Hello,

Starting today, Nord.pub implements a few default instance blocks for new users.

This block does not affect any existing user accounts, and can be removed from the user settings. The main purpose is to provide a more curated and pleasant default user experiance.

To remove a blocked instance, simply go to https://nord.pub/user/settings/filters and remove the blocks from the instances tab at the bottom of the page. Or if you are an existing user who want to block these instance, add the blocks there.

What does this mean?

When an instance is blocked, you will not see any content from that instance on the site. This includes:

• All communities from the instance will be hidden.
• All posts from users on the instance, to any other community will be hidden
• All comments by users on the instance will be hidden.

Additionally, PieFed will try to avoid sending your posts and comments to instances that you have blocked. This works similarly to a defederation, but on a user level. However, in most cases the instance which owns the community will distribute posts/comments anyway (unless it also blocks the target instance).

What is blocked?

NSFW instances

First of all, instances that are explicitly focused on posting NSFW content will be blocked. This is purely to make seeing pornographic content an extra opt-in step, and separate from the "Hide NSFW" filter since there is a lot of non-pornographic content that is marked as NSFW.

The only instance in question is: fedinsfw.app, as this is the only NSFW instance of significant size.

Lemmy.ml & Co.

Secondly, the "Tankie" instances will be blocked for new users, due to them using their position to spread Russian and Authoritarian propaganda and silence opposing voices in their communities.

This thread describes the issue in much more details that I could, including a lot of examples: https://nord.pub/post/491493

• lemmy.ml
• lemmygrad.ml
• hexbear.net

Instances spreading extreme/illegal content

Finally, I have added a set of instances to the site-wide blocklist. This is instances that have multiple reports of CSAM, Pedophilia, or Zoophilia on https://gui.fediseer.com.

This will have next to no impact as most of these instances has never federated at all, and from the ones which has connected there has been less than 10 posts over the past 9 months.