You can hide segments like that with ublock, fwiw. It’s been really useful to me for these kinds of changes every single website seems to be pushing these days.
Sure, it depends on the coding of the site. Personally, I make sure to block the entire container where possible, and I haven’t run into too many issues like that.
I initially only installed “Comodo Firewall” but for some reason they also installed a “Comodo Dragon Browser”, which I did not consent to. I always choose the “advanced” installation to uncheck bloatware, but in this case there was none and when you try to uninstall the browser, they force you to participate in...
Philips has a net worth in the billions, $20.67 billion as of July 12, 2023. (Source link) Yet they decided to create a kickstarter, charging “early bird” buyers these earphones that’s designed for wearing while sleeping, basically the same as any other earphones, just slimmed down and cables running around your head....
This is (most likely) a case of poor or absent instance administration, and it looks like it’s being managed well enough, but I do wonder what recourse there is against bad actors setting up their own instance, populating it with bots, and using them outside the influence of anyone else. For one, how do we tell which instances are just bot havens? Obviously we can make inferences based on active users and speed of growth, but a smart person could minimize those signs to the point of being unnoticeable. And if we can, what do we do with instances that have been identified? There’s defederation, but that would only stop their influence on the instances that defederated. The content would still be open to voting from those instances, and those votes would manifest on instances that haven’t defederated them. It would require a combined effort on behalf of the whole Fediverse to enforce a “ban” on an instance. I can’t really see any way to address these things without running contrary to the decentralized nature of the platform.
That would certainly be one way to handle it, but it brings up a few issues to my mind.
One, like I brought up in my comment, it would be pretty contradictory to a decentralized platform like Lemmy/the Fediverse. Every instance is run the way the admins wish, and having a forced banlistwould be pretty contrary to that idea. If a central authority controls the platform, it isn’t very decentralized, is it? That said, even if we accept an enforced banlist, how effective can it be?
It would need to be handled by a person or group beyond reproach, there would need to be an ironclad way of telling which instances are homes to bots, and it would need to be constantly maintained to add instances as they were found out. None of these really translate to the real world, unfortunately. And even if we get lucky on all of those points and it worked out for a while, introducing a way to block instances off from the entire platform without approval is a pretty big risk if it ever falls into problematic hands down the road.
And if it’s not enforced, we’re left relying on all the instances agreeing, which is just not going to happen. Some instances will decline to work together out of principle, disagreement, or just contrarianism. And then we have all the “dark” instances that are left unmaintained and updated. I’m not sure how much of a problem that latter group would be, overall, but I figure it would lead to some issue or another. Maybe I’m over estimating the effect non-participants would have, but even if that’s not such an issue, what happens when big instances have disagreements, or start their own banlist? Then it’s just a fractured mess that isn’t really helping anybody, doing more to hinder efforts against bot havens than it is helping.
All in all, I just don’t see a good way of it working. I know I’m not really offering solutions here. I’m really just poking holes everywhere, but that’s kind of my point. I hope I’m wrong and there’s a way to address this that I just don’t see. I really like this whole decentralized thing and I want it to work out!
It’s certainly a conundrum. I remember people mentioning something in line with your suggestion of a “chain of trust” during the discussion around the bot signups when they were noticed. I just worry it’ll be prone to abuse, especially by larger, more popular instances that will wield more sway if given the power to legitimize other instances or block them out entirely.
I’m also not sure what adjustments are possible in regards to how federation works. If I understand it right, defederation really just shuts the blinds on one instance against another. The offending instance will still receive all the posts and comments from the other one and will be able to vote and comment, and any instances not defederated will still receive all of that interaction from the “blocked” instance. To truly deal with an instance full of bots, it would need to be blocked entirely, which is pretty extreme and I don’t know how that would interact with Lemmy as it’s programmed right now.
Brought to you by my discovery that some people think that “the customer is always right” isn’t the slogan of a long-dead department store, but rather it’s an actual call the cops law.
Was working retail in an area that had a local bag ordinance that required businesses to charge customers for bags. A man came up to the register and when I asked him if he wanted a bag for a few cents extra, he looked at me like I was crazy and was like, “You charge for bags?” I explained that it was required by the government and he just kinda scoffed. I thought that was it, but as he opened his wallet to pay, he flashed what turned out to be a police badge at me from another city some ways away, gave me a look, and said something along the lines of “I think I know what the law is.” I just finished up the transaction and got him going asap, blown away at the insecurity displayed. It was such a bizarre powermove over what was only a few cents extra for something completely optional.
Instances running 18.2 should be fine, and as far as I understand it (with no dev qualifications to speak of, fwiw), these exploits only affected the local instance - they weren’t permeating through other instances viewing the exploits through Activitypub. That’s all to say, as long as your instance is running 18.2 or higher (the 18.2-rc’s should have in progress patches, as well), I believe you should be fine.
Youtube added shorts to the subscriptions page, pushing the subscriptions almost entirely off the page... (lemmy.world)
I prefer “list” view over grid view. Switching to grid view shows six videos before the break, but significantly less information about the video.
"...meow! :333" (lemmy.world)
Somehow, TikTok is sending me notifications even though I don't have the app. And in order to disable them I have to install it. (mander.xyz)
You can't uninstall this software without being forced to participate in their survey (lemmy.world)
I initially only installed “Comodo Firewall” but for some reason they also installed a “Comodo Dragon Browser”, which I did not consent to. I always choose the “advanced” installation to uncheck bloatware, but in this case there was none and when you try to uninstall the browser, they force you to participate in...
The true BBEG (lemmy.sdf.org)
The official chat room for a privacy community is discord? (kbin.social)
Is this a joke?
Billion $ net worth company creating kickstarter...
Philips has a net worth in the billions, $20.67 billion as of July 12, 2023. (Source link) Yet they decided to create a kickstarter, charging “early bird” buyers these earphones that’s designed for wearing while sleeping, basically the same as any other earphones, just slimmed down and cables running around your head....
Stars leave Oppenheimer premiere as Hollywood actors' strike called (www.bbc.com)
Wait you all don't make your characters hideously funny looking? (lemmy.ca)
Pushing back against the wave of bot accounts on Lemmy
cross-posted from: sh.itjust.works/post/998307...
The Last of US (i.imgur.com)
People who work in food service or customer service: What’s the dumbest thing a customer ever insisted was “the law” or “illegal”?
Brought to you by my discovery that some people think that “the customer is always right” isn’t the slogan of a long-dead department store, but rather it’s an actual call the cops law.
I feel bad (i.imgur.com)
What are these comments on lemmy posts? (lemmy.sdf.org)
Are they just an issue with wefwef or trying to use an exploit