Well, there was a bit of drama last night around 5:30-6pm, with dozens of troll posts being posted on lemmy.nz as well as other instances. Luckily @idanoo@lemmy.nz has emergency access and managed to get it under control elegantly and skillfully.

For the moment we have registration applications turned on. Recently we have not had a lot of new users joining lemmy.nz, most joining our communities are from other instances, so I intend to keep the requirement to apply for an account for the moment. If we get an influx of new users (e.g. from something reddit does), I'll try to work out a way to make registrations open, because it's important to me not to create barriers to entry.

I'm also investigating fediseer.com, which is a spam fighting measure where instances guarantee others, creating a chain of trust. Currently we have very few instances defederated, but if we implement this, and especially if we get it automated, then you may see many more instances on the block list, and these would update frequently (e.g. blocking an instance while it's gettting a spam invasion, then unblocking once it's resolved). I haven't implemented anything yet, though.

Fediseer seems to be explicitly only about spam, so in theory we should not see instances blocked for ideology or anything like that. Though there is the ability to censure instances for any reason. I guess I have more to learn.

[–] liv 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

You must be learning heaps of cool stuff by running this instance!

[–] Dave 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Haha oh boy, it has been quite the learning experience. It has been really cool watching everything come together in terms of all the instances learning how to solve a bunch of reasonably unique problems.

When I look back, I think both "I can't believe it's already been 3 months" and also "I can't believe it's only been 3 months".

[–] liv 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Sounds so intense but also what you describe about collaboration really makes me feel optimistic about human nature and the future of the internet.

One day you'll be reminiscing about these times and how you wrre part of it all. I really believe federation is the internet's best direction.

[–] Dave 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Yeah me too. All the things people say are blockers to federation going mainstream, I don't think are insurmountable. Federation need not be more complicated than email, it's just we are in the early days and the focus is on having things actually work rather than quality of life. That will change as things mature.

[–] liv 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Yeah, I think one day it's going to have way less friction and be taken for granted.

and the focus is on having things actually work rather than quality of life

That's a good way of putting it. I wonder if there's like, a tech version of Maslow's heirarchy of need?

[–] Dave 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

There's one listed here. I would say Lemmy is still working on the "functionality" part, as it is missing many basic functions needed to meet what I think is the bare minimum. So it's still very much only suitable for early adopters willing to put up with jankyness.

As with Maslow’s hierarchy it is essential for a design to meet the lowest need on the pyramid before progressing to meet further needs.

Functionality – for a design to meet any need it must work and it must meet the basic needs of the user. However, if this is all it does; it may well be seen as having little value if any to the user in the short to long-term.

Reliability – the next step is for your design to function in a reliable manner and present a consistent experience. This may increase the user’s perception of the value of your product from a purely functional one but it does not add large amounts of value either.

Usability – then a design should be simple to use and relatively forgiving of user error. When you meet this need the product is likely to be considered of middling value by the user.

Proficiency – a design which helps a user to do more or achieve more is one which is likely to be desired as a high-level of value and fulfil user needs more effectively.

Creativity – the final step in the design pyramid is to create products which fulfil all other needs and are beautiful not just in form but also in interaction and function. This is where the highest user value is placed (think Apple products for an example in real life).

[–] liv 3 points 1 year ago

Ah thanks, this is so cool!!! TIL!

Yeah I think you're right. I love this part of the fediverse but it does feel janky and require a certain amount of perseverence even just as a casual user.

[–] Ilovethebomb 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I saw that come through, it was over and done with pretty quickly though.

[–] Dave 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Yeah, @idanoo closed registrations and did tidy up pretty promptly. They then went to feddit.jp and started attacking from there. We've also had some issues a few days ago with other accounts that signed up here but posted on other instances. Unfortunately there is no way to report this to the instance they are from, so I didn't know until I got messages telling me.