Defederating from lemmy.org and welppp.com Over Spam, Bots, and Unresponsive Admins

Post date: January 20, 2026 · Discovered: April 17, 2026 · 3 posts, 58 comments

Users are demanding defederation from both lemmy.org and welppp.com due to clear evidence of malicious activity. Specific grievances include spam bot manipulation on lemmy.org and unmoderated trolling originating from welppp.com, which administrators have allegedly failed to address.

The argument fractures around identity verification. Some users, like CrashLoopBackOff, advocate for 'proof of unique personhood,' suggesting technologies like Canada Post Identity+ to fight bots. Others, citing the foundational appeal of pseudonymity, warn that mandatory ID linkage threatens the platform's core structure, a point echoed by Shadow.

The weight of opinion demands immediate action against compromised instances. The consensus points toward defederation from the listed sites. The structural fault line remains the implementation of anti-bot measures: hard ID linking versus maintaining pseudo-anonymity.

Key Points

SUPPORT

Defederation from lemmy.org is necessary.

otter stated defederation is required because the admin ignored spam, bot activity, and basic security upgrades.

SUPPORT

Defederation from welppp.com is warranted.

mp3 noted the site is sourcing unmoderated troll content and the admin is unresponsive to reports.

SUPPORT

Bots require unique, verifiable proof of personhood.

CrashLoopBackOff introduced anonymous credential systems like U-Prove as a technical solution to bot spam.

OPPOSE

Mandating real-world ID linkage destroys platform appeal.

Shadow argued that instance-level blocking is the current standard, and hard ID linkage risks the necessary pseudo-anonymity.

SUPPORT

Spam and bot creation are widespread across federated networks.

eth suggested bot activity was not isolated, citing evidence across multiple related instances beyond just lemmy.org.

Source Discussions (3)

This report was synthesized from the following Lemmy discussions, ranked by community score.

302
points
We are proposing a defederation from lemmy.org until they update their instance settings to reduce spam signups
[email protected]·46 comments·1/20/2026·by otter
45
points
Defederating from welppp.com
[email protected]·1 comments·7/18/2024·by mp3
14
points
How to keep bots out without violating user privacy - something like Canada Post Identity+ ?
[email protected]·12 comments·3/2/2025·by CrashLoopBackOff