diff --git a/config.defaults.json b/config.defaults.json
index 8559aa0..8216794 100644
--- a/config.defaults.json
+++ b/config.defaults.json
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@
 	"ignored_cws": [],
 	"mention_handling": 1,
 	"max_thread_length": 15,
+	"hellthread_threshold": 5,
 	"strip_paired_punctuation": false,
 	"limit_length": false,
 	"length_lower_limit": 5,
diff --git a/reply.py b/reply.py
index 226efcd..201d356 100755
--- a/reply.py
+++ b/reply.py
@@ -27,6 +27,10 @@ class ReplyBot:
 		post_id = notification['status']['id']
 		context = await self.pleroma.status_context(post_id)
 
+		# check if we've already been participating in this thread
+		if self.check_hellthread_size(notification):
+			return
+
 		# check if we've already been participating in this thread
 		if self.check_thread_length(context):
 			return
@@ -40,7 +44,14 @@ class ReplyBot:
 		else:
 			await self.reply(notification)
 
-	def check_thread_length(self, context) -> bool:
+	def check_hellthread_size(self, notification) -> bool:
+		"""return whether the notification should not be replied to due to sheer amount of mentions"""
+		if len(notification['status']['mentions']) >= self.cfg['hellthread_threshold']:
+			return True
+
+		return False
+
+	def check_thread_length(self, xontext) -> bool:
 		"""return whether the thread is too long to reply to"""
 		posts = 0
 		for post in context['ancestors']: