Gregory's Server
so, quarantining new instances (increased scrutiny / aggressive automatic moderation / keyword flagging) after which they would be put on either block- or allow-lists?
this would (theoretically) not preclude small instance participation, and would increase cost/difficulty for bad actors.
different instances could have their own metrics/rules for this, as you say giving a variety of perspectives on the new one's behavior
@jaz @jerry @jztusk @Crell
then the decisions of known/old/large ones can be weighted by everyone to make their own decisions
this leads logically to some kind of web-of-trust / instance-reputation-scoring system down the line. this can be both good and bad, but if surfaced somehow could serve as a direly needed instance selection aid for new users.
ie: example.net is aggressively blocking this type of behaviour, but is above average blocked by others on this other metric