A gentle reminder: much like tech support, moderation is most visible when something goes wrong. The vast majority of moderation work - unseen, unpaid, and often unacknowledged - quietly contributes to a safer, more welcoming experience for everyone. There is no justification for careless or irresponsible moderation. At the same time, it is important to recognise that this network is sustained by thousands of volunteers who prevent the most harmful content from ever reaching you. cont'd

I'm seeing a lot of conversation around usernames and the implementation of reserved words or profanity/harmful language filters. This ties in to to a soon-to-be-available feature in Mastodon that will enable rules to proactively moderate account usernames. The IFTAS Community Library has a reserved words resource page at

Reserved Words Resources – IFTAS

As with all moderation tools, all friction is good friction, nothing is perfect. Used well, reserved word rules are a vital tool in the toolkit.

⚠️ SW-ISAC Advisory The daily data for the Russian Telegram channel spam network will no longer be updated. The actor in question has now created over 750 accounts on 180 servers, and shows no sign of slowing down. All activity appears to be manual, but automation of new accounts could quickly overwhelm the network. Focus will now be on investigating and labelling abandoned and unmanaged domains, and announcing those domains on the newly-released AUD denylist:

IFTAS Abandoned and Unmanaged Domain (AUD) Denylist – IFTAS

IFTAS Connect is being decommissioned today 😢 I want to say a huge thank you to everyone who participated, contributed resources, and helped build a shared understanding of moderation and safety in federated systems. I am still full-time, IFTAS isn't going anywhere, but my focus is now on the Community Library (moved to about.iftas.org), regulatory guidance, advocacy and digital sovereignty efforts, and the SW-ISAC threat sharing group. Ewch ymlaen!