Another server has your server blocked. You ask why. response?
"you should have blocked certain places by now but you haven't we don't trust you."
"we block as soon as we notice a problem, what are you suggesting?"
They refuse to tell us what we "should" have blocked or why.
There is no elegant way to find out a list of bad actors, no simple way to verify it.
I don't like just taking a block list on faith. That's what I want to address with this idea:
But in talking to people about this idea I've discovered a web of messy attempts at "doing something" about this issue. Discord forums, admin instance, so many fragmented little projects. All with the best intents.
The Problem: When instances work alone they duplicate the work of blocking bad actors and give bad actors more chances to be bad before they are caught.
Solutions range from too automated, to too managed. We need to strike a balence between those extremes.
"Listen these servers are bad block them all. But, don't post this list publicly..." This requires a LOT of interpersonal trust. Not ideal.
"I've made a program that blocks a server after it accumulates 47 block points on the block chain, then it's automatically propagated with the points weighted by trust scores into the network." Very fancy but these ought to be human choices, right? Not some *spits* algorithm.
(I'm told it is traditional to spit before saying that word around here.)
We need to have trust between severs. So, I'd suggest each server naming the servers it will trust. Mutual trust means that block *information* would be shared. The act of blocking? Still done by the human person who is in charge of the instance.
Further, just sharing lists isn't enough, the lists need to have links, or evidence of some kind of the *reason* for the block.
The question is, how to make this happen.
I don't know. I told them about the guide I was making to help new users choose and instance. They said "we do not allow lists our guides." I got annoyed and gave up.
I'll try to find out what the heck is going on later. A good friend of mine is over on that server and this all started because I couldn't send them a message.
@peterdrake @futurebird @trinsec
No but perhaps we should, especially since I have developed some software that meeds being described here... so I see a lot of room for colobaroation if thjey are interested.