Comment on TIL blocking users on Lemmy is nothing but a placebo
AwesomeLowlander@sh.itjust.works 2 weeks ago
I’m not sure how or why it hasn’t been mentioned yet, but one reason blocking is the way it is, is because in a public forum like this, blocking somebody else from seeing your content is extremely open to abuse, while providing no real benefit from a protection perspective. As accounts are essentially free and unlimited, any malicious user can logout or spin up a new account to bypass your block.
On the abuse issue, it was previously shown with some testing on Reddit that by posting something offensive and controversial, then blocking everybody who responded in a negative manner, you could within 3 - 5 rounds of blocking reach the point where you could post practically anything and have it seen like a popular opinion, since everybody who disagreed with you and was willing to call out your bullshit couldn’t see it any more. Hence technical reasons aside, there are very good systemic reasons the blocking mechanism works the way it does.
sit@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 weeks ago
This made me realize a similar effect works on whole communities. People block a community, that makes the content of said community seem more popular than it is.
AwesomeLowlander@sh.itjust.works 2 weeks ago
Yeah, it’s one of the factors causing echo chambers to form online.