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I've found in some communities the most caustic, snappy, and prolific commentors will block you the moment you disagree with them. The result is that everyone w
by Seattle3503 2y ago
I've found in some communities the most caustic, snappy, and prolific commentors will block you the moment you disagree with them. The result is that everyone who disagrees with them is eventually blocked, and their snappy comments sit at the top of threads, uncontested.
- bugtodiffer 2y agoyeah on their screen? How can blocking influence the ranking?
- ragazzina 2y agoI guess all the people that could disagree and downvote just do not see the comment.
- chii 2y agoi think there should be an option, where you automatically downvote a blocked user's post/comment, even without seeing it. If that user doesn't have many people blocking them, then this will barely affect the votes. If they have tonnes of blockers, then would indicate that they probably deserved it, and the downvotes would make sense anyway. It would prevent echo chambers from forming.
- Mashimo 2y agoOn small sub-reddits even something like -5 votes will have a huge impact. If you are on a bigger forum, block a few because you just don't want to see their posts. Or they are bots. Suddenly you have huge problems on small subreddits. And I don't see a huge benefit to it. People clean up their block list maybe? But for what.
- chii 2y ago> -5 votes will have a huge impact. if the sub is small, then 5 blockers might be significant. I suppose the arguments regarding the bot accounts are valid, as it allows for manipulation. Presumably reddit should be blocking bots, but of course that's wishful thinking.
- 6r17 2y agoHow would that fix the problem ? Echo-Chambers such as Reddit exist because there is a single opinion coming out of it. It's a pool of people aligning with themselves and frying out anybody that is not following their opinion. This would also create a tool to cast target people to oblivion. The real question is to ask what is the real problem. I understand that an online places can be gritty because of incivilities, but a dogme is much more scarier to me than an online idiot.
- Seattle3503 2y agoAlone, it doesn't grant upvotes. What blocking does is silence anyone who would make a counterpoint. Sometimes a thoughtful response can clip the wings of a snappy but shallow comment. Blocking opposition prevents the interference of thoughtful comments.
- chii 2y agoand this is when you leave that echo chamber, and hope for greener pastures elsewhere.
- starspangled 2y agoOn reddit, people use it to pretend to "win" arguments by appearing to get the last word (post a reply then immediately block).
- franciscop 2y agoI've def seen that in Twitter as well
- beaglesss 2y agoIt's the same on HN. If you say something controversial with a conclusion people dislike but debatable it will be disproven then downvoted. If the undesirable comment can be greyed out or the writer discredited they'll allow the comment to stand, smugly declaring a public victory. However if it can't be disproven and you actually convince some people, it will be flagged. And maybe even some people stalk your account and bait you into getting frustrated and then getting your account nuked. This is why 4chan etc are more intellectually honest imo as you can't nearly as easily censor or rule ban someone who makes a vile but persuasive argument.
- AlexeyBelov 2y agoSo you don't see any problem in yourself? Only in other people?
- Sammi 2y agoOooooooooooohhh. This is how they do that. This is absolutely rampant on Reddit and Twitter. So many argumentative and divisive people who seem to get the last word all the time. Now I know what I'm looking at. They just answer and block. Makes me think even less of them.
- Ferret7446 2y agoMaybe it's just me, but I imagine most normal people stop replying if you get an aggressive/stupid comment, no blocking needed.