The Mastodon guy is also objectively wrong when he claims that regional blocks are ineffective because it won't stop dedicated bad actors. Most bad actors are bots or otherwise *not* dedicated - they rely on mass numbers. IP and proxy blocks won't stop all of them, but it hugely reduces them and makes it much more manageable for moderators. I'm a community manager by profession and barring Bangladesh/India/Russia/China almost nixes spam accounts, in my experience.