---
title: "Fediverse defederation considerations"
date: 2023-10-20T18:41:13-07:00
replyURI: "https://hachyderm.io/@hrefna/111269499783284609"
replyTitle: "what are the things you would like to know before applying a domain block?"
replyType: "SocialMediaPosting"
replyAuthor: "Hrefna"
replyAuthorURI: "https://hachyderm.io/@hrefna"
syndicatedCopies:
    - title: 'The Fediverse'
      url: 'https://pleroma.envs.net/notice/Aayo04HHtHwHOnxAp6'
---
What I consider:

- Is an offending post a property of the instance or the user? It may reflect the instance if it's written or reblogged by a staff member or part of a large pattern.

- If it's a property of the user but reporting doesn't work, do I have the spoons to moderate their instance on a user-by-case basis? I usually do this only if there are existing connections or if the instance is run by and for marginalized groups.

- If I see slur usage: is there plausible deniability for the slurs to be used in a reclaimed context, or for the users in question to not be native speakers? Glossing over this once earned [a subsection in my blocklists' "Mistakes Made" section](https://seirdy.one/posts/2023/05/02/fediverse-blocklists/#july-2023-bad-receipt-for-bungleonline).

- If there's harassment, I might want to check in with the victim to see if it's okay to save a receipt featuring them and if I should make a callout.

- Do staff members run other instances? I could treat all their instances collectively.

Minor factors that _do not_ directly inform the decision to defederate, but _do_ inform the decision to look deeper before dismissing the instance:

- Is the instance staff close to sufficiently bad actors? If so, the staff members almost certainly post similar content. It's worth the extra time to find the receipts.
- If the instance is brand-new, I might re-visit it in a week or two to see if it cleaned up.

Steps I perform:

- Save receipts with multiple archiving services. Sometimes one service doesn't render an archive properly, so it's good to have alternatives.
- Describe reasons with those links, and make it detailed enough for readers to understand the reason _without_ visiting any  links. Archived links are for proof more than understanding.

I don't consider whether the domain is still alive, assuming I have receipts saved from when it was online. Dead instances do sometimes come back, and blocking dead instances is harmless.