I think this is a major step backwards, as it allows people to abusively block anyone who rebuts their posts / comments in public fora. Having such blocking functionality on Twitter or Facebook timelines makes sense, but in my opinion Reddit should be more analogous to classic forums, or to Facebook groups, where you can't simply block someone else in the community from participating in your threads as long as they abide by the group's / forum's rules.
I don't really use reddit but have ended up following links to it a few times recently. I was really struck by all of the rules about what you could and couldn't say in many forums, mainly just how both specific and front and center they were. It strikes me as much more like a kindergarten than e.g. HN, where users are treated like kids and carefully monitored. I assume that's because of how many users they have in many subreddits.
I disagree. I have a friend on there posting content and was getting harassed by a troll, the way the current blocking system works they can 'block' them, but it's a 1 way block, the abused can no longer see or interact with the abuser.
But the abuser can still comment on every single post/comment of the person they're abusing, which is just backwards. And they can't even report that any more because they can longer see it, even though it's still happening.
The point of a block feature is to remove the abusers ability to interact in any capacity with the abused, and this new system looks to be a step towards that.
The solution to actual harassment (rather than justified rebuttal) should be for the harasser to get suspended.
Instead this system allows an abuser to, for example, preemptively block you and then make posts about you that you'll never see and be able to rebut or know to report.
Yeah, I have super mixed feelings about this. It's ripe for abuse, but at the same time I've wanted this exact functionality for a while to avoid all the bots. I also have a bunch of people blocked that a mute would do just fine for, I just don't want to see their 4 posts every single day clogging up the subreddit.
Here's to hoping there's another update that addresses these issues.
Reddit claims that if I block a user, that user cannot see my content. But that's not true, the other user has private browser tabs, and alternate accounts, and maybe even a Reddit client that works around the block. All of this means the user I blocked can still see my content.
20 comments
[ 4.8 ms ] story [ 49.5 ms ] threadredditstatus.com not indicating any problems, though. [1]
[1] https://www.redditstatus.com/
But the abuser can still comment on every single post/comment of the person they're abusing, which is just backwards. And they can't even report that any more because they can longer see it, even though it's still happening.
The point of a block feature is to remove the abusers ability to interact in any capacity with the abused, and this new system looks to be a step towards that.
Instead this system allows an abuser to, for example, preemptively block you and then make posts about you that you'll never see and be able to rebut or know to report.
Here's to hoping there's another update that addresses these issues.
Block on twitter works about the same way.
Fuck Reddit, fuck their redesign, fuck their search and fuck their app. Excuse my French.
P.S. Use Apollo