FediForum | Fediponics: Automated Bot Detection and Moderation for Mastodon Instance Administrators

Linked to https://peertube.wtf/videos/watch/5fc0acb4-3754-4fb4-bd49-4f3cd525cd05

PS : And Piefed already achieve most of these. :)

How it works ?

1) New accounts are scanned automatically

The scanner runs on a configurable interval or in real time via Mastodon webhooks, checking new signups as they arrive.

2) A risk score is assigned based on 70+ signals

Username patterns, email analysis, profile completeness, signup timing, IP reputation, and more are each weighted and summed into a 0–100 score.

3) Actions are applied based on configurable thresholds

Accounts that cross your thresholds are automatically silenced, frozen, or suspended — no manual review needed for obvious bots.

What gets checked ?

Each signal adds points to the account’s risk score. You can enable or disable any signal.

👤 Username

  • Suspicious character patterns
  • Excessive numeric suffixes
  • Known bot naming conventions

✉️ Email

  • Disposable email providers
  • Suspicious TLD patterns
  • Commercial & payment domains

🪪 Profile

  • Missing avatar or header
  • Empty bio
  • No posts after signup

🕐 Timing

  • Late-night signups (1am–6am)
  • Configurable timezone

🔍 IPQualityScore (optional API key)

Email fraud score

  • Honeypot / spam trap
  • Disposable email (IPQS)
  • Recent email abuse

IP fraud score

  • VPN / proxy detection
  • Bot activity flag
  • Recent IP abuse

Scoring system : customizable rules

Every aspect of the scoring system can be tuned to fit your community’s needs.
⚖️

Action thresholds

Set independent score cutoffs for silence/limit, freeze, and suspend. Accounts scoring below all thresholds are left alone.
🎛️

Per-signal weights and toggles

Enable or disable any individual check. Adjust score weights so signals that matter more to your instance have greater impact.
📋

Custom domain & keyword lists

Maintain your own lists of suspicious TLDs, commercial domain keywords, and payment processor domains used in email addresses.
🔬

Dry-run mode

Preview exactly which accounts would be actioned and why, without making any changes. Tune your rules until you’re confident, then go live.
⏱️

Flexible trigger modes

Run on a scheduled interval to catch up on recent signups, or use Mastodon’s account.created webhook for real-time scanning the moment an account is created.