This is why you need to use an identity system where creating identities cost something.
Email does this by blacklisting spammy servers so servers have to limit who sign up somehow.
My idea for a cost is basically the Blockchain, basically servers buy a batch of rare limited IDs, and transfer them to users that they have to then audit, because shit isn't free. Of course a determined user can go to the Blockchain directly.
I figure a rate limit of 100K users a day is enough to satisfy even the insane onboarding of Bluesky, while not actually have infinite IDs to burn.
A friend request could be as small as 128 bytes or so, so it is hard to overwhelm a server by requests, and each one costs money, so a spammer is much better off with social engineering some other way.
Nuh
npub1jv…s7yqz
2026-04-20 18:55:27 UTC
in reply to nevent1q…y7je
Author Public Key
npub1jvxvaufrwtwj79s90n79fuxmm9pntk94rd8zwderdvqv4dcclnvs9s7yqzPublished at
2026-04-20 18:55:27 UTCEvent JSON
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"content": "This is why you need to use an identity system where creating identities cost something.\n\nEmail does this by blacklisting spammy servers so servers have to limit who sign up somehow.\n\nMy idea for a cost is basically the Blockchain, basically servers buy a batch of rare limited IDs, and transfer them to users that they have to then audit, because shit isn't free. Of course a determined user can go to the Blockchain directly.\n\nI figure a rate limit of 100K users a day is enough to satisfy even the insane onboarding of Bluesky, while not actually have infinite IDs to burn.\n\nA friend request could be as small as 128 bytes or so, so it is hard to overwhelm a server by requests, and each one costs money, so a spammer is much better off with social engineering some other way.",
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