Code for people interested https://codeberg.org/rimu/pyfedi/src/branch/main/app/admin/routes.py#L373
I commented it out, rebuild the Docker containers and it works now 👍
EDIT: People seem to misunderstand what it does. It prevents it from federating automatically when populating the community search, importing from another instance or from Lemmyverse. It’s not a full block, and you can still add it manually. Not only that, but it’s also already partially removed since I posted this.
They’re pretty explicit about what they don’t like when you sign up. That’s why I joined it
Each instance should be free to set their own rules. Individual instances blocking those communities is fine, but the PieFed devs hardcoding a blocklist that applies to all instances (especially one as opinionated and arbitrary as this) is absolutely not.
They… are though? Maybe I am dumb, but I do not understand why each instance setting its own rules would apply to all other instances? Say if you made your own instance, you would set your own rules, but the other instances are free to set theirs as well? Like if you want to allow communities such as “4chan”, then go ahead, but if others want to block that, then why shouldn’t they be allowed to?
Definitely agree that this issue should be made much more transparent and easier to change, like not hard-coding it.
This filter is not part of any specific instance, it’s hardcoded into PieFed’s code. That means it applies to every PieFed instance unless the instance admin explicitly patches the code to remove it.
As mentioned elsewhere, it’s just a convenience function - anytime after starting up the instance, the admins can always pull in those communities manually. Or change this part of the code beforehand. So it’s not a hard-coded “block”, just slightly less convenient for it to not automatically pull in those communities during the one-time initial setup for an instance.
But anyway you are right that this should not be a hard-coded list.
Edit: it’s also worth mentioning that the way that Lemmy does this is via a direct pull of communities from Lemmy.ml. What I am reacting to here is not so much to say that PieFed’s method is perfect, but that both suffer from flaws, and that PieFed’s is relatively benign, at least in comparison to Lemmy’s. Lemmy uses an extremely authoritarian approach whereby Lemmy.ml is the sole and invariant arbiter of what communities are allowed vs. not during that initial one-time setup, and there is no way to change that, whereas PieFed uses a list that the instance admin is capable of changing. On the spectrum of authoritarian control, PieFed’s level here is like a 1 out of 100, whereas Lemmy’s is… well, it’s still not much in this exact situation, but it’s definitely way more. Sorry for being confusing initially in the way I worded that.
I don’t host any so as I understand it:
The problem with PieFed is the initial filter list is not opt-in, but can be modified freely.
The problem with Lemmy is changes like those will be hardcoded.
The thing with PieFed… I don’t know if it’s in the setup guide and OP didn’t read it or if it must be pointed out in the guide.
Anyway, it should be opt-in, not opt-out.
But trying to frame it as if it was as terrible as lemmy… Lemmy defenders sure love the ragebait.