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!
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.
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?
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.
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
Nay! We should alert them of their mistake and help them fix it. We should only defederate from instances that are only host bots.
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.
Aye But with human review
Aye but we need to figure out how the process of unblocking them will work.
