76 upvotes, 17 direct replies (showing 17)
View submission: What we’re working on this year
This is valuable feedback—thank you! Since the blocking update we’ve heard some similar feedback and have made some updates to stop abuse. There are new restrictions that prevent people from being able to manipulate the site by blocking at scale. There’s also a limit, so people can’t unblock someone and then block them again within a short time frame. We’re keeping a close eye on how people are using blocking, so this additional example is really helpful, and so are the others who have commented here; thanks again.
Comment by eldrichhydralisk at 02/06/2022 at 21:26 UTC
83 upvotes, 3 direct replies
These are good steps, but it's not just blocking at scale that's an issue. I've seen at least one example of a sub where a user blocked the main users they disagreed with, then aggressively posted news articles before anyone else, so the first thread (which is often the only one people see) would feature only the opinions they wanted seen. With this strategy, even a handful of well-targeted blocks against active, knowledgeable users can have a powerful effect on the conversation while seeming organic to the rest of the userbase.
I get why we'd want to protect users from abusers, but I fear allowing any user to block any other user from replying to posts at all is more dangerous as a potential social manipulation tool than it is useful as a protective tool.
Comment by rossisdead at 02/06/2022 at 21:55 UTC
16 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Here's some feedback. I've been giving it over and over for the past several months without so much as an acknowledgement. Bring back the *old* block system. Run it side-by-side with the new block system if you have to. I have a 4 year old list with almost 150 useless bots in it. I blocked them *so I didn't have to see their comments anymore*. Then you guys made them all visible again, effectively making my block list completely useless, and even more effectively making it a frustrating experience trying to read through comment threads.
I completely understand the reasoning behind the new blocking system, but in catering to the people who the old block system didn't work for, you've gone ahead and completely ignored the people who the old block system *did* work for. Give us back the option to *hide* a user's posts entirely.
Comment by Overgrown_fetus1305 at 02/06/2022 at 22:34 UTC
30 upvotes, 1 direct replies
I mod a debate sub, and we've had problems with users blocking eachother in bad faith and being unable to reply, with added impacts when users ask for sources but don't see the request, and a "cite your sources" rule ends up weaponised. We're not really sure as mods how we should handle this, and wanted suggestions. A rule against blocking would be questionable, and potentially against mod guidelines, but at the same time, we don't really want this sort of bad faith debating either.
Comment by CTR0 at 02/06/2022 at 21:05 UTC*
10 upvotes, 1 direct replies
Its nice to hear you reiterate that you're listening. Its worth considering how this issue affects smaller subreddits versus larger ones. If we follow the 90, 9, 1 rule, a restriction like 20 blocks per day prevents somebody from entirely taking over the narrative of a 10000 member subreddit for 5 days - assuming you have to block every active user.
Comment by ruove at 05/06/2022 at 16:30 UTC*
2 upvotes, 0 direct replies
You guys keep saying this "feedback is valuable" bullshit in regard this topic, yet no changes have been made.
The blocking system is hot garbage, if you block someone, at the most, that person should no longer be able to respond to you, and you should no longer be able to respond to them. It should be 1 to 1. But currently, you're punishing the person who is blocked by preventing them from responding at all in a comment thread.
But currently, if I were to block /u/smurfrockrune, the person you just responded to, then he can no longer respond in this comment thread at all.
It's fucking dumb, plain and simple. It has singlehandedly ruined any controversial discussion on this website.
Want to have discussion about a conspiracy? Welp, you can't because one guy who made 3-4 posts in that thread has blocked you, now you can't reply to anyone.
Want to have a discussion about gun laws? Welp, you can't, because people who have never touched a firearm block you because they don't agree with your views, and now you can't respond to anyone in that thread.
The fact that this shitty blocking system is still active months after it was implemented is baffling to me.
Comment by MarlboroCappuccino at 04/06/2022 at 02:55 UTC*
2 upvotes, 0 direct replies
I get that safety is important and users should feel safe from abuse, harassment, and stalking, but Reddit is a public forum (not a personal social media page like Facebook etc) and anything posted on a public forum should be visible and open for response. This is important on any subreddit that is focused on politics, current events, or really anything involving debate. I have already seen the blocking system being used by bad faith actors on numerous subreddits.
I think the old system that existed until a couple of months ago worked fine as it was. If you blocked someone, you no longer saw their content and they couldn't contact you privately via Chat or PM. That's all a blocking system really needs on a platform like this.
Comment by Master_JBT at 03/06/2022 at 03:49 UTC
5 upvotes, 0 direct replies
please just revert the blocking change. It sucks and the [unavailable] thing is really unnecessary
Comment by Megaman_exe_ at 02/06/2022 at 22:09 UTC
18 upvotes, 0 direct replies
The new blocking feature is possibly the worst thing ruining reddit right now. Certain subs are really struggling. I hope it is fixed soon
Comment by Prcrstntr at 02/06/2022 at 23:43 UTC
2 upvotes, 0 direct replies
There are new restrictions that prevent people from being able to manipulate the site by blocking at scale.
I don't like these because I can't automatically use my custom script to block all the karmawhores I find, only like 50 a day or something lame like that.
Comment by SmurfRockRune at 02/06/2022 at 21:52 UTC
2 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Thanks for the reply. I hope you'll consider changing the system significantly. It's great that people aren't able to just massblock to shift the entire conversation or unblock just to respond and reblock after, I think those are valuable tools to combat abuse, but it doesn't do much to ease frustration on the smaller side.
Comment by MechaSandstar at 03/06/2022 at 11:47 UTC
2 upvotes, 0 direct replies
What's worse is that the worthless block function blocks MY posts to people I've blocked.
Comment by northrupthebandgeek at 02/06/2022 at 22:23 UTC
3 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Please prioritize this. The frequency of abuse with the new block system is doing a lot more harm than good.
Comment by FuckYeahPhotography at 02/06/2022 at 23:55 UTC*
-6 upvotes, 2 direct replies
I think the change to blocking has been a massive improvement. Please don't change it back. before it was borderline useless. The blocking update has made it so much easier to deal with toxic people. u/kriketjunkie it has made it far more approachable to deal with legitimate harassment. There is a reason so many were asking for it to be changed. What is being proposed here is nearly identical to the ineffective system before.
It is absolutely useless if they can respond directly to/see my comment. There are other users far more vulnerable than me for legitimate reasons. Muting the notifications won't stop the harassment from existing. I don't block those I have civil or even uncivil disagreements with. There is a serious harassment issue on the site and there is a reason a lot of people asked for it to be originally changed.
You can disagree with this but that need will arise again. They didn't make this change because no one wanted it. It's not exclusive to this platform either.
Comment by GrumpySh33p at 02/06/2022 at 23:12 UTC
0 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Maybe a limit on how many people you can block? I mean… it’s sorta a red flag to have one person blocking many people.
Comment by silverscrub at 03/06/2022 at 21:42 UTC
1 upvotes, 0 direct replies
I think the exponential block is the fundamental flaw. Reddit discussions are meant to branch out into different discussions.
I ran into a situation today in a national news/politics subreddit where the first child of the top comment had apparently blocked me. I wanted to participate in a nested discussion with someone else, but was not able to.
What do you think users should do in a scenario where a blocked user is prohibited from participating in a discussion by "crossfire"? Should we quote the entire discussion and reply in a new top level comment, tagging the user we wanted to reply to?
I think user blocks should only affect the blockers interaction with the blocked:
If more drastic actions are needed for some reason, let moderators deal with it.
Comment by KasaneTeto_ at 12/06/2022 at 15:07 UTC
1 upvotes, 0 direct replies
People are using blocking as a trolling mechanism to basically ban people from their own threads and stop them from responding to trolls, harassment, or abuse. It is the exact opposite of its supposed intended purpose and its steadily ruining the site.
Blocking people should not be able to prevent them from commenting publicly. At all. Ever. This is complete madness and the fact that it hasn't been reversed entirely is a testament to the incompetence or apathy of the Reddit developers.
Comment by ImNotDexterMorgan at 04/08/2022 at 19:34 UTC
1 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Hey /u/kriketjunkie - any update on this? It's out of hand on so many subreddits.