myself, but the stakes are much lower for me as I don't support a lot of users.)

Anyway, I "picked" servers that were willing to publicly go on record and provide their blocklists for download--I only do this with permission--and these comprise server admins who are part of our Discord chat that shares information among the various admins (some 50 or so) who have a particular moderation philosophy.

We don't weight according to number of people on the instance, because the people on the instance don't make block decisions, the admins do.

Look, I personally haven't had any issues with people on qoto. I've got a few followers from qoto who are pretty awesome, so I've always been hesitant to apply any kind of block. I did do a silence against qoto for a little while, but ultimately relaxed it.

None of the other admins have come after me for it or told me that because I federate with qoto I can't be trusted or anything like that.

In any case, I just added another source today, and hope to get a few more.

These are just the sources I have today, ultimately I'd like to get twenty, thirty, maybe even fifty different sources.

Once that happens, no individual admin will have too much power over the resulting blocklists. Effectively with a large enough pool, we should be able to get to an 80% consensus that perhaps more closely looks like something you'd be willing to accept.

If you think about it this way: My sources are admins who take blocklists, fediblock, and user safety very seriously, so of course they ended up being the first sites with blocklists available and curated and basically ready for import.

They were just the first, though. Eventually others may volunteer their blocklists as well and I'll be able to weight them as well into the final results.

I do disagree about one fundamental thing. I personally think in the early days of setting up a server, it's better to over-defederate, than to under-defederate.

I started out with no suspensions and it took me exactly 30 seconds to receive hate speech after I'd spun up a new server. Some of the worst stuff I'd ever heard in my life. I didn't want that ever to happen to anyone else again.

That's the entire reason for the blocklist.

Imperfect? Probably.

But far, far better than what was available when I started.