@jeff @mekkaokereke @georgelund Open federation should be the goal and the whole point of why ActivityPub exists. Preemptively blocking new instances packs people to the few giant instances and destroys the horizontal growth and spreading of resources federation is all about. Not to mention the fact only commercial and/or corporation driven instances would be able to handle that sort of traffic (donationware possibly excluded).

Users should be able to moderate, customize and personalize their timelines as they prefer. If your current instance doesn't allow users to block or mute instances, demand a change in that policy or move to an instance that allows you to do that. Or even host your own! Whole instances should be instance-blocked only in the case of spam, spreading malware or otherwise clearly "evil" actions. Not because personal issues (Hint, use the moderation tools available to block whatever your heart desires).

If Threads will actually get instance-blocked everywhere, they will most likely out-scale the rest of the fediverse and users will start to flock to Threads from other instances. The healthier approach is to show those starting with Threads that they can also join other, probably less predatory privacy-wise, instances and still keep conversing with their friends on Threads. Especially if Meta's talking points about easy migration away from Threads will be a thing and not just a bait.