On that we agree. I just wanted to make absolutely certain that it is clear to everyone that "free speech" is not something that the PieFed devs are prioritizing in any way.

So all that remains is the form that the list is implemented in, which as people are saying is already in the process of being changed.

Btw, the Lemmy equivalent is likewise hard-coded (this is a different issue than the blocklist one mentioned that happened years in the past):

latest case in point: the next version will hardcode lemmy.ml as a source to pre-fetch popular communities

it uses lemmy.ml as the source of truth for that, and there is no way to change that

-source

I think the only reason this issue is getting any attention at all right now is that the PieFed devs have made it so ridiculously easy to install a new instance that people are starting to do it even without glancing at the code (which for Lemmy can't be done, see e.g. this story). Not many instances (in either platform) are initiated often, and usually when it is done it is by self-hosters, so this is a growing pain caused by having expanded the userbase beyond that?

So, it's really a great problem to have to have imho, and gives me hope for the future of the Threadiverse. Especially to see the devs begin fixing it within mere minutes of this post, rather than telling the userbase to piss off and make their own fork instead (Nutomic), and only reluctantly change it, or for other issues refuse to do so even many YEARS after asking. The differences between having devs who are actually responsive vs. not is enormous!!:-)