Evan Prodromou| Yes | |
| Yes, but... | |
| No, but... | |
| No |
Poll ends at .
baconandcoconut@evan I might tell other people that I'm connected to that I have blocked or muted someone so they know they won't have to deal with that person when they're connected to me. The blocked or muted person will figure it out.
Dr Kim Foale@evan feels passive aggressive to me to do so, like an attempt to get the last lick in before going la la la cant hear you
Owashii 
đž
@evan Any time someone has reached out to me to let me know that they're blocking/muting me and why, it /always/ makes me feel worse about it and I imagine I'm not alone in that.
I can respect the gesture of trying to take away the "why did they do that though?" but it never actually works as intended, it just feels like rubbing salt in the wound.
Aljoscha Rittner (beandev)@evan
We have an old saying in Germany: Be wise, block quietly. (Sei weise, kill leise). Sometimes, however, it makes sense to mention the block in a final reply (and really more for everyone else who might be following the dispute).
So, a Yes, but...
WintergreenIf you're in a moderator role, it makes sense to tell people why they've been banned/blocked/muted.
Otherwise, it is what it is, and we don't need to discuss it.
I regularly engage in what I call content sculpting where I'm fine-tuning my feed like a graphic equalizer. It's nothing personal. I'm probably just not interested.
Exception where I would say something is if this person is being a major asshole or a Nazi. Then, my hope is other people will also block them. But this is rare.
M. GrĂŠgoire@evan Yes, but. When I've had a conversation and then been blocked, I've often wished that the person would tell me why, or offer me a chance to apologise. Maybe the other person is right and I'm wrong; maybe I've said something that, on reflection, I regret.
Muting I think is less serious: sometimes it's just someone wanting a pause, which is perfectly reasonable.
If there's someone you just don't want to read, generally not following suffices, but sometimes a quiet block is the solution.
δινĎĎ@evan girl I block about fifteen people a day, Iâm not writing each one an apology first
@evan my previous answer was flippantâŚ
The question seems to ask whether we have some moral obligation to inform people, to which I think the answer is obviously not. If somebody Iâm not expecting knocks on my door, I have no obligation to open it or even to be at home. The knocking can just be un-acked.
But⌠I still voted âno, butâ. I definitely think you can tell them, and it might even be a kind thing to do, depending on the previous relationship youâve had. I would feel pretty bad if I was close with somebody, or they depended on me, and then I locked them out of my life without a word.
@mpjgregoire @evan the actual number varies, but I block every commenter thatâs hostile or bad-faith if it comes from somebody I donât know, even when their comment is not directed at me.
A few days ago there was a post on fecesbook about the ALF in France burning 15 refrigerated trucks that got a lot of attention. I probably blocked >âŻ100 people that day.
@danso
Why? I mean, maybe they deserve to be blocked, but maybe even without a block you'll never cross paths with them again...
Why? I mean, maybe they deserve to be blocked, but maybe even without a block you'll never cross paths with them again...
@mpjgregoire when I learned that nearly all the hateful posts online are made by <âŻ1% of its users, it got me thinking maybe I could create a curated internet by just blocking them all.
I still see hateful posts sometimes, so it hasnât totally worked (yet).
But I just think, if this person is hateful, why give them a chance to direct their hate at me? Why wait? If blocking hundreds of people means I donât get a hateful message later, itâll be worth it.
So far Iâve never regretted a block. It hasnât happened that Iâve met somebody in person and had an awkward moment of âoh, Iâve got your account blocked on [whatever]â. On the other hand, when controversial posts get hundreds of comments, itâs normal that Iâm only shown 80-90% of them (when logged in).
Things escalated during the municipal elections, when I ran as candidate for city council. Since Iâm openly genderqueer and vegan â two of the most hated demographics â I got⌠a few hateful private messages. And since then Iâve wondered how many I didnât get because I had such a long block-list already.
@danso
It's a shame you get any hateful messages at all, DMs or otherwise. I guess I'm fortunate that I haven't really experienced that on the Fediverse, despite my unpopular political views. Possibly part of the reason I haven't made much personal use of blocking is that the admins of my instance keep the nastier stuff away from CoSocialites...
I don't think it's likely you'll regret any of the accounts you block, since I don't see how you'd get feedback suggesting any mistakes.
@danso that's really interesting. Thanks for the thoughts.
Mark AndrewNo, but sometimes I really, really want to do it anyway.
Geoff Coffey@evan Block and Mute are like Bubble Tape⢠bubble gum: For you. Not them.
Kaliah@evan I'd say no. I don't want to know if I've been blocked. I'm not for everyone and i know that, but if I'm not for you, I don't need to know about it. Just block and move on. It's not like the other person can stop you from blocking them anyway, so just do it and don't be passive aggressive. I might tell someone else "Oh I have that person blocked," but never directly saying to that person "I am blocking you."
lina isidora | HOLY FUCK ARTEMIS II@evan i block/mute a lot of people for being russian or sometimes pro-trump/trump-like entities in other countries, and in that case i usually leave a snarky remark after blocking as a public post
but mostly not
Brooke Vibber 
@evan "no, but" sometimes I can't help myself đ¤
mloxton
Patrick
Charles A-M@PatrickoftheG @evan if your message is public, they could see it if they log out, or they might see it between when you post the message and when you block them. Otherwise, it's like, to quote Douglas Adams, "saying 'And another thing...' twenty minutes after admitting [you'd] lost the argument."
@Centretowner @evan L'esprit de l'escalier made manifest.
Baloo Uriza@evan Why start drama neither of you need by announcing it?
Karin Dalziel@evan I think it's polite to either tell a mutual they are being muted (if you are muting their @ responses too), or just soft block them (force them to unfollow you)
Either of those at least give them a hint something is up.
I don't think it's as big a deal for non mutuals
Edwin G. 
JĂźrgen đ
zotheca
Richard Eriksson@evan No, just do it. I do wish there was a convention around mutual muting, which is really mutual unfollowing. That is, a way to virtually shake hands and convey to each other that thereâs still mutual respect, but youâve both moved on from each other and maybe weâll see each other in the reposts.
john.brown_typeface@evan
i think we should receive notifications on being blocked/muted. takes away the obligation or choice from the blocker/muter but promotes transparency or clarity for the account that gets blocked/muted
i think we should receive notifications on being blocked/muted. takes away the obligation or choice from the blocker/muter but promotes transparency or clarity for the account that gets blocked/muted
Jean-François Mezei@evan Ideally the person you block should be told why so the person knows what his/her behaviour/posts caused it.
But there are cases where it isn't worth telling the person.
squinky
Jan Wildeboer đˇ
@evan Block: yes, when my reasons are worth sharing, based on egregious misbehaviour of the person I decided to block. Meant to warn my followers and friends. Mute: no, thatâs a personal decision most of the time.
Steffen VoĂ@evan I usually only mute people, so they still can react and discuss my posts with other people. But I don't have to. That is only a way for me to curate my feed - not a comment on their person.
Tizian ăăăŁăăŁă˘ăźăłă@evan Telling someone, he/she/... was blocked is, as far as I know, unnecessary because the person can see, they are blocked.
Not, however, when they are muted. In fact, I retrospectively have only chosen to mute instead to block, so no information is conveyed. The fascist, racist or annoying bot should not be given any information about my status of engagement. The best thing to do, for me, is to mute. 
kit lecter đŚđš@evan no, the block or mute button is there so you can curate your online experience, however that looks for you. unless you're close friends with someone you want to mute/block (and if so, you really do need a conversation, for the sake of the friendship), I don't see any reason to mention it to anyone unless it comes up in conversation.
Chuck a Duck@evan while itâs normally good form to do so, I said no. I donât think the default position should be that blocking or muting someone is personal. Maybe a mutual is really into elephants, and I had a bad experience with one and donât want to be reminded. I shouldnât need to explain my backstory to establish a boundary.
đ§dustin@evan I was responsible for how block and mute work on Twitter. Ideally, these are two separate tools with different functionality.
Block intentionally lets the blocker know that theyâve been blocked (when they try more interaction with you). It also stops syndicating your posts to them, hides your stuff from them, and removes you from their lists.
Mute came later and the main difference is that mute doesnât let the mutee know that they are muted. It is you controlling your frame.
@evan ah⌠should YOU tell them? The situations where these apply are endless and varied. Choose ur own adventure. (A one size fits all rule doesnât seem like it could work here.)
filobus
Sam Clemente@evan No, but you could
It'd be kinda funny
Like what are they gonna do? Argue with you more? They're muted
Bradley M. KĂźhn@evan voted yes , although I had this weird experience where I said I was going to mute folks who talk about the horrible worldwide politics so I could focus on the only work I know how to do, and someone got snarky and aggressive who did not even follow me nor did I follow them. đ¤Ś
https://sfba.social/@FinchHaven/116155141897314764
So strange.
https://sfba.social/@FinchHaven/116155141897314764
So strange.
âď¸ Cath@evan I often get followed by men who have zero or 1 toot here and who only follow women. I think that's weird and so I block or mute them.