How to use:
The url must be the hostname only, NO SLASHES, like this: lemmy.dbzer0.com, don't use https://, don't append a slash afterwards (lemmy.dbzer0.com/), only the hostname including the subdomain if it has it (in this case, lemmy).
If the instance has blocked the IP address from the server, or it is stuck and its API is not working correctly, it returns "Not a Lemmy instance" (I am too busy to fix this right now).
If the url is not formatted in a way it can process it, it will say Invalid URL. Better processing can come in the future. I won't be updating it now.
- URL: https://federation-checker.vercel.app/
- Source code: https://github.com/lemmygod/federation-checker
In the backend, it just scrapes https://fba.ryona.agency/?domain={url} and uses the api https://{instance}/api/v3/federated_instances
PRs welcome.
Honestly it works better when deployed locally in a development environment. I think Vercel's IP address is just blocked by cloudflare and other blacklists that stop automated stuff? Idk. Can check back in a few days.
I don't believe searching for domains will feed them data as such. You can crawl the lemmyverse starting from a few known servers. It's how awesome-lemmy-instances works.
Before joining an instance it seemed useful to get an idea of their moderation policy. It just gives transparency as to that instance's policies, as well insight into how the rest of the fediverse views that instance.
I wasn't aware it was created by known bad actors and it wasn't my intention to promote them. It was just a useful tool.
Yes querying for new instances in that tool will make it aware of them and from then on it will start tracking these instances block list.
And I don't see how this helps at all. You can figure out the moderation policy by looking at the block list of the instance. Knowing who blocks that instance at most gives you a hint if an instance is generally considered a bad actor, but that is usually immediately visible by looking at their local feed.
Nope. It only tells you who dislikes it for any reason. Is sh.itjust.works a bad actor? Is lemmy.world a bad actor? If not, then why did Beehaw.org block them? According to them it was because they were open registration. Misunderstandings like these are common.
If, because I follow your advice, I join sh.itjust.works and I don't have Beehaw content available because I am blocked, is it because I'm a bad actor? Nope, I just picked the wrong instance. Nothing wrong in looking through the list to see who isn't blocking what you want to see and joining that.
Both these instances where temporarily blocked by beehaw as they couldn't get trolls originating from these two instances under control otherwise.
The lack of registration screening on a federated network is at best a sign of severe mis-management and you really should not join such instances as long as this situation remains as it is.
Yup. And if I wanna interact with Beehaw, I need to do it from elsewhere. In my case, I use Lemm.ee because it has both SJW and Beehaw.
I joined right after SJW was created. I had no idea there would be problems with management. Many people don't even know about this. And how could they, if they don't check the list of instances that are blocked or asked why such and such are blocked?
Still, that doesn't mean that there aren't valuable communities in SJW. If I wanna interact with them, I need to know from where I can do that, and from where I can't. From Beehaw, for example, I can't. So after checking the little tool I'd know that Beehaw is not the right community to join because it sucks cuz it has too much banned stuff that I wanna see.