diff --git a/pkg/pipe/engine.go b/pkg/pipe/engine.go
index 13fd7a0..92cf9a8 100644
--- a/pkg/pipe/engine.go
+++ b/pkg/pipe/engine.go
@@ -232,16 +232,11 @@ func updateWalks(ctx context.Context, db redb.RedisDB, cache *walks.CachedWalker
 	return nil
 }
 
-const (
-	followPrefix = "p"
-	maxFollows   = 50000
-)
-
 // Parse unique pubkeys (excluding author) from the "p" tags in the event.
 func ParsePubkeys(event *nostr.Event) []string {
-	pubkeys := make([]string, 0, min(len(event.Tags), maxFollows))
+	pubkeys := make([]string, 0, min(len(event.Tags), maxTags))
 	for _, tag := range event.Tags {
-		if len(pubkeys) > maxFollows {
+		if len(pubkeys) > maxTags {
 			// stop processing, list is too big
 			break
 		}
@@ -251,7 +246,7 @@ func ParsePubkeys(event *nostr.Event) []string {
 		}
 
 		prefix, pubkey := tag[0], tag[1]
-		if prefix != followPrefix {
+		if prefix != "p" {
 			continue
 		}
 
diff --git a/pkg/pipe/intake.go b/pkg/pipe/intake.go
index a5ada29..5c27429 100644
--- a/pkg/pipe/intake.go
+++ b/pkg/pipe/intake.go
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ package pipe
 
 import (
 	"context"
+	"errors"
 	"fmt"
 	"log"
 	"slices"
@@ -324,3 +325,20 @@ func shutdown(pool *nostr.SimplePool) {
 		return true
 	})
 }
+
+var (
+	ErrEventTooBig = errors.New("event is too big")
+	maxTags        = 20_000
+	maxContent     = 50_000
+)
+
+// EventTooBig is a [nastro.EventPolicy] that errs if the event is too big.
+func EventTooBig(e *nostr.Event) error {
+	if len(e.Tags) > maxTags {
+		return fmt.Errorf("%w: event with ID %s has too many tags: %d", ErrEventTooBig, e.ID, len(e.Tags))
+	}
+	if len(e.Content) > maxContent {
+		return fmt.Errorf("%w: event with ID %s has too much content: %d", ErrEventTooBig, e.ID, len(e.Content))
+	}
+	return nil
+}