I get it. There's some real jerks around here. Whether they're constantly argumentative, downright rude, always acting in bad faith, just plain trolls, overly opinionated on every subject, have the social skills of a Nausicaan, or whatever - the Fediverse is growing, and it's bound to attract toxicity in one way or another.

This post is mostly a PSA for anyone who's feeling like leaving because they're tired of dealing with things like that. I've been there several times myself, I know exactly how you feel, and I'm tired of seeing good people harassed off the platform.

Just remember that blocking is a very powerful way to stay in control of your experience. Be it a set of users, me specifically, a list of keywords, a whole community, or an entire instance: if it's causing you nothing but stress, hit that block button and see if that improves your experience here. Unlike the alien site, there is no limit to the number of entities you can block; you're in control.

Another thing to keep in mind is different instances have different vibes, and the experience can totally differ depending on the instance's moderation and federation policy.

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.

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[–] NuXCOM_90Percent@lemmy.zip 4 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

Yes and no.

I am a big fan of block buttons and use them quite liberally (if someone responds to me in a manner that makes it clear they have no intention of having a conversation? I never see them ever again).

But the problem is that it only blocks it for the user who blocks them. So harassment is still a thing and now even fewer people are likely to flag it for moderation (to the extent that works).

There is obviously room for abuse but I am a firm believer that any block feature must be bidirectional. If user A blocks user B then A and B can no longer see each other or interact. Which would be a fundamental lemmy feature which makes things difficult.

But "just block them" is good for people who are annoying. Not for people who are abusive. And while the latter isn't SUPER common on lemmy, there are still a good number of people who respond to the simplest of things with "Fuck you you fucking moron and you should go kill yourself"

[–] Gibibit@lemmy.world 4 points 2 weeks ago

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.

[–] Derpenheim@lemmy.zip 3 points 2 weeks ago

Thank you! I try to exercise caution for myself of am I just off put by this or is this truly uncessary behavior, and I'm glad the option to judge for myself is available.

[–] kitnaht@lemmy.world 3 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (4 children)

I found that a total of like 5 people post basically all of the lemmynsfw stuff. Once I blocked them, it almost all went away. Pretty sure the internet is nothing but bots now.

Also, if you're on the internet expecting all sunshine and rainbows -- leave now. The internet is not a place for that. Everything now is rage-bait designed to get more clicks, and the internet has always been the wild west with major hostilities all the time. It's not a good place to spend your time if you're looking to relax.

[–] Corgana@startrek.website 4 points 2 weeks ago (4 children)

Everything now is rage-bait designed to get more clicks

IMO the greatest strength of the Fediverse is the increased number of mods and admins looking at everything. Don't want rage bait? Join an instance that has rules against it.

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[–] fuckwit_mcbumcrumble@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

I just blocked the instance entirely. I'm not interested in seeing porn browsing lemmy, and I doubt the people who made an account on the porn community are posting the most enlightening non porn stuff.

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[–] dumples@midwest.social 3 points 2 weeks ago

I have blocked a few communities which I have really enjoyed. I think there is definitely a different but freeing experience to be in charge of curating your experience instead of algorithms doing it for you. It's more work but the freedom is nice but making the constant choice feels hard.

[–] homesweethomeMrL@lemmy.world 2 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Block users and instances (although blocking instances just blocks the topic posts from that instance, not all the users from that instance).

[–] reseller_pledge609@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Wish instance blocking actually blocked properly. But the main devs know everyone would block the tanky triad immediately and they'd have no one to troll.

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[–] 3dmvr@lemm.ee 2 points 2 weeks ago

Thanks for reminding the people arguing with me, personally im going to just let them deal with me

[–] ocean@lemmy.selfhostcat.com 2 points 2 weeks ago

What I read to do is to call them out, report them, then block them. They need to know they’re being mean.

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