https://www.reddit.com/r/blog/comments/s71g03/announcing_blocking_updates/
created by enthusiastic-potato on 18/01/2022 at 16:30 UTC*
2919 upvotes, 262 top-level comments (showing 25)
Hello peoples (and bots) of Reddit,
I come with a very important and exciting announcement from the Safety team. As a continuation of our blocking improvements[1], ***we are rolling out a revamped blocking experience starting today. You will begin to see these changes soon.***
We will be evolving the blocking experience so that it *not only* removes a blocked user’s content from your experience, but also **removes your content from their experience**—i.e., a user you have blocked can’t see or interact with you. Our intention is to provide you with better control over your safety experience. This includes controlling who can contact you, who can see your content, and whose content you see.
It depends if you are a user or a moderator and if you are doing the blocking vs. being blocked.
[See stickied comment below for more details]
Previously, if I blocked u/IAmABlockedUser, I would not see their content, but they would see mine. With the updated blocking experience, I won’t see u/IAmABlockedUser’s content and they won’t see mine either. We’re listening to your feedback[2] and designed an experience to meet users’ expectations and the intricacies of our platform.
To prevent abuse, we are installing a limit so you cannot unblock someone and then block them again within a short time frame. We have also put into place some restrictions that will prevent people from being able to manipulate the site by blocking at scale[3].
It’s also worth noting that **blocking is not a replacement for** **reporting**[4] **policy breaking content**. While we plan to implement block as a signal for potential bad actors, our Safety teams will continue to rely on reports to ensure that we can properly stop and sanction malicious users. We're not stopping the work there, either—read on!
4: https://www.reddit.com/report
We know that this is just one more step in offering a robust set of safety controls. As we roll out these changes, we will also be working on revamping your settings and finding additional proactive measures to reduce unwanted experiences.
So tell us: **what kind of safety controls would you like to see on Reddit?** We will stick around to chat through ideas as well as answer your questions or feedback on blocking for the next few hours.
Thanks for your time and patience in reading this through! Cat tax:
Oscar Wilde, the cat, reclining on his favorite reddit snoo pillow
​
Comment by TheDutchCoder at 20/01/2022 at 12:27 UTC
101 upvotes, 5 direct replies
I can no longer post comments in certain subreddits because a handful of people blocked me, even if the OP themselves didn't.
What a terrible system, that will only lead to more echo chambers because people no longer can post counter arguments against misinformation.
This has to be rolled back.
Comment by hl3official at 20/01/2022 at 21:32 UTC
82 upvotes, 3 direct replies
Surely this is a joke? I started a comment-thread, someone replied and blocked me. I am now unable to defend myself or post any additional comments, in my own comment-thread. This cannot be the intention of the feature.
Comment by N8CCRG at 18/01/2022 at 19:51 UTC*
327 upvotes, 5 direct replies
what kind of safety controls would you like to see on Reddit?
There needs to be some way to report/prevent/rein in the "report self harm" abuse. There are people out there who use its anonymousness to simply harass people, and while the message you get has the following portion:
If you think you may have gotten this message in error, report this message
the report system linked to does not actually contain any direct way to report the abuse.
Edit: And no surprise, this comment elicited someone to use it on me now.
Comment by HankMS at 03/03/2022 at 21:45 UTC
59 upvotes, 2 direct replies
This is an insanely shitty feature. Blocking someone hinders them not only from replying to *anyone* else in the thread downstream, but ALSO to myself upstream the chain.
Seriously, how could anyone ever think that this is something that could work in a public discussion space like reddit?
Fucking hell, I have never been happier to use an adblock.
Comment by Dude_NL at 05/03/2022 at 15:25 UTC*
48 upvotes, 0 direct replies
As pointed out by others already, this 'feature' is used by bad actors to spread misinformation uncontested.
Certain high-output health disinformation spammers (who seldomly interact in comments, but instead post in bulk to susceptible contrarian subreddits) preemtively block prolific debunkers/dissenters. Debunkers who often are already vastly outnumbered in many of these subreddits/echo chambers.
If your goal was to make the propagation of harmful lies easier you have succeeded.
Another major annoyance is that there is no indication of having been blocked *before* commenting, resulting in (often substantial) time wasted on a reply.
Comment by [deleted] at 18/01/2022 at 16:38 UTC
587 upvotes, 6 direct replies
Allow me to block subreddits
Comment by DamageBooster at 18/01/2022 at 23:19 UTC
43 upvotes, 1 direct replies
Will I be able to block someone if they block me first or do they totally disappear? I'm glad there's a limit on quick unblock-reblocking but I'm still worried about harassers doing a block once they get their shot in, and then unblocking down the road to harass again or view the victim's content if they were immune to being quickly blocked in return. (This was an issue I saw on another site I use.)
Comment by CatOfGrey at 22/01/2022 at 00:14 UTC
46 upvotes, 4 direct replies
Disappointed that this is being abused on political forums.
An abusive user can post inflammatory information, then block users that post critical comments. Over time, they have 'created their own safe space' that they can distribute their content *to outside users*, without experiencing any comments and critique on their own bad behavior.
The effect, in the short term, has been that users can take over and change the nature of subreddits, and close themselves off from opposing users. It creates increased fragmentation, and prevents trolls from being held accountable from other users.
This is especially bad when considering that the objective of political trolls is to control the appearance of a subreddit *to outside observers.* This forces moderators to act, when the system was controlling this problem on its own.
TL:DR; When you post, you should not have the right to protect your post from dissenters. You should have the right to not see a blocked user's comment on your post. *You should not have the right to prevent public users from posting on threads that you, yourself, made public.*
Comment by abz_eng at 23/01/2022 at 20:45 UTC
40 upvotes, 0 direct replies
This is creating Echo chambers and censorship
/r/Scotland has rule of only one post per story, if a mass blocking user posts a story all those with views they do not like are blocked from commenting.
This is the very definition of an echo chamber.
Comment by Hewlett-PackHard at 03/03/2022 at 00:26 UTC
35 upvotes, 1 direct replies
Just ran into this idiotic "feature" for the first time when it was abused to prevent rebuttal of misinformation.
Good fucking job reddit, another step on the long march towards totally ruining the platform.
Comment by Vast-Salamander-123 at 03/03/2022 at 21:02 UTC
38 upvotes, 0 direct replies
What the actual heck is this change? So people can just spout bullshit and block responses? You might as well just redirect reddit to OAN and save everyone some time.
Comment by lordbeefripper at 23/01/2022 at 16:58 UTC
36 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Awesome! Now all the disinformation peddling alts can freely spam dangerous information and stop anyone *debunking* them from replying! Great work reddit!! You've successfully encouraged more echo chambers!
Comment by RedditIsRealWack at 23/01/2022 at 16:07 UTC
30 upvotes, 3 direct replies
This is already being used on /r/Scotland by prominent users to block people from replying in their threads because their political opinions differ (People who support independence, versus those that don't).
Fucking ludicrous feature to add.
Now power users can essentially ban people from their threads, and ban dissenting opinion. How did you not see that this would be weaponised for political gain? Moronic.
Comment by ItsDominare at 02/03/2022 at 22:53 UTC
31 upvotes, 1 direct replies
You've given the trolls the greatest weapon they could have asked for, the ability to unilaterally have the last word. Congratulations, you obviously really thought this one through.
Comment by Mintfriction at 03/03/2022 at 14:00 UTC
30 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Remove this feature before you'll destroy reddit.
People will abuse this and it will drive a lot of people away from the platform.
Comment by Cleverusername531 at 02/02/2022 at 12:15 UTC
27 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Important feedback on the impact on misinformation:
u/ConversationCold8641 Tests out Reddit's new blocking system and proves a major flaw
Testing Reddit's new block feature and its effects on spreading misinformation and propaganda.
Reddit recently announced changes to how blocking works. Here is a link to their post[1].
1: https://www.reddit.com/r/blog/comments/s71g03/announcing_blocking_updates/
One major change is that blocked accounts will no longer be able to reply to submissions and comments made by the user that blocked them.
This sounds like an easily abusable feature that will among other things, lead to an increase in the spread of misinformation and propaganda on Reddit.
So, I did a little test, and the results were worse than expected. As manipulative as this all may seem, no Reddit rules were actually broken.
Over the past few days, I made several submissions to a certain large subreddit known for discussing conspiratorial topics. The submissions and comments were copied verbatim from another site that is the new home of certain large political subreddit that was suspended. The posts had varying levels of truth to them; ranging from misleading propaganda to blatantly false disinformation. Each post was deleted after several hours. All of the accounts have since been unblocked.
Before making any submissions, I first prepared the account by blocking all the moderators and 4 or 5 users who usually call out misinformation posts.
The first 3 submissions were downvoted heavily but received 90 total comments. Almost all of comments were negative and critical. I blocked all of the accounts that made such comments.
The next 2 submissions fared much better receiving 380 total karma and averaging 90% upvote ratios. There were only 61 comments but most of them were positive or supportive. There was already a very noticeable change in sentiment. Once again, I blocked any account that made a negative comment on those posts.
The next 2 posts did even better, receiving a combined 1500 karma and 300 comments. Both posts hit the top of the subreddit and likely would have become far more popular had I not deleted them. Again, most of the comments were positive and supportive. I continued to block any account that made a negative comment.
The next submission was blatantly false election disinformation. It only received 57 karma and had 93 mostly critical comments. This had the effect of drawing out dozens of accounts to block.
The next two submissions each became the number one post for that day before being deleted. Out of 300 comments, there were only 4 or 5 that were not completely supportive.
TL;DR and Summary:
I made a series of misleading or false submissions over the course of several days. Each time, I would block any account that made a negative comment on those posts. Each batch of new posts were better received with a higher score, farther reach, and fewer people able to call out the misinformation.
I achieved this in only 5 days, and really only needed to block around 100 accounts. People who actually want to spread disinformation will continue to grow stronger as they block more and more users over time.
Comment by thecravenone at 18/01/2022 at 17:46 UTC
58 upvotes, 2 direct replies
Why is a post titlted "Announcing..." not in /r/announcements ?
Comment by [deleted] at 19/01/2022 at 01:38 UTC
58 upvotes, 2 direct replies
[deleted]
Comment by RadleyCunningham at 18/01/2022 at 16:47 UTC
127 upvotes, 1 direct replies
I'd love an option to block a sub I don't like seeing, even if it shows up on Popular.
Comment by KasaneTeto_ at 02/03/2022 at 01:36 UTC*
27 upvotes, 1 direct replies
Dropping by once again to say that this new 'parting shot' feature has been a boon for people trolls and people trying to spread misinformation unchallenged over the site.
This is ruining the site. You are giving trolls, harassers, and spreaders of misinformation run of the site to do their shit unchallenged. This 'feature' is so completely absurd that I have no idea how any of you could even conceivably think that it is anything other than a catastrophe. You are having a tangible effect on the site for the worse with this change. It's a bad idea.
You people over at Reddit HQ are fools. No advertiser will want to buy space on this site if you irritate all of your users into leaving. This helps nobody.
Comment by [deleted] at 18/01/2022 at 20:58 UTC
53 upvotes, 1 direct replies
Can we block subreddits?
Comment by TotalSmuubag at 18/01/2022 at 19:12 UTC
109 upvotes, 3 direct replies
OK but can I block RPAN forever
Comment by [deleted] at 18/01/2022 at 16:57 UTC
123 upvotes, 2 direct replies
Great news. Can you confirm that this functionality will be available on https://old.reddit.com[1] as well?
Comment by MaximilianKohler at 18/01/2022 at 21:32 UTC
237 upvotes, 6 direct replies
Limitations on mass blocking comes nowhere near solving the myriad of problems with this.
There are accounts that go around spreading positive information about Monsanto, for example. It looks very convincing to the average person. There are very few people who know enough to potentially counter any of these types of users' claims. I know enough about one of the things they claimed to know that it was false. Thus, I don't believe any of their other claims. I said as much and shared the evidence.
There are a small amount of people who can do the same for the other claims they make. If that account simply blocks us handful of users they can spread their false information as much as they want.
There is another political sub I follow, and recently there is a single propaganda account taking it over completely. I've downvoted this account over a hundred times in a couple months, and I've made comments criticizing them. They could easily true block me and thus silence any critics.
Similarly, there are extremely corrupt, manipulative mods who post links/propaganda to numerous subs. This would give them censorship power in all those subs.
​
This change will drastically worsen the misinformation and echo-chamber problems reddit already is drowning in. Reddit's already become a place where nothing can be trusted due to all kinds of heavy manipulation of content. This makes the existing problems so much worse.
This is either an incredibly poorly thought out change, or a horribly corrupt one that is basically giving special interest groups the ability to manipulate this site even more.
I am so appalled at what reddit has become.
Comment by EMPulseKC at 03/03/2022 at 06:10 UTC
23 upvotes, 0 direct replies
This is apparently still not working as described. There are a few users on a local subreddit that I frequent that flood the sub with false stories, misinformation and propaganda, and they've blocked anyone that has ever expressed disagreement with the material they post (like me) so that they can continue to spread misinformation unchallenged.
We can still see their posts and their comments, but the blocking feature has made it impossible to engage with their posted material, or with other people that haven't blocked us, who may just simply reply to their posts and comments.
![[See stickied comment below for more details]](https://preview.redd.it/csgoq5pj3hc81.png?width=2646&format=png&auto=webp&s=7b3d6032052dc670f6d8496c767a91af8bbbb2f1){kind=link}
