diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index ef57ebc..83a9ae6 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -42,10 +42,8 @@ Content exchange is gated by a trust graph derived from your TinyWeb subscriptio
 
 - Only peers you subscribe to (with forum enabled) are trusted sources of content
 - Content from trusted peers propagates transitively: you see posts from their trusted peers, and theirs, and so on — no hop limit
-- No open registration: a new identity has zero connections and zero reach. No bot can join without a human vouching for them
-- This is structural: spam is not a moderation problem, it's a graph problem
-
-Trust is seeded from TinyWeb's subscription page — each subscription has a "forum: on/off" toggle. When enabled, that peer's forum content (and their transitive trust network) enters your view.
+- New identities have no trust path until a trusted peer vouches for them or you subscribe with forum enabled
+- Trust is seeded from TinyWeb's subscription page — each subscription has a "forum: on/off" toggle. When enabled, that peer's forum content (and their transitive trust network) enters your view.
 
 ## Moderation
 
@@ -82,7 +80,7 @@ All moderation is local — it controls what you see:
 - Retractions are voluntary — peers can ignore them
 - Block gossip can be gamed (requires collusion by 3+ peers on Reticulum)
 - Threads prune after 30 days by default
-- The trust circle replaces open discovery: you can't find interesting strangers through topic blooms alone. Discovery is through the existing subscription graph — you find people your trusted peers already know.
+- Discovery is through the subscription graph rather than topic-based blooms
 - Best-effort maintenance
 
 ## Security
@@ -91,4 +89,4 @@ All moderation is local — it controls what you see:
 - **Retractions are voluntary** — Retracting a thread or post sends a signal to peers, but any peer can ignore it. "Retract" is a polite request, not a guaranteed delete.
 - **Block gossip can be gamed** — Auto-block triggers after 3 peer reports. On Reticulum this requires 3+ real instances to collude, which is impractical at mesh scale, but is not cryptographically enforced.
 - **No rate limiting** — Forum POST endpoints have no throttling. Low risk since the HTTP port is localhost-only by default.
-- **Trust circle** — Spam resistance is structural (no open entry), not procedural. The weakest point is social engineering: a trusted human adding a bad actor. Mitigated by cascade removal on block — blocking a peer removes their entire downstream trust network from your view.
+- **Trust circle** — Blocking a peer removes their downstream trust network from your view. A peer with multiple independent trust paths may survive a single block.