I get it. There’s some real jerks around here. Whether they’re constantly argumentative, donwright rude, always acting in bad faith, just plain trolls, overly opinionated on every subject, have the social skills of a Naussican, etc. The Fediverse is growing, and it’s bound to attract toxicity in one way or another.
This post is mostly a PSA for anyone who’s feeling like leaving because they’re tired of dealing with things like that. I’ve been there several times myself, and I know how you feel.
Just remember that blocking is a very powerful way to stay in control of your experience. Be it a set of users, me specifically, a community, or an entire instance: if it’s causing you nothing but stress, hit that block button and see if that improves your experience here. Unlike the alien site, there is no limit to the number of entities you can block; you’re in control.
Another thing to keep in mind is different instances have different vibes, and the experience can totally differ depending on the instance’s moderation and federation policy.
In conclusion, your experience here can be what you make of it; don’t be afraid to just block the parts that stress you out. You’re not “creating an echo chamber” as everyone likes to say (often in bad faith) – you’re just taking care of yourself.
I know for a fact I’m opinionated, and don’t have problems sharing them.
Please, by all means, block me if you think seeing my comments is adversely affecting you. I’d rather be ignored by someone than make their day worse (unless they’re actively trying to make others miserable, but that’s a separate discussion)
The fediverse has definitely gotten a little less hostile after blocking a few things.
And remember you can jump ship to another instance at any time! I’ve hopped a few times but for now my instance is filling my needs without much drama that I am aware of.
I quickly went over your comment history of the last 30 days and you have almost no downvotes. You are a wholesome person and I’m glad you are here!
I think it’s less about having strong opinions and more with how those are expressed. But either way, you’re here with a good attitude, and that’s appreciated.
Same!
Im a big believer in block. I think its better for people to peruse all and block communities they are uninterested in and you should totally block users you don’t like. To me it should be like real life. Don’t hang with folks you don’t like. My hope for the fediverse is instances that only remove things to stay out of legal trouble and communities that only block things that are unrelated. I want all the big tools to be at the user level. Bottom up.
I use the block button like hideki kamiya uwu
have the social skills of a Nausicaan
Play Domjot?
I have blocked a few communities which I have really enjoyed. I think there is definitely a different but freeing experience to be in charge of curating your experience instead of algorithms doing it for you. It’s more work but the freedom is nice but making the constant choice feels hard.
I have blocked 264 users, 9 communities and 4 instances and it’s made Lemmy much better for me toxicity wise. Whenever a debate gets toxic or someone starts just insulting or discussing in bad faith or I just get a bad vibe from them - I block.
I’m with you in spirit if not numbers. My experience with hexbear users led me to blocking the whole instance, and I regularly block people I don’t even converse with based on how they treat other users or other topics. If someone has such a bad take on topic A, I don’t care about their possible opinions on topic B and C in the future.
I get the argument of echo chamber isolation, but most of the things I’m willing to block people over are also things that I won’t be changing my mind about because of a forum post.
You’ve been here for year and blocked 264 people, I mean this in the nicest way possible, but ever consider the problem is not the people you block? I think i’ve legitimately blocked maybe 20 people in my whole entire online life (I’m almost 40), most of it spent on platforms like Reddit.
But then I have a high aversion for echo chambers and only block obvious trolls, mostly to keep them from blowing up my notifications. I feel it’s much better to just not give random strangers on the internet the power to actually affect your mood.
Blocking them actually is removing their ability to affect your mood 😌
Thank you! I try to exercise caution for myself of am I just off put by this or is this truly uncessary behavior, and I’m glad the option to judge for myself is available.
Block is useless on lemmy. They can still cause a nuisance. Just becuase you can’t see it doesn’t mean it’s not there…
It’s nice not having to look at Blaze or some of the other trolls at least.
The point of my post is protecting one’s own mental health. I’m not here to police the Fediverse. Report people if it’s warranted, block if they’re a source of stress or make the place unenjoyable.
I never thought I needed to block any user, because, you know, I’m a big kid and I can handle any of the dirty words. Turns out, there are just reavers out there in space with their cores exposed just letting the hatred and radiation wash over them. I have all this empathy and I know they were once people and maybe they can be redeemed, but no. They are reavers. Block and move on with caution.
Yes and no.
I am a big fan of block buttons and use them quite liberally (if someone responds to me in a manner that makes it clear they have no intention of having a conversation? I never see them ever again).
But the problem is that it only blocks it for the user who blocks them. So harassment is still a thing and now even fewer people are likely to flag it for moderation (to the extent that works).
There is obviously room for abuse but I am a firm believer that any block feature must be bidirectional. If user A blocks user B then A and B can no longer see each other or interact. Which would be a fundamental lemmy feature which makes things difficult.
But “just block them” is good for people who are annoying. Not for people who are abusive. And while the latter isn’t SUPER common on lemmy, there are still a good number of people who respond to the simplest of things with “Fuck you you fucking moron and you should go kill yourself”
Is it the people that are toxic? Or is it the world or a living in right now?
toxic people made the world toxic which in turn made more people toxic
Block users and instances (although blocking instances just blocks the topic posts from that instance, not all the users from that instance).
Wish instance blocking actually blocked properly. But the main devs know everyone would block the tanky triad immediately and they’d have no one to troll.
Instance blocking works on:
- PieFed
- the Lemmy apps Sync and Connect
- instance admins who can choose to defederate
- someone willing to go deep and make a custom web browser filter (presumably like Ublock Origin I would guess)
Nothing else works.
I’ve yet to block anyone here and the only one I had blocked on Reddit was Gallowboob.
Well that’s a name I haven’t heard in a long time.
What I read to do is to call them out, report them, then block them. They need to know they’re being mean.
I’ve blocked communities and instances that don’t speak English, ones that have absurd ideological basis (anarchy supporters), and occasionally people who just say really dumb things, a lot.
I vastly prefer encouraging blocking over censorship/moderation. If someone is being an asshole, having the ability to say it, vent those feelings for a moment, then readjust is a catharsis that’s been nearly outlawed especially on platforms on TikTok.
Obviously not everything should be permitted and everything has limits, but the internet seems to over correct things into a passionless husk of forced friendliness. A fake facade that starts to feel like a shrinking cage. Sterile.
Curating my own experience has been invaluable and I highly encourage it.
absurd ideological basis (anarchy supporters)
I am not a community but can you please add me to your list
Blocked for calling anarchists absurd.
That is a dumb take and you could look it up on Wikipedia if you cared and iota to read many influential anarchist authors e.g. Kropotkin or Grabber, but trying to prove wrong every wrong person on the internet I’d never have time for myself so I’m moving on.
