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The issue is that Block Party seems to be unwilling to distinguish the latter from the former. Although with the current implementation it looks like it doesn'

The issue is that Block Party seems to be unwilling to distinguish the latter from the former. Although with the current implementation it looks like it doesn't really matter. All this app seems to do is make it so that all mentions by users outside a whitelist get sent to a spam folder: https://www.blockpartyapp.com/how-it-works/ https://www.blockpartyapp.com/how-it-works/

lovemenot 6y ago
Regardless of current implementation, I still don't understand the problem in principle. Why does Block Party need to distinguish the former from the latter? What is wrong with providing tools to users for filtering unwanted content (by their own definition)?
- sir_bearington 6y ago
  What's the problem of helping people insulate themselves into an echo-chamber? Increased polarization, diminished empathy for people with different values, greater social-sorting, lower trust in institutions, and plenty of other problems.
  - lovemenot 6y ago
    Yeah, I do get that. Personally, I wouldn't use Block Party nor Social Media in general, for all the reasons that you outline. I don't want those things. Nevertheless, I see no major problem in providing tools to people who have a different set of priorities to myself. Particularly if they purport to solve other social problems, such as harassment. As in all things, there's a trade-off. For me, the social benefit of a functional Block Party outweighs the risks. I take at face-value the founder's claimed issues with abusive content and assume that many others deal with similar. It is a shame that those doing the abuse had insufficient empathy, but that ship has already sailed. At the end of the day, I don't believe you can win this one. Even if your concerns were overwhelming - which I think they are not. Simply, you cannot force people to read content they'd prefer not to. If this abuse is a genuine issue, someone will inevitably provide those tools. Either Block Party or another provider.

lovemenot 6y ago

Regardless of current implementation, I still don't understand the problem in principle. Why does Block Party need to distinguish the former from the latter? What is wrong with providing tools to users for filtering unwanted content (by their own definition)?

sir_bearington 6y ago
What's the problem of helping people insulate themselves into an echo-chamber? Increased polarization, diminished empathy for people with different values, greater social-sorting, lower trust in institutions, and plenty of other problems.
- lovemenot 6y ago
  Yeah, I do get that. Personally, I wouldn't use Block Party nor Social Media in general, for all the reasons that you outline. I don't want those things. Nevertheless, I see no major problem in providing tools to people who have a different set of priorities to myself. Particularly if they purport to solve other social problems, such as harassment. As in all things, there's a trade-off. For me, the social benefit of a functional Block Party outweighs the risks. I take at face-value the founder's claimed issues with abusive content and assume that many others deal with similar. It is a shame that those doing the abuse had insufficient empathy, but that ship has already sailed. At the end of the day, I don't believe you can win this one. Even if your concerns were overwhelming - which I think they are not. Simply, you cannot force people to read content they'd prefer not to. If this abuse is a genuine issue, someone will inevitably provide those tools. Either Block Party or another provider.