wandering.shop is one of the many independent Mastodon servers you can use to participate in the fediverse.
Wandering.Shop aims to have the vibe of a quality coffee shop at a busy SF&F Convention. Think tables of writers, fans and interested passers-by sharing drinks and conversation on a variety of topics.

Server stats:

942
active users

Some thoughts on spam:

1. Right now it's a single idiot running a scripted Joe Job. But we know how spam ecosystems develop. The next steps are inevitable.

2. Next, someone will release an activitypub spamming script. It will hammer on servers to create throwaway accounts then use them to post.

3. This will drive a bunch of small servers off the fediverse and cause acrimonious defederation squabbles.

4. Surviving servers will limit sign-ups, requiring proof of humanity (or identity).

/1

5. Problem: authenticating new user sign-ups as being from non-spammers is tedious AND, thanks to generative AI, prone to being gamed.

6. Added problem: it's too easy to set up a new fediverse server. We're used to treating user accounts as spam sources, but what happens when a script kiddie automates spinning up a new containerized mastodon instance on AWS just to federate and then send spam?

7. So federating new servers is also going to require proof-of-humanity steps.

/2

8. Right now the spam problem is one idiot gamer in Japan. But the next stage will be sleazeball marketers (anyone else remember Canter & Siegal from the first time round?)

9. There will be toolkits to send marketing spam, not because Mastodon users are the target, but as a route into Threads, Bluesky, and other commercial media with a mass user base.

10. Added lulz: anti-corporate partisans (who hate Meta) may even start spraying spam just to force Meta to defederate from the wider fediverse.

Charlie Stross

11. In the end, we will be hit with a deluge of spam simply because Gmail is effective at locking out email spam, USENET is dead, enshittification has killed the utility of the public internet for advertisers as well as users of web search, and because *spamming is cheap*. And unlike X/twitter there's nowhere to build centralized moderation (yet).

12. I'm pretty sure there are viable anti-spam strategies for the fediverse. But the current situation is a wakeup call.

@cstross Interestingly, I've not seen a single piece of the spam that everyone's talking about. Not one. I don't know if I'm just lucky or if I should feel left out.