@muad_dibber@lemmygrad.ml took care of it by going into the database directly and looking at who was initiating it but, being humble as always, did not say anything.
It should be fixed but if you notice it again (posts getting dozens of downvotes or anything out of the ordinary) tag the admins in a comment and we’ll look at it.
The responsible instances were blacklisted on our end. It’s not their fault necessarily, it’s just that many lemmy instances are not moderated and have open account creation and we federate with everyone by default, which means spammers can quickly use those instances.
Edit: if you see something out of the ordinary, such as a post that is mass-downvoted and was posted after my thread here (or anything else that gives you reason for concern), please remember to report it! You can click on the three dots … next to a comment or post and then the flag icon to report it. That way it gets to the instance admins and we can take action much more quickly. It also helps us coordinate information. In general reporting is good practice.
I just want to note that I welcome them doing this as often as possible. Not only does it strengthen our security by helping us find malicious instances, but it wastes much more of their time than ours.
It took me less than a minute to add them to our blocklist. It takes them much more time to write a bot, find an unused instance, or spin up one on their own, target specific posts / comments.
honestly based
Its good to see that defederation is being taken care of. I have often tried to point out instances over at main Lemmy instance over the years, knowing how trolls attempt circumvention of blockades. I remember my days memeing and trolling on Discord years ago for fun sakes (mostly anime/gacha groups). Knowing how the troll mindset works is so beneficial to combat it.
Keep putting in the minimal effort. It is enough to keep them at bay, and even to make some pop a few veins.