FediLore + Fedidrama

Blocking users is a sign of weakness.

The blocking system on Reddit was horribly broken. Blocking a user on Reddit effectively takes them out of the conversation. They can't reply to any comment by the person who blocked them or under a comment by the person who blocked them. A bad faith actor can involve themselves in the conversation then block the OC preventing them from carrying on the conversation about their own comment. A small group of bad actors could move together to block anyone who didn't agree with them. By blocking up to 100 users each they could shut down disagreement. A small group could shut down a sub until the mods banned them. Tactical blocking was a thing.

On Lemmy, when you block someone you take yourself out of the conversation. The blocked user can continue to discuss the topic at hand below a comment from a blocking user. Tactical blocking doesn't work. All it does is protect the blocking user from being exposed to contradictory comments or ideas.

So, no, I'm not going to simply block anyone who is a bad actor. My beliefs aren't that delicate. My ideas aren't that fragile. I'm not that weak.

What I would like to be able to do it to tag users who I have discovered are bad faith actors so that I don't get drawn into a pedantic, or fallacious conversation with someone who is just trying to distract of derail the conversation. Having a bad actor block me is a gift. I can still respond to and discuss their comments but they can't see my response. I can warn others that they are bad faith actors. I'm totally cool with that. In fact, a couple of people have loudly announced that they're blocking me and I've celebrated.

If you're being harassed or threatened, or if someone is hurling racist or other hate at you you can still contact the instance admin and have them banned but you can't tactically block a user and you can't shut down the conversation in a community.