I have recently uncovered a user who seems to be opening temporary accounts at QOTO, blocking all the moderators so we dont see their posts and then posting high offensive material (nazi imagery, transphobic and hateful derogatory content, etc) and then proceeding to announce to block list moderators and possibly on the #Fediblock list in general in an attempt to get us banned.
The issue of users being able to block moderators and do **exactly** this is something I have brought up to @Gargron before probably over a year ago but he has never acted on fixing this issue and does not see it as needing fixing from what I could gather (he can interject here if he would like).
It is something we as moderators are powerless to detect or act against unless someone actually reports the content first, that is the only way we will even see it. Thankfully none of the block lists have actually acted on this and no damage to QOTO has been done. But seeing as this may continue I want to make others aware of the problem, press Gargron to fix the issue once more, and also encourage **anyone** who sees such content on QOTO to please report it so we can act on it.
I can not personally confirm this but according to the block-list operator they seem to have reason to think it is @snow behind the attacks. This would be in line with the behaviors from snow I have witnessed in the past.
For the attempt by snow to spam and falsely accuse instances see here:
https://likeable.space/notice/A21ux0IbhoDJIkNxzc
For more information see these attempted block requests on QOTO that were made in this fashion:
https://schlomp.space/FediBlock/data/pulls/255/files
https://schlomp.space/FediBlock/data/pulls/248
(Note: originally posted from @freemo account. Repasted here to show up in QOTO announcements as well)
Just to note:
I did in fact see Michelle's post within two hours of it appearing, and suspended the account the next day after securing moderator consensus. I don't know if the other mods were blocked and I (the junior mod here at QOTO) escaped notice, or if I was simply the first to look at it. QOTO mods see [this discussion](https://qoto.org/web/statuses/105359847175216540) for details. The other account referenced in that convo was [@p0l6rb36r](https://qoto.org/admin/accounts/256176).
I think I also saw and ignored Nikon's post since I recognised the clip as a fairly common meme that doesn't really indicate support for Naziism. The problem is, even if a mod isn't blocked, how many want to watch yet another stupid resubtitled Downfall video? So videos where the thumbnail looks innocuous won't get any scrutiny (and in fact, that's what happened here - not a single person bothered to watch the video and report it). But when taking screenshots to report, dishonest actors can pick more offensive frames.
I recommend rolling back the IP blocks. Both michelle and nikon used the site via Tor and I don't think cutting off Tor users in general is a good idea. On the other hand, if you do want to block Tor, only blocking those two addresses is ineffective. The email blocks (both 10minutemail domains) look good though.
TL;DR: Blocking mods doesn't really seem to have been the problem in this case.
🇳🇱
as for the blocking mods issue, all I know is when i blocked nikon just recently I could not see their post directly when i went to their profile and could only see it when i searched for it through the domain interfact. That combined with the fact that it was their only post seemed worth of a block and ultimately why the blocking of moderators seemed to be part of the problem.
Michelle account had already been blocked, as you said, so i could not confirm if they too had blocked me or not. I do know at the time when I agreed with your decision I was looking at it through the admin interface as well and didnt think to even check if i was personally blocked at the time.
@khird
the ip blocks are **not** on the user ips themselves, and i agree we do not generally engage in IP blocks and certainly wouldnt do so on Tor intentionally.
The IP blocks you are seeing were because when i blocked the email domains (which were coming from 10minutemail but obscured) i told it to also block the ips associated with the MX entries for that email. so its actually ip blocks for the email side. If those wind up blocking the ability to use the site from Tor more generally then I would agree on rolling back the IP blocks.
@QOTO @Gargron @arteteco @Sphinx