Fediverse

Also, voyager lets you tag users which is a godsend.

If I notice someone who is unnecessarily rude, dodgy opinions, bigoted or something, I add a tag, and if I see it is constant repetitive behaviour, I’ll block them.

Filters are nice too, if you're here for escapism rather than news.

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.

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.

We really, REALLY need to de-stigmatize blocking people. Bad-faith concern trolls have successfully convinced people that "choosing not to interact with someone" is akin to censorship and also bad for us because what do you MEAN you don't want to be disrespected by a complete stranger? Are you creating an echo chamber by preferring to be with people who are nice to you?!?!?!?

Like. No. Fuck off. That's not how it works in real life. We're not friends. We're not even co-workers for me to be stuck having to be polite to you even if you're an asshole.

You're a complete stranger and you're saying rude shit at me (or even at other people with me bearing witness), at best I'll walk away because I don't need that shit, at worst I'll call you a wanker and hit you in the face.

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.

I'd add "report" to that advice. If somebody is outright being jerks, that is probably against your instance's rules — and if it isn't, there are plenty others to choose from.

Blocking helps you, but reporting people (or instances) that are just here to troll will help others.

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.

The biggest toxicity comes from the tank triad. I have blocked them and now it is peaceful.

By all means, use the block feature to remove stressors if it helps.

For me personally, unless someone is actively haranguing me in DMs I'd rather not block them. Sure people can place comments that get me riled up. Or sometimes they seem downright hostile. Maybe they're having a bad day, you can't say. But it goes both ways, if I'm tired or having a bad day I could be misinterpreting people's comments and blocking them for no reason.

If a comment is so bad/rude it becomes rule-breaking I'd rather report it and have a moderator tell them off, it might be a valuable lesson for them or if they are repeat offenders the mods can dish out appropriate punishment. This keeps the instance and community in question healthy.

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~~ like TikTok.

Obviously not everything should be permitted and everything has its limits, but the internet seems to over correct things into a passionless husk of forced friendliness. To shove people into forming a facade that feels like a shrinking cage. Sterile.

Curating my own experience has been invaluable and I highly encourage it.

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.

Additional PSA to admins not running a "universal free speech" instance- if you see someone someone being obnoxious it's probably annoying your users just as much as is is you. Don't put the onus fully on users to curate their experience. The Fediverse needs our adults in the room!

Make sure to also report the people you see being toxic, astroturfing, or downright attacking users. Many instances have policies against this and reporting them will increase the likelihood they'll be dealt with, in some cases permanently.

This is something that should be discussed more since blocking is not a moderation function that makes the platform better, it's a tool for people to pretend the problems don't exist. I'm not a fan of pretending issues don't exist, especially since I'm a mod and that would be insanely counter-productive.

Is it the people that are toxic? Or is it the world or a living in right now?

I’ve yet to block anyone here and the only one I had blocked on Reddit was Gallowboob.