A moderation list is a list of users created by someone that you can subscribe to. While subscribed, the users in that list are automatically blocked by you. This means you can create a list of spammers, for example, and other people can subscribe to your list, so every time you add a new spammer, it gets blocked by everyone. This saves everyone the trouble of having to individually block every single bad account themselves.
In order to use a moderation list, the most important thing is that you can trust the user who created the moderation list with the job of moderator. If they are trustworthy, their "spammers" list will only contain verified spammers. If they are untrustworthy, they may start adding users to their block list that they don't like as a personal act of revenge, getting them blocked for everyone. This is a general issue with this sort of block list.
Finding Moderation Lists
In order to subscribe to a moderation list, first you need to find a moderation list.
Lists can be found in the "Lists" tab of a user's profile page. This tab includes all lists. Both lists you can pin to your home feed so you can follow them, and lists of users to block.
Observation: it's not possible to tell whether a list is a block list or a follow list from Bluesky's interface. You have to click on it to tell. Block lists have a button that reads "Subscribe."
There doesn't seem to be any built-in way to search for lists currently, although I did manage to find some nevertheless because I'm a black belt in Google-fu. See [How to Search for Lists on Bluesky] for methods you can use.
These are the first moderation lists I found. I don't know if they are good lists or not, we're just going to use them as an example.
- Art scammers/bots [https://bsky.app/profile/sininu.bsky.social/lists/3kmjajhaawl2o]
- Right wing propaganda and their followers [https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:pmyqirafcp3jqdhrl7crpq7t/lists/3kn6pvyceas2r]
- ANTI NFT/AI/CRYPTO SHILL LIST [https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:pmyqirafcp3jqdhrl7crpq7t/lists/3kn6pvyceas2r]
- UA fundraising scam/spam [https://bsky.app/profile/dovgonosyk.bsky.social/lists/3k2xpmuvz6w2j]
- MAGA [https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:e4elbtctnfqocyfcml6h2lf7/lists/3l53cjwlt4o2s]
Subscribing
Once you have found a moderation list, follow the following steps:
1: click the "Subscribe" button, this will make a dropdown menu appear.
Note: I have personally confirmed the 3 members that appear on "Art scammers/bots" screenshot are bots. All of them have posts that read, verbatim: "Well, I'm professional graphics designer. If you want to see my art stuff DM me."
2: select whether to block users or mute them. [What is the Difference Between Blocking and Muting?]. After you click on the appropriate button, the "Subscribe" button will read "Unblock," and all users on that list will be blocked (or muted).
Observation: after blocking an user, their profile looks very similar to how it looks like when you personally block them, the difference is that the message that tells you the user is blocked will tell you that they're blocked because of a block list.
Blocks from block lists exist separately from your normal blocks. Bluesky takes the users you have personally blocked and adds them to the members of the block lists you're subscribe to. This means that if you subscribe to a block list, and then unsubscribe from it, it will be like if you never subscribed to it. The users you personally blocked won't change by subscribing, nor will someone you personally block that is on the list become unblocked by unsubscribing. Personal block lists and shared block lists exist in separate.
Revisions
2024-12-06: added diagram showing how moderation lists work.
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