The Oliphant

2022-11-15 07:08:58

Oliphant.Social Mastodon Blocklists

This is a curated place to find server blocklists for your own use. An algorithm combines multiple Trusted Source blocklists together and gives you a great deal of choice on which blocklist you want to use, along with transparency into how these are derived. I'm sharing this with others who want to start their Mastodon instance with a sensible list of domains that should be defederated. Download any of the lists on this page you like, depending on your desired amount of blocking.

Useful Links:

• Full And Current Directory of BlocklistsThis is a static, permanent location you can bookmark with the latest blocklists in it.
• Recommended “Bare Minimum” ListA smaller blocklist, for a brand new server. This includes only Tier0 blocks. Tier 0 requires majority consensus in blocks among (currently) 14+ sources in order to appear on the Seirdy T0 list. The Gardenfence list requires 5/7 consensus blocks among mostly fedi-council sources. The Fedi Council Tier 0 file requires 80% consensus and uses the “min” strategy.
• Ultra-Minimalist: FedinukeA subset of Seirdy's Tier 0 list, this is a more minimal and curated list of the worst of the worst.
• Ultra-Minimalist: 100% BlocksThe smallest unified blocklist, this requires all sources to agree to block these sites. These receive a universal vote of “no” on the “should we federate.”
• Comprehensive Tier 3 Block ListThe largest recommended blocklist, using the most lenient merge policy. Only 2 trusted sources must agree on the block for it to be included in the list. This is a much larger blocklist by comparison to the T0 list. Feel free to start small before swallowing the entire ocean if this is your first time.
• Birdsite Live BlocksEver search for someone's account you know from Twitter and get like 60 clones? That's these shitty things. Import and block them all (that we know about) if you want. Original Source List (possibly more up to date): Seirdy
• This Blocklist AlgorithmHow this whole thing works.
• Be Your Own OliphantGenerate these blocklists yourself, using the same code.

If you want explanations for a lot of the reasons for why someone or something is on this list, several of them can be found on the fediblock hashtag, others can be found on the About pages of the various instances, under “Moderated Servers.” None of the public reasons for defederation or silence are imported from remote servers, databased, or published. This is by design.

The receipts are increasingly being catalogued on on the Bad Space.

For non-admins, you can download any of these lists and import them into your personal blocked domains. Note: All 'Silence' options will be ignored when imported as a personal domain blocklist.

Yes, we know there is more to moderation than server blocklists. This is just a first line of defense.

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Types of Lists

From individual server lists that can be downloaded and imported, as well as the Tier 0-3 lists.

Control

We provide Mastodon.Social and Mastodon.Online lists for download. As flagship servers run by Eugen, we assume that the current defederations essentially are a statement on behalf of the Mastodon Server Covenant.

These lists are largely used as a basis of comparison.

• Mastodon.Social
• Mastodon.Online

Tier 0: 60%+ Agreement Between All Sources

These blocks are found in multiple blocklists across multiple trusted sources. These are the “bare minimum” lists. The combined amalgam of those lists is the Combined Tier 0 list below. No consensus on blocks is required between T0 sources, as they are already consensus-based lists.

• Tier 0 Sierdy ListSeirdy's list begins with pleroma.envs.net's blocklist and then looks for common agreement ~60% across 15+ different sources.Read more about the algorithm behind Seirdy's Fediverse Blocklists.
• GardenfenceAnother consensus-based list looking for 75%+ agreement among all sources.Read more about Gardenfence here and its algorithm or download the list directly.
• Fedi Council Tier 0Requires 80% agreement between all Fedi council sources
• Unified Tier 0 ListCombines the blocks from all Tier 0 sources.

You will sometimes see the Unified Tier0 list called the unified “min” list.

It's literally the same file, it's just a copy for those who can more easily track “min” with “minimum recommended blocks.”

As has been already strongly-implied, any of these T0 files are recommended as files for new server admins who are looking for the “bare minimum” list.

Tier 1-3: Representing Other Levels of Consensus

Tier 1-3 are built just like Tier 0. These are only consensus blocks, so to appear in the merged list, even for T3, it needs to be shared by at least 2 sources. The most lenient policy is taken across all sources. These combined lists already include Tier 0.

• Tier 1 List – Includes T0, requires 50% agreement
• Tier 2 List – Includes T0, requires 33% agreement
• Tier 3 List – Includes Tier 0, 2 sources must agree

Fedi Council Blocklist Contributors

You are encouraged to use one of the blocklists of these trusted sources who are a representative subset of the “Fedi Council”. Provided with their permission, and my thanks.

• Artisan.Chat
• Mastodon.Art
• Pleroma.envs.net
• Rage.Love
• Solarpunk.Moe
• Sunny.Garden
• Toot.Wales
• Union.Place

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A Culture Built Upon The Shoulders of Giants

All of this is built upon the shoulders of giants, specifically the Fediblock hashtag and the advocacy around it, created by @CaribenxMarciaX@scholar.social and @gingerrroot@kitty.town.

They have been on the fedi since 2017 and are the entire reason we have lists like this at all, and have worked and suffered (in the face of a lot of hate and pushback) to bring us the fediblock culture that exists today.

It has been a very thankless task, and they are often erased in these efforts. But you should follow them and thank them, defend them if you see them against the “reply guys” of the fedi, because they are truly giants who deserve to be recognized for their accomplishments.

Everyone is building upon hard work and hard conversations they started, and it's become foundational to the idea of using Trusted Sources for blocks. Talk and federate among your friends, work together to corral bad actors, provide your blocks to others who are like-minded so they can protect themselves and their communities.

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FAQ

Can I become a Trusted Source?

Yes! Probably. We're trying to keep the list down to an unimpeachable list of sources to ensure “Trusted” status, so there is review period, and the existing council needs to agree on inclusion. This is to protect community safety.

I have no vote in who is included on the Trusted Council at this point.

You must also be willing to publicly share your server's blocklist so we can “show our work” for transparency.

Why don't you list the reasons for the suspended sites?

There is no correct answer for me to this question.

• If I explain why, then it becomes, “Why are you saying awful things about the people on this server?”
• If I don't explain why, then it becomes, “Why are you blocking people for no reason?”

You can check most of these sources and see on their own /about page under “Moderated Servers” why they recommend silence or defederation. Most of these reasons are already public.

I'm doing everyone involved a courtesy by not including them, to be honest.

Whose list should we trust?

Only you can answer that question. I now provide multiple lists in addition to my own and make no judgments whatsoever about which list you use, so I am no longer the single authority here. Choose any server's list that you want, hand-edit your own, or use the merged list. I'm showing all my work here.

How does anyone get off the list?

Getting on the list doesn't mean you're on the list forever. I realize this is by nature subjective. I have not hidden this fact!

This is a toolkit, a process, and it all is based on the Trusted Sources. No server—not even the contributors—are safe from appearing on the list.

You should plea your case with the server admins who comprise the sources of the list, work with them to get your server off of a list. If anything changes, the change will be reflected in the repo within an hour.

If any part of this does not suit you, if you want to create your own allowlist of safe domains that will never be included on any blocklist ever, You can do that with this process: on codeberg or github.

You can run that and get the same results I do using the same process, or go into the list of sources and remove them or add your own. Go into the __allowlist.csv file and add any sites you want to the list.

You're also welcome to fork the repo and push that up as your own version of the lists, and recommend those to others instead of my own.

— @oliphant
— @oliphant

blocklists

^Codeberg.org