Reddit Launches New Block Tools To Help Temper Harassment (mashable.com)

An anonymous reader writes: Reddit users can now use the new "block user" feature to better deal with harassment. The new feature was announced Wednesday and while the site has had [a "block user"] feature for quite some time now, the new tool allows users to block other users from replies and comments in addition to private messages, which was what the old tool was limited to previously. If users click the "Block User" button when viewing a reply in their inbox, it will remove replies, comments, messages and posts from that user from your view. Admins will however still see all the messages and replies, and if you're a moderator, you can still see content from users who are blocked on the subreddits you moderate.

Comments

Typical Response from Mental Midgets

[clonehappy]

"Lalala, I can't hear you, lalalalalala, I can't hear you!"

People who can't defend their positions usually try to shut you up, and when that doesn't work they stick their fingers in their ears. You know, like a 5-year old would do.

Re:Typical Response from Mental Midgets

[gizmo2199]

"it was that the fastest to digest and most pedestrian content would be promoted to the front page the fastest whereas any technically involved content will taper off into obscurity."

Also the fact that you can't sort by lowest rated comment, and are artificially restricted to the first 500 comments (on top of the fact that when you 'load more' it only loads like the next 20, so you can't even navigate to the downvoted comments quickly) adds to that hive mentality. It makes seeing dissenting or unpopular comments next to impossible, by design.

Re:Typical Response from Mental Midgets

[Grishnakh]

Although there is a facsimile of technical sub-reddits, most of that site is just mindless garbage so there really isn't a position to defend with any real facts.

Oh please, that's a bunch of crap. There's over a quarter-million subreddits last I heard, and most of *every* site is just mindless garbage, this site included. But with that many subreddits, it's easy to find interesting conversation, and about specialized topics. There's a subreddit about my car, for instance, if I just want to chat with people about that; a lot of posts are fairly useless, but there's some real gems here and there. It's just like anyplace else: "95% of everything is crap." (Sturgeon's Law)

People on that site don't want to "discuss" anything, they want a place where they can go to feel popular or accepted, regardless of any actual social ability.

Oh, BS. You're looking in the wrong place. Maybe you were browsing /r/HillaryClinton. Yeah, if you say anything negative about her on there, you'll be banned immediately. Go someplace else like /r/politics and you'll see all kinds of debate (and frequently not friendly...).

Every subreddit is different. They have different mods, different topics, different rules. Some are complete drivel (like Hillary's fan club subreddit), some are full of nasty arguing (/r/politics, but that's understandable given the topic and what's at stake), some are just places where people post pictures of stuff, some are really silly (like /r/PhotoshopBattles) but fun if you're into that kind of thing.

Re:Typical Response from Mental Midgets

[Jason Levine]

It's possible to hold dissenting opinions and to discuss any topic without being offensive. It's possible to have a conversation that remains civil, regardless of the positions held. I know this is true, I do it nearly every single day. In fact, you might say that my current post is contrarian. I have held meaningful, civil, discussions - even debates, with all sorts of people. Some of those people were the least favored folks on the planet. Some of them have held beliefs that are truly ignorant but the conversations remained civil throughout.

Exactly. The block feature wouldn't be for "I disagree with you and here are my reasons why." It would be for "you're an idiot if you believe X and just to reinforce this I'll track down every post of yours and make and insulting reply." There's a small, but vocal, group in pretty much any forum who thinks that the way to win an argument is to make threats and insults until the other side is driven out of the forum. Then they win. The best tactic against these people is to ignore them. This tool simply makes ignoring them easier.

Good

[110010001000]

Good. Maybe this will limit the microaggressive behavior some cisgender white males and help keep Reddit a safe place so everyone else can express their more valid opinions. They also need to add a hugcircle feature.

Re:Good

[110010001000]

Also, some of you may say that my previous comment wasn't even a proper sentence. Just remember: everything is relative and there is no "right" or "wrong". So stop your microaggresive thoughts right there Mister!

Re:Good

[AmiMoJo]

You know, you can use the Slashdot friend/foe system to do something similar. Just mark someone as your foe, set foes to -6 here and you won't even see them unless you browse at -1.

It's a pretty basic feature for discussion forums. Personally I don't use it though. Imagine if someone doxed you but you had them on the ignore list, you wouldn't even know it happened. I'd prefer to know so I can do something about it.

Re:Good

[BarbaraHudson]

And they never notice how labeling something as a micro-aggression is itself a micro-aggression. As are "safe spaces" (saying that whole classes of people can't be trusted with other classes of people) and "trigger warnings" (about as useless as writing ***SPOILER ALERT***, it just makes people more curious).

Political correctness needs to die.

Re:A more efficient solution?

[Anonymous Coward]

I think a "Block Anyone Who Disagrees With Me" button would be a lot simpler.

Re:Slashdot needs this

[Flavianoep]

Yeah, I hate apps. My next phone will run Windows, as now it can play Ogg Vorbis files.