this post was submitted on 12 Oct 2025
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I've recently turned into a blocker. (lemmy.dbzer0.com)
submitted 2 days ago by SnokenKeekaGuard@lemmy.dbzer0.com to c/fediverse@lemmy.world
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I always felt like it was wrong to block an account unless it was smth absolutely insane. Nazis etc.

But now I'm blocking people who's tone I dont like, or who are baiting or actingnin bad faith.

I know I can't do it as a mod. But i can certainly do it as an individual now. Judgy comment? Blocked. Unnecessarily confrontational? Blocked.

This is new to me, literally 3 days. Wonder how this affects my feed. Only disappointing thing is they can still see and respond to my posts, just that I can't see it. I wish they couldn't see anything I posted either.

What are your blocking habits? If you do block a lot of people, has that affected your experience?

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[–] FaceDeer@fedia.io 8 points 2 days ago (3 children)

Only disappointing thing is they can still see and respond to my posts, just that I can't see it. I wish they couldn't see anything I posted either.

I've seen this view in discussions of blocking before and it really bugs me. You're desiring to unilaterally control what I can see and do on the Fediverse.

This is how it works on Reddit and it's a terrible mechanism. It means you can preemptively ensure that anyone who might refute misinformation will be excluded from your threads before you post them. It means you can step into a conversation I'm having with someone, derail it, and then prevent me from responding to your derail. Over on Reddit by far the most common use I see of the block tool is to get the "last word" in on whatever argument is going on, posting some sort of seemingly clever comeback and then instantly blocking me before I can point out the flaws.

For anyone wondering how the blocking feature has been weaponized to spread misinformation, in 2022 a redditor did an experiment: https://www.reddit.com/r/TheoryOfReddit/comments/sdcsx3/testing_reddits_new_block_feature_and_its_effects/

[–] onlinepersona@programming.dev 7 points 2 days ago

I don't understand this view either. What's it to ya? You cant see what the person does anyway. There doesn't seem to be a point behind it besides control.

Also, it simply is difficult to implement. You have to tell every server "do not show my posts and comments to these accounts". Other servers can just choose to ignore that. It's centralized thinking to believe the "feature" will work all the time.

[–] Wolf314159@startrek.website 2 points 2 days ago

Sounds like something a sea lion would say.

[–] Tollana1234567@lemmy.today 1 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

on reddit people have been scorched for blocking and reporting, you can get banned for reporting too many times, or if the specific mods in a sub deems you "report too much". i block most of the time, instead of reporting. reddit has way too many bots and trolls, propaganda to block them all. the point of blocking is to get rid of trolls and propaganda comments, dont want them to keep harassing you, or using different accounts.