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C.cazabon@mindly.social
Jun 28, 2026, 4:43 AM
This new "tags.pub" instance that just blasts out boosts of anything with a matching hashtag is ... annoying.
Pointless.
Practically abuse.
It just boosted a post of mine with *seven* different accounts. Didn't ask for permission to follow/do things with my content.
Its account overviews say "You can opt out!", which is absolutely *not* how bots should be interacting with people in the Fediverse. This should be opt-*in* only.
How is this okay? Frankly, I think it should be completely defederated, it's not operating in good faith.
#Fediblock #OptOut #consent
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Replies

C.cazabon@mindly.social
Jun 28, 2026, 5:23 AM
It has not escaped my irony detector that this post was also mass-boosted by several tag bots on this problematic instance.
#irony #bots
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juliettejuliette@mastodon.green
Jun 28, 2026, 4:50 AM
@cazabon I hate those. Instant block every time. If you want to follow a hashtag, just… follow the hashtag?
They are pointless and bring nothing to the table.
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Evan Prodromou 🇨🇦🇺🇸🇬🇷🇵🇸evan@cosocial.ca
Jun 28, 2026, 4:53 AM
@juliette @cazabon
They let people follow from small servers or non-Mastodon platforms:
https://tags.pub/#why
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C.cazabon@mindly.social
Jun 28, 2026, 4:58 AM
@evan @juliette
I'm curious how my pointing out that they are violating consent and poisoning the commons led you to believe that I did not understand their self-serving justification for their abuse.
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KimFizzyDaisies@mas.to
Jun 28, 2026, 7:01 AM
@cazabon @evan @juliette
A more plausible explanation is few people opted in so he made it opt out. He did a poll and wrote a creepy, egocentric post about tags.pub
https://cosocial.ca/@evan/116535605047516899
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Evan Prodromou 🇨🇦🇺🇸🇬🇷🇵🇸evan@cosocial.ca
Jun 28, 2026, 9:28 AM
@FizzyDaisies @cazabon @juliette The reason was that people who use open-registration relay servers want their content spread widely and don't control which servers that content goes to. This violated people's expectations, so I disconnected tags.pub from open-registration relay servers. People can still connect their account or server directly.
https://socialwebfoundation.org/2026/06/28/unsubscribing-tags-pub-from-open-registration-relays/
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Phil Haighgulfie@mastodonapp.uk
Jun 28, 2026, 9:18 AM
@evan @juliette @cazabon without consent.
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Evan Prodromou 🇨🇦🇺🇸🇬🇷🇵🇸evan@cosocial.ca
Jun 28, 2026, 9:40 AM
@gulfie @juliette @cazabon It's opt-in by user or by server:
https://tags.pub/#connect
Unlike most relays, users who are on servers that opted in can opt out:
https://tags.pub/#optout
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Artha 🏳️‍⚧️samerion@mastodon.gamedev.place
Jun 28, 2026, 2:54 PM
@evan @cazabon We have relays for that.
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Evan Prodromou 🇨🇦🇺🇸🇬🇷🇵🇸evan@cosocial.ca
Jun 28, 2026, 4:24 PM
@samerion @cazabon correct! Three problems with relays:
1) only admins can set them up
2) you get everything from the relay, not just the topics you're interested in (except Fedibuzz, which has hashtag feeds, and is great)
3) big servers don't use them
tags.pub mostly works like a relay.
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Jörgi (chaos.social)joergi@chaos.social
Jun 28, 2026, 6:59 AM
@cazabon
On one instance i'm on, it's connected to the relay of tag push. So there it happens too.
So your admin WANTS to have it that way.
So you can, as a member of the instance, opt-out.
i wouldn't call it abuse, as it does what the admin of your instance wants.
And you can even opt-in, if your instance is not using the relay.
1/2
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Jörgi (chaos.social)joergi@chaos.social
Jun 28, 2026, 6:59 AM
@cazabon
I think it's a beautiful service. But I do understand that it annoys you. i had the same feeding in the beginning.
Just opt-out if you don't like it.
Haa your admin announced it?
2/2
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Reid :blobcat_happy:reiddragon@fedi.catto.garden
Jun 28, 2026, 9:36 AM
@joergi @cazabon > I think it's a beautiful service

How? Following tags is something you can already do as a core part of AP. It's the single most useless "service", and I say this on a network full of markov bots
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Jörgi (chaos.social)joergi@chaos.social
Jun 28, 2026, 8:19 PM
@reiddragon
No it is not.
See here
https://chaos.social/@joergi/116829365611675707
Especially on small, unknown instances it makes a difference.
@cazabon
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Reid :blobcat_happy:reiddragon@fedi.catto.garden
Jun 28, 2026, 9:16 PM
@joergi @cazabon yeah, very useful when half the fediverse is defederating instances with dumb shit like that
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Jörgi (chaos.social)joergi@chaos.social
Jun 28, 2026, 10:18 PM
@reiddragon
So how else you want to push all the unknown services to the other instances? The tagpush.app and tags.pub help there.
To be honest: i wasn't aware that tags.pub uses also relays for subscription, see https://socialwebfoundation.org/2026/06/28/unsubscribing-tags-pub-from-open-registration-relays/ . I'm not sure when this was added , but now it's removed.
@evan - was this newly introduced (and now removed) or how did all the conversation started now and not like month ago? Thx for your feedback
@cazabon
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Evan Prodromou 🇨🇦🇺🇸🇬🇷🇵🇸evan@cosocial.ca
Jun 28, 2026, 10:32 PM
@joergi @reiddragon @cazabon Added over the last few months.
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Jörgi (chaos.social)joergi@chaos.social
Jun 29, 2026, 7:07 AM
@evan
Thx for the information.
I really don't understand, why so many have a problem with it.
I like the service, (if I wouldn't, I would remove it from my instance / block it on my account)
@reiddragon @cazabon
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Evan Prodromou 🇨🇦🇺🇸🇬🇷🇵🇸evan@cosocial.ca
Jun 29, 2026, 9:30 AM
@joergi @reiddragon @cazabon I'm glad to hear it.
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Jörgi (chaos.social)joergi@chaos.social
Jun 29, 2026, 10:03 AM
@evan
I really hope Dan will implement the relay function in Pixelfed too.
https://github.com/pixelfed/pixelfed/issues/4472
Should the manual subscription for boosting work in theory with a pixelfed Account?
At least for me it isn't. It should automatically accept it and follow, correct?
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Evan Prodromou 🇨🇦🇺🇸🇬🇷🇵🇸evan@cosocial.ca
Jun 29, 2026, 10:07 AM
@joergi no, there's a problem with how we use cryptographic signatures. It's on my list to fix!
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Ryanfullywoolly@mastodon.social
Jun 28, 2026, 5:34 AM
@cazabon @alice also noted Edit: the owner of tags.pub suggested we also block the rest of his domains: groups.pub, activitypub.bot, and onepage.pub [and tagpush.app]
Edit: Per @evan tagpush.app isn't one of ours; please don't lump it in with the others.
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Evan Prodromou 🇨🇦🇺🇸🇬🇷🇵🇸evan@cosocial.ca
Jun 28, 2026, 8:01 AM
@fullywoolly @cazabon @alice tagpush.app isn't one of ours; please don't lump it in with the others.
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Oliwier Jaszczyszynoaj@mastodon.com.pl
Jun 28, 2026, 8:30 AM
@cazabon: I also noticed that on one of Mastodon accounts about an online gazette I co-maintain with a few other people.
Just blocked it. Hashtags already exist here and tags.pub functionality is simply redundant.
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Evan Prodromou 🇨🇦🇺🇸🇬🇷🇵🇸evan@cosocial.ca
Jun 28, 2026, 9:20 AM
@oaj @cazabon Following hashtags on a Mastodon server only shows you tagged content that arrived at that server for other reasons. You don't get all tagged content. See https://tags.pub/#why
You should keep it blocked if you want to, but it does provide a real service.
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Oliwier Jaszczyszynoaj@mastodon.com.pl
Jun 28, 2026, 9:27 AM
@evan: okay, but I prefer it to be opt-in and not opt-out. I understand that you have a good intention with your service but current model of tags.pub isn't the proper way to pursue.
@cazabon
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Evan Prodromou 🇨🇦🇺🇸🇬🇷🇵🇸evan@cosocial.ca
Jun 28, 2026, 9:39 AM
@oaj @cazabon It is opt-in by user or by server: https://tags.pub/#connect
People can opt out even if their server is opted in:
https://tags.pub/#optout
We used to also connect people if they used open-registration relays, but I just turned that off, because people were surprised they were getting boosted:
https://socialwebfoundation.org/2026/06/28/unsubscribing-tags-pub-from-open-registration-relays/
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Nudelstaplerlasagne@chaos.social
Jun 29, 2026, 11:33 AM
@evan @oaj @cazabon
The opt out is a lie
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Evan Prodromou 🇨🇦🇺🇸🇬🇷🇵🇸evan@cosocial.ca
Jun 29, 2026, 1:20 PM
@lasagne @oaj @cazabon how so?
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