This should help us cut down on the trolls. We recommend other instances do the same, because they will likely be targeted also.

I apologize for all their gore-posts as well, no one should have to see that. We’ll try to look for more admins from different time-zones as well to get them faster.

The two other possibilities we have currently as options, are turning on required email verification, and as a last resort, closing signups. I personally would rather not do either, but they are options.

Many thanks to @k_o_t@lemmy.ml and @AgreeableLandscape@lemmy.ml for banning those trolls.

    • DessalinesOPMA
      201·
      3 years ago

      Not opposed as long as someone else codes it lol. I’m a bit swamped.

    • Tomat0
      5·
      3 years ago

      Fantastic idea! I actually never thought about this, this could probably be done fediverse-wide.

  • Zerush
    272·
    3 years ago

    Perhaps to avoid this type of user, a pre-school intelligence test would suffice.

  • mossy
    211·
    2 years ago

    deleted by creator

  • ☆ Yσɠƚԋσʂ ☆
    15·
    3 years ago

    The brigading is really unfortunate and thanks to the admins for doing all the work to contain it. As Lemmy grows in usage requiring email verification may be unavoidable, but hopefully having a registration application will do the trick in the immediate term. Something like this was bound to happen sooner or later, so at least this is a useful test case for how such brigading and spam can be addressed going forward.

  • CHEF-KOCH
    162·
    3 years ago

    You do not need to apologize for actions of others, you did your best and you found a solution for this issue which is what at the end counts.

    Lemmy does lots of more work than most other platforms I know, admins and mods are often very fast and helpful + resourceful.

    My idea was to introduce some sort of reputation based system but the problem is, that bots maybe could abuse the system to upvote themselves to get some sort of credit or reputation, call it what you want. Most boards use captchas and eMail verification systems to workaround this. Maybe an option would be to enable captchas for users who have below x posts as a middle ground, lets say 1 captcha per new submission until you have 5 posts in total.

    Edit

    After thinking about it, another system without reputation or captchas or emails would be to hold back posts until someone has 5 posts and let the Mods, Admin approve it first.

    • obbeel
      10·
      3 years ago

      Reputation would just turn this into Reddit, where you can’t do anything or interact unless you use a single account or post what Reddit would like you to post.

      • CHEF-KOCH
        3·
        3 years ago

        Yeah I updated my statement, gave an example. Up until 5 posts. I think that is okay as a middle-way. The system is not meant as competition system or to farm something.

    • Star Wars Enjoyer @lemmygrad.ml
      7·
      3 years ago

      The Lemmy devs have already decided that karma is just a bottomless pit that just harms users mental health, so it’s highly doubtful we’d ever have a reputation system be introduced, as that’s literally the same thing.

      Also, captchas can be preventative to people with certain disabilities, so introducing them (I believe it would be reintroducing, actually) would contradict Lemmy’s disability-inclusive culture. As well, email verification wouldn’t work for people who would prefer anonymity. And nefarious users could just use a spoof mail account, so the introduction of required email account verification would really only harm privacy-focused real users, and do nothing to prevent trolls. Also, while on the subject and though you didn’t mention it, we don’t ban IPs because some VPNs reuse them for multiple people. So banning the IP of a troll might also cause the ban of real users.

      • DessalinesOPMA
        8·
        3 years ago

        These are my thoughts on email too. Using throwaways is so easy for trolls, and legitimate users now have a privacy concern since a lot of the “legitimate” email services are really invasive.

  • stopit
    14·
    3 years ago

    No worries. I have seen surprisingly few of these types of posts, so you’re currently doing something better then other alternatives and I appreciate your efforts to make things even better.

  • Akimoto
    12·
    3 years ago

    Doing registration form with manual approval is a good first step. My 2 cents is you could also implementing an invite based registration where users are allowed to invite their trusted friends.

    Similar to how reputable private trackers works. There is form registration, interview, or invite from existing members. If existing member invites too many leechers, the current member will get a warning and ban eventually. This system is mostly working for private trackers so far.

    • Salamander@mander.xyz
      5·
      3 years ago

      Are the invite systems usually e-mail based? If so, it would be cool to be able to generate 1-time use codes to invite friends, so that providing an e-mail is not required.

      • Akimoto
        5·
        3 years ago

        Absolutely, have a code based invitation would be more privacy focused.

  • Salamander@mander.xyz
    10·
    3 years ago

    Thanks a lot! I have implemented this in my instance too. This past week I was also saw several accounts being created to post ads.

  • Lionel C-R@lemmy.coupou.fr
    10·
    3 years ago

    Also,it would be nice to have some sort of moderation/ban federation to avoid having to do the work on each instance.

    I’m sure it’s easier said than done but would be very beneficial to the project and community.

    • seahorse
      8·
      3 years ago

      I second this. If someone/something is banned and removed from an instance it shouldn’t still be visible on a linked instance. If this isn’t already a pending feature request I’ll happily make one for it.

  • mtumishi@baraza.africa
    10·
    3 years ago

    After upgrading to 0.15.1, I activated the signup form. I haven’t had to deal with the daily trolls. Not ideal but it helps.

    • AgreeableLandscape
      161·
      3 years ago

      This is just my opinion. Applications are reviewed on a case by case basis and is up to a vote by the existing admins.

      Must haves:

      • A history of quality activity on Lemmy.ml or another instance we federate with, such as amicable discussion, links to reputable web resources, etc.

      • Frequently online. I’d say at least once a day is ideal, but I also understand that you’re a volunteer, and will reasonably have other things going on where you might be missing for several days or otherwise intermittent at times.

      • An interest in helping to develop the Lemmy community and ecosystem.

      • No recent violation of instance rules or Lemmy project code of conduct.

      • Is not currently banned from Lemmy.ml on another account.

      Optional but could help your application:

      • History of reporting rule breaking content, particularly spam.

      • Has participated in discussions on Lemmy development or the the direction the Lemmy community is going.

      • Already a moderator of a community, or an admin on another instance (we will use your moderation history to assess your application).

      • Activity on the Lemmy Matrix rooms (please Link your Matrix).

      • Activity on the Lemmy project GitHub or other source control site that Lemmy is on, either as a code contributor or making/discussing pull requests (please Link your GitHub/other source control website).

      It would also help to specify your time zone and the languages you know.

  • ghost_laptop
    123·
    3 years ago

    I think having more admins from more time zones is the best solution, then e-mail verification and then having to fill out a form because it takes time to be reviewed and it takes more time from me because i have to write shit and anyway i can lie.

  • Jay Baker (he/they)
    7·
    3 years ago

    Thanks for this. I’d stick to the It’s FOSS channels if I wanted to see loads of fascist crap 🤣 Love being on Lemmy!