Auto-block based on patterns

[megoth]

I was inspired by a tweet to create this issue (https://twitter.com/baekdal/status/1082762346345492482?s=20).

As Solid is a social platform, it needs to have tools to enable people to customize who they want to socialize with, and to prevent harassment and other abusive behavior.

I know there are a lot of good thoughts on this already, but open this issue in hopes of gaining some new traction on this issue.

I don't have any specific answers to this, except that I like the idea of allowing people to auto-block based on patterns they define. There might be problematic sides to this as well though, but I'm throwing it out here ^_^

[justinwb]

Interesting because today I was thinking of a similar need, although a slightly different vein of activity. I should be able to impose some amount of rate limiting or outright blocking on access to my pod or particular portions of data when that usage exceeds my expectations (which could indicate that it's being misused).

[megoth]

I would think there is a marked for multiple tools that can be used for this, each with their unique take on how the problem can be solved. They should also work in alignment, and not exclude each other, i.e. like a normal Solid app.

The tools/services/apps/whatever could be targeted toward POD providers or users directly, depending on the underlying mechanics provided by Solid and the need of the users and POD providers. I would imagine most users not wanting to bother with it, but have easy enough tools so that they can block users, and maybe auto-block based on patterns.

How these mechanisms work might be an interesting topic for the Solid Community Group, and maybe even be formalized as standards.