this post was submitted on 20 Jun 2023
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Sysadmin

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Someone shouldn't be able to have the @admin username (lemmy.world)
submitted 2 years ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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It's confusing for new users, and this instance in particular has 7k users but no interactions. It's a bot army, with the top user being called @admin.

Extremely shady and misleading.

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (2 children)

FYI, I'm not going to remove this post or anything (and I agree as well), but it's not likely to be seen by the right people here. /c/Sysadmin is just our community for discussing sysadmin things and I don't know how much /u/Ruud or any Lemmy devs hang out here.

You might try cross-posting it to these communities:
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Of note, lemmy.ml is the server that is operated by the primary Lemmy devs.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago

Oh wow, I didn't realize, sorry! Thought I was in the right place. I could still remove it if you think it's for the best?

[–] [email protected] 0 points 2 years ago (1 children)

[email protected] is supposed to be the community for Instance/server operators to communicate.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Right, but neither OP nor myself are Lemmy server operators.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

It isn't exclusive to operators, and frankly most of them are ignoring it. They are either meeting in chat rooms or what, but they don't seem to like to gather on Lemmy itself to discuss the issues.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 years ago (1 children)

There's a ticket to fix this on kbin which would allow each instance admin to block regular users from registering common names of authority: https://codeberg.org/Kbin/kbin-core/issues/359

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 years ago

Damn I gotta go lock in a @potus username before it's too late

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 years ago

I think just banning them is enough. On other instances it will indicate they are on another instance.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Doesn’t this depend on each instance though?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 years ago (1 children)

I think some form of blanket ban on certain keywords in usernames should be used. Admin being an obvious one, but I'm sure a lot more would also be problematic.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 years ago

I guess what I meant is, how? It could be put into Lemmy sourcecode but since its open source that could be easily removed.

Each instance could possibly try and autoban any other instance user with that name?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 years ago

just wow. Should be reported in github to main lemmy repo

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Let's not federate with that instance. Then, they can have any bots or username they want.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 2 years ago (2 children)

Usually I'd agree, but there has to be something more that can be done to prevent others from putting keywords like that in their name. Otherwise it'll just happen again...

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 years ago

for other instances it's name will appear as : @admin@Podycust ...so not such a big deal

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 children)

I think admin, administrator and those type names (system administrator, sys admin etc) should be reserved but you shouldnt ban admin as being part of a name. What about sadmin / sadminute... or badmin / badminute (and every variantion of that like MadMinotaur )and other variants like that.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago

Or anything relating to badminton the sport

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 years ago (3 children)

What if a persons real name is Admin in some weird language?

A bit far-fetched I know. Still, I think that if theres gonna be a global hardcoded blacklist of usernames, someone should be very careful which words is added to that list. Each specific instance would know better what words is good and what is bad in their main language(s).

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 years ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago

Then that sucks for them

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago

This makes me want to legally change my name to admin admin

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Eh, why not? It's just a name.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago

For those of us who understand how the platform works, it wouldn't be an issue. However, if we want mass adoption of the platform, we need to take into consideration those who don't fully understand the technology and avoid situations that will lead to scams where feasible. Names of authority, like admin, root, super, etc., make a user appear to have authority they don't, which can mislead new users. ("Support our server by sending bitcoin to this address that is really my personal wallet" type scams comes to mind.) You could say that it's the person's fault for falling for it, but it's something that would drive people away from the platform which can be easily avoided in the first place.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago

Ironically the link in OP is to the actual admin of this site

[–] [email protected] -2 points 2 years ago

Official instance admin and community mod roles are denoted with badges, though. That's consistent across every instance already.

I could change my name to admin and post here, but it wouldn't give me any superpowers. Looking at my remote @admin user from a federated instance wouldn't badge me as an admin for that instance.

I don't see the problem or see how that affects anyone. There can be an @john on every instance. Is that confusing for users, too? Should every instance coordinate and make sure there's only one @john to rule them all? Who is the best John, and how is that determined?

That's just how the fediverse works.