16 votes

Reddit announces update to user blocking: Blocked users will no longer be able to see or interact with your content on the platform

Posted by shiruken
Tags: social media, reddit, moderation, features
https://www.reddit.com/r/blog/comments/s71g03/announcing_blocking_updates/

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Title
Announcing Blocking Updates
Authors
enthusiastic-potato
Word count
419 words

7 comments

  1. [2]
    nukeman
    Link
    I found this interesting “follow-up” of sorts on r/TheoryOfReddit. The TL;DR is copied below:

    I found this interesting “follow-up” of sorts on r/TheoryOfReddit. The TL;DR is copied below:

    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.

    25 votes
    1. balooga
      Link Parent
      This is kind of a bombshell and deserves a post of its own. This has the potential to go very poorly for Reddit.

      This is kind of a bombshell and deserves a post of its own. This has the potential to go very poorly for Reddit.

      10 votes
  2. Wes
    Link
    They announced it last month, but it's being implemented now. Good change in my opinion. I never used block because it meant somebody could screw with me without my knowing. I may start using the...

    They announced it last month, but it's being implemented now.

    Good change in my opinion. I never used block because it meant somebody could screw with me without my knowing. I may start using the feature now.

    8 votes
  3. [4]
    JXM
    Link
    While this is good, it's trivially easy to make a new account on Reddit so I don't know how useful it will be against the types of people you'd really want to block.

    While this is good, it's trivially easy to make a new account on Reddit so I don't know how useful it will be against the types of people you'd really want to block.

    3 votes
    1. [2]
      Wes
      Link Parent
      It's true that a dedicated attacker will always find workarounds, but making a new account has its flaws. Many subreddits put age or karma limits in place, so that throwaway troll account won't...

      It's true that a dedicated attacker will always find workarounds, but making a new account has its flaws. Many subreddits put age or karma limits in place, so that throwaway troll account won't even show up in a lot of communities. And if someone instead PMs, it's much more likely to be seen as ban evasion or harassment from the admins.

      7 votes
      1. lou
        Link Parent
        And most attackers are just not that dedicated.

        It's true that a dedicated attacker will always find workarounds...

        And most attackers are just not that dedicated.

        7 votes
    2. Apos
      Link Parent
      So far I only blocked bots or power users. Reddit becomes a lot better without the serial karma farmers. Pretty lucky that I didn't run into real harassers yet.

      So far I only blocked bots or power users. Reddit becomes a lot better without the serial karma farmers. Pretty lucky that I didn't run into real harassers yet.

      2 votes