Evan ProdromouYes
Yes, but...
No, but...
No
Poll ended at .
δανσω@evan my previous answer was flippant…
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 I’m 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 “no, but”. I definitely think you can tell them, and it might even be a kind thing to do, depending on the previous relationship you’ve 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.
M. Grégoire@mpjgregoire @evan the actual number varies, but I block every commenter that’s hostile or bad-faith if it comes from somebody I don’t 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 > 100 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 < 1% 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 hasn’t 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 don’t get a hateful message later, it’ll be worth it.
So far I’ve never regretted a block. It hasn’t happened that I’ve met somebody in person and had an awkward moment of “oh, I’ve got your account blocked on [whatever]”. On the other hand, when controversial posts get hundreds of comments, it’s normal that I’m only shown 80-90% of them (when logged in).
Things escalated during the municipal elections, when I ran as candidate for city council. Since I’m openly genderqueer and vegan – two of the most hated demographics – I got… a few hateful private messages. And since then I’ve wondered how many I didn’t 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.