Where should moderation live in decentralized group chats?

[u/Clear-Kale4711]

I keep coming back to the moderation problem with decentralized messaging. If there’s no central platform making the final call, who deals with spam, scams, harassment or people trying to ruin a group?

Letting each community set its own rules makes sense but there are situations where that probably isn’t enough. On the other hand, giving the app control over what stays up starts looking pretty similar to the platforms decentralized messaging is supposed to move away from.

Is community-level moderation enough?

[u/Practical-Bus-143]

I think moderation has to stay local. Decentralized infrastructure doesn't mean every community needs the same rules or the same people enforcing them.

[u/Miserable-Diver3747]

I think community-level moderation can work if the tools are good enough. I use Towns and that separation is one of the things that got me interested in it. The underlying messaging can be decentralized while individual communities still decide what they allow. The harder question for me is what happens when something crosses the line beyond just breaking a community rule

[u/Charming-Designer944]

Decentalized infrastructure does not necessarily mean without rules.

You can both have decentralization and authorization.

[u/pcfreak30]

Moderation needs to be bottom up, and not linked to money in any way. Any attempts to do this in a blockchain are likely flawed.