Until I implement a better system to screen out spammers, I will be closing registrations on Fedia.io. That’s not what I want - I’d like for it to be available for legitimate accounts, but the spam is off the hook.
Anyone seeing this can send me an email (jerry@infosec.exchange) and I’ll get an account created for you in the mean time.
I know it’s not ideal, but I fully understand the whole situation. Let’s focus on making Mbin better for the existing users who are now experiencing CSRF or log-out problems. Hopefully after that, we can focus on improving anti-spam (since hcaptcha is not preventing any spam accounts for some unknown reason).
The main thing I experience since the CDN update is that voting often ends up in an error page, similar to how adding comments sometimes directs you to a secondary page (luckily with the comment intact). Going back and trying to vote again may or may not work.
This issue is discussed here: https://fedia.io/m/fedia/t/1101127
I did not have that 3 weeks ago though, and they’re not 500s - at least they’re not displayed as that. I get pages like this one: https://fedia.io/ecv/7319083/-1
There were lots of changes around the same time. I removed fedia.io from the CDN a few days ago though didn’t announce it, yet the errors continue.
Maybe even considering additional an optional question? With only 1 correct answer. Or maybe even enforce 2FA… I dunno… But spam is getting out of control. Coincidence due to the rise of LLMs? Who knows. But anti-spam like hCaptcha, even set to “difficult” doesn’t seem to cut it anymore…
What works for me on both mastodon and Lemmy is a free text question: why do you want to join?
The user enters whatever they like and it goes into a moderation queue. Both lemmy and mastodon send me an email when a new account is ready to review.
I read the response and choose to whether to approve their account. At the moment, spammers are really bad at answering the “why do you want to join” questions.
Makes sense as well.
Being a slow peep, & also not previously paying any attention to #kbin / #mbin til last week, i then “discovered”
Fedia.io[having no idea at all it was another of your babies]. As i read thru the various admin info for users pages, i thought “hey, this all seems quite familiar, has someone copied Jerry’s words from `infosec.exchange’?” Then, soon after, i realised my ignorance. I’ve not yet tried to sign up coz i still dunno if i “need” it, alongside / instead of my existing #Friendica & Masto accounts, but clearly based on your post here, if i do later decide to try it, i’ll need to remember this new status.Howdy! Mbin (and lemmy) are very different things. It’s sort of like the difference between Twitter and Reddit. You can sort of interact back and forth, but to get the full experience, you have to either be on a lemmy or mbin (or piefed) instance.
@jerry@fedia.io Hi again Jerry. I’m still mulling over the “will i, won’t i” question, & realised a good way to help me decide conclusively. Having begun belatedly in the fediverse [late 2022] in Masto, then later experimenting with a couple of #Firefish instances, & now #Friendica, the UI advantages of those latter two over Masto is a big thing keeping me in Friendica rather than returning to Masto. Specifically, i do not want to give up the convenience of a UI that gives users iconised options for post formatting, & a preview function.
Does #mbin / #Fedia have that? If no, then i can give up the Fedia idea now. If yes, then i’d like to open an account there pls.
lemmy (running on infosec.pub) does support both post formatting and previews. mbin supports post formatting, but not previews (yet)
@jerry Oh goodness, just as i thought i could close this book i suddenly discover the author added another chapter, heehee. T/y… so now i suppose i need to begin researching that new option. 😊
If you want an account, you can mail Jerry at: jerry <at> infosec.exchange
@melroy @jerry Yes, thanks, i know that from Jerry’s earlier post, but there’s no point me doing that unless & until i find the answer to my preceding post’s question. There’s no point signing up for an account that i would instantly delete again if only then i discovered it cannot do what i asked. I’d rather get the answer first.
@DarkThoughts @jerry @melroy Thanks so much for this info; it exactly answers my question. I can now safely forget about #mbin / #Fedia without uncertainty or regrets. Much appreciated. 🤗
@jerry@fedia.io Fair enough. Any “decision” i end up making on this is a low-priority thing, but from my initial looking at your instance the other night, i suspect i’m prolly leaning towards not bothering… not as any slight against your fine work, but simply coz i’m not sure that i like the UI & its tools [compared to Friendica & even Masto]. Also, given that as a lot of my posts, & fav interlocutors’ posts, regard #AusPol, my initial keyword search for that #hashtag there were rather underwhelming.
You don’t search for hashtags on a content aggregator like this (Lemmy itself didn’t even support hashtags until very recently), but for communities / magazines that fit your needs that you subscribe to for a more personalized feed (I’d use external search tools to find communities though, as mbin’s magazine search can only find what’s already federated) - or just browse /all and let whatever is federated hit you.
Spammers room everything
Thank you for preventing spam!
