Context: Lemmy still allow people to comment on your posts or comments after you blocked them:
Just a short hypothetical: You start this thread or even top level vomment and I don’t agree with you. Then I reply something and block you immediatelly after. That could be another tool for trolls, but I guess there could be some solutions that fix this problem.
(Not dissagreeing with the OP, just brainstorming)
IDK, seems like blocking behaving like that on Lemmy could backfire, actually encouraging abuse.
For example. What happens if someone being malicious blocks you and then starts talking shit about you elsewhere in the comment thread? The person being abused would never know.
They wield the instance ban hammer for themselves, while tools for the common plebes are lower priority:-P.
I don’t think this type of block makes sense for a more forum-like environment. In fact I think it’s more absuable for bad actors to be able to conceal their rhetoric from anyone they know would oppose it.
blocking on mastodon, that user ceases to exist, and is no longer able to see, vote, or comment on your content. on mastodon, blocking is blocking
on lemmy/mbin, blocking only serves to mask that users content, though they are still able to see, vote, comment, and mine your content for descriptive data which can, has, and will lead to doxxing
“blocking” on lemmy/mbin is dangerous misnamed bullshit
I don’t get why the distinction matters. From your view, it doesn’t have an impact, does it?
no, it functions as it should.
I would prefer if people I block couldn’t see anything I post
Err… you know all these comments are posted publicly and anyone can view them, right?
At least on Twitter before Elon changed things, the same thing applied, tweets were public but you could still block people.
Currently, X displays a “You’re blocked” message when trying to view the profile of a person who’s blocked you. In addition to blocking all posts, it also prevents you from seeing their replies, media, followers, and following list.
Did twitter have private accounts?
Yeah locked accounts are pretty commonly used in conjuncture with public accounts.
I can’t see them. I can only assume [TheAlbatross(https://lemmy.blahaj.zone/u/TheAlbatross) has blocked me.
There is value to the blocked person not being able to find out in any way, whether you’ve blocked them.
And if they really want to see your content, on federated social media, where you can’t enforce a login requirement to view the content, they’ll always be able to find your content if they really want to.
Stopping them from being able to comment on your posts would be nice, tho. Even better if they can comment, but it doesn’t show up for you or anyone else.
Implementing such a block would be tricky, though. It is not as simple as community bans, as communities are always governed by their home instance.
If you post or comment in a community that isn’t local, someone from a third instance could interact with that content without ever communicating with your home instance.
It can still be done, but it’s a much more involved implementation than community bans.
Even better if they can comment, but it doesn’t show up for you or anyone else.
This would be abused. Imagine I post some manipulated fake news or something. Then I block every single person who points out the bullshit in my post so no one sees it.
reddit implemented that and I’m sure it’s abused
Ok, but how would blocks removing comments from your posts for everyone, including the blocked user, be any different? That could be abused in the exact same way.
If you’re saying blocks should only prevent future comments, this could by all means also work the same way.
The point is that it should work like a shadow ban, and not be obvious to the person you blocked. That discourages them from immediately coming at you with an alt.
The block most platforms use is that if you block someone, none of you can see each others contributions, but your past interactions are still visible to everyone.
I know.
But when did I suggest past activity should be affected, which is what you replied about?
It wasn’t clear to me in your comment but you were suggesting it wouldn’t be retroactive?
If so, then sounds okay, as long as the person knows they have been blocked, would suck to write a well written comment in reply to someone who blocked you, and unknowingly your comment is hidden for everyone because you don’t realise you were blocked.
Why would it be retroactive?
If so, then sounds okay, as long as the person knows they have been blocked, would suck to write a well written comment in reply to someone who blocked you, and unknowingly your comment is hidden for everyone because you don’t realize you were blocked.
That’s exactly what should happen. If someone can just instantly know when they get blocked, nothing stops them from instantly signing up with alt account to continue bitching at someone.
This is less of an issue with centralized social media, but with federation you absolutely should take measures like this to curb at least some portion of targeted harassment.
And if you bothered someone enough for them to block you, not being allowed to stand on their soapbox anymore (not being able to make comments on their posts visible to everyone else) is a really weird thing to worry about.
blocking has always worked really well for me, but I mainly use it to filter what content I see. while it is a bummer that you can’t block people commenting on your posts, can’t say I’ve ever been bothered by the comments.
i can block users…
Yes, but they can still see your content and interact with it.
Blocking on lemmy is more like muting. It removes the user for you, but doesn’t remove you for them.
I really think demanding all platforms allow you to post content which is viewable to the general public except for specific individuals is naive.
If the default position is that people can see the content, then excluding a few individuals is an exercise in futility
Blocking comments prevents harassment. I’ve seen people blocking harassers, the harassers would continue to harass them, and the harassed person would know they still comment (the interface shows “2 hidden comments”), and that anyone but them can see those comments.
Definitely not ideal.
Indeed. In those cases community mods can step in and issue bans, but that is a stopgap.
It would be better to have some way to block a given user from interacting with your content, if not prevent them from seeing it.
Oh, I agree.
Its utility isn’t meant to make you appear as if you don’t exist, but rather eliminate the ability of the blocked account to disturb your experience in any way.
If you block someone, but they can still leave a bunch of nasty comments on every one of your posts which are still visible to everyone else, then that goal hasn’t really been achieved.
