piefed.eeToday's sage advice
submitted by
Gabe Bellhttps://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/3b610988-e35a-48b9-9b83-33be9a1e0c92.png
https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/3b610988-e35a-48b9-9b83-33be9a1e0c92.png
Blocking is the key to not being miserable on social media. Its okay to just be here for the memes.
I dont block for disagreement, but rather how they act
This is the key point, blocking is a tool for curating the experience you get. If you block for disagreement you get an echo chamber, if you block based on behavior you get peace.
Excellent insight, friend :)
True. Since I started using piefed I’ve been negatively curating my all feed by just blocking everything that is the least bit annoying or not entertaining. It’s much better.
You don’t owe internet people the ability to spam your feed or subject you to their moronic takes.
Also, like, in general, your interactions with these people mean literally nothing. Wasting time replying to them or trying to one up them or dunk on them does nothing but drag you into the miasma of their meaningless bickering.
I’m a fan of the “downvote and move on” tactic, but it seems to be pretty common sentiment among lemmy mods that this is the opposite of what you should do.
This is something I need to remind myself of every now and then 😌
First off, punch fascists, don’t ignore them.
But a not insignificant part of why we are where we are right now is because of information bubbles that are created with social media, compounded by behaviour instead of talking it over in real life, people rage at each other on the internet.
I do not need to accept that behavior.
if you don’t like me, please block me.
Are you a fool, a bore or a drama starter?
There are plenty of people I don’t like on the web, but who I can talk to in a calm, rational way because while they aren’t nice people, they are relatively rational people. They are people you can have reasonable discussions with, even if you entirely disagree with them.
But there are also plenty of people on the web who I’ve found I just can’t talk to because they are not rational. They just…… okay, imagine I am waving my hands in a slightly aggravated manner and going “urgh!” because that’s really the only way I can describe trying to interact with them.
The OP (not me - the OP from the post) isn’t suggesting you block everyone you encounter. Just those who will not be good for your mental wellbeing.
And I have to say - having encountered quite a lot of people who were not good for my mental wellbeing, I find it hard to disagree with them :)
i have experience and perspective and opinions. when i see people i agree with, i’m less inclined to comment. if i feel i can correct someone or point out a flawed premise, i’m highly inclined to do so. most people don’t like having their unspoken beliefs questioned, and that has led, often, to being called a troll or similar.
am i a fool, bore, or drama starter? i suppose that is up to the people i encounter.
my comment wasn’t to you but it was for you, and anyone else. most of my comments have no expectation that anyone will respond, i’m just pointing out, as i said, incorrect or flawed statements.
When someone tells who they are listen.
That comment without elaboration is a long line troll. You took the bait.
thanks for the reminder! <3
bye
The Internet would be a better place if we all stopped feeding the trolls with our attention which is now money. Ignore and move on
I agree with many people ITT that overuse of blocks could create echochambers, however I still think that blocks are an underused feature of social media. These days much online content is not designed for discourse, it is designed for engagement. Rage bait, over sensualisation, even trolls farming frustration for their hit of endorphins. These are the kinds of people (and content outlets in general) which should be blocked.
But to be clear, not everyone who disagrees with you is a troll, or trying to rage bait.
It’s called curating your community/feed.
By doing this, you get to shape it based on what you want, if you created an echo chamber, it’s because you WANTED an echo chamber.
This is a lesson i learnt on Dota. The game has far to many toxic players, or people giving up way too easily. I just started muting anyone the second they give the slightest hint of insulting a teammate. The vibes are so much better now.
There’s a big difference between a game and the open and free exchange of ideas on social media. If someone is actively harassing you, sure, but if you just keep muting anyone you don’t like or that disagrees with you, then you are definitely part of the problem and might as well just shut the curtains and lock yourself in your apartment and never speak to anyone ever again.
Sushi is not giving people they consider to be toxic the time of day and it improved their life.
You response it to take it out of context and tell them to lock themselves away.
When you are accusing someone of being “the problem” is your face being reflected back to you in the screen.
There is a bit of a difference between shutting out every other opinion on everything and taking some perhaps extreme steps to avoid having to deal with annoying people in a game famous for having a lot of annoying people.
My god did Dota earn its reputation. For a game where matches last 45 mins average, its insane how often people claim its over at 10 mins, even when we’re not losing, just because they had a bad game.
Less so anyone that agrees with me, more once someone starts blaming teammates for a loss that hasn’t happened yet, or really says anything that is exclusively an insult to a teammate. I found once people throw their first insult they almost never recover, its bad for morale and makes the game less fun.
Though yeah, doing it in-game is a bit different than social media. Though its the same idea.
One of my favorite podcasters (C. Derek Varn) finished his podcasts reminding his listeners to “Protect Your Peace”. There are several ways of doing this. This post is one way. Minneapolis is doing it a different way.
Or at the very least don’t engage. I understand the temptation, and I sometimes can’t resist, but generally it’s not worth it.
I don’t really block much or at all. I’d rather see what they’re saying, but I have been online a long time as well, and have a thicker skin. If you are affected by online users to a detrimental degree there’s no shame in walking away, ignoring, or blocking.
Look out for yourself.
I only block when I know I am unable to resist the temptation to engage. And usually when I do finally block, I wish I’d done it much sooner.
I’ll generally argue with someone I disagree with online, and see if they’ll listen to reason. Maybe they’ll change their mind, or present new information or a perspective I haven’t considered and I’ll gain understanding and change my mind.
I only block people who are incapable of arguing in good faith.
After all, what’s the point of civic discourse if we’re all only talking to people we agree with? It’s just preaching to the choir, and creates epistemic bubbles.
I agree, but sometimes it becomes a matter of picking your battles.
That’s why I block people who demonstrate that they’re either incapable or unwilling to have a good faith discussion.
Of course it raises my blood pressure a bit in the meantime while I convince myself they’re not worth my time. Sometimes I’ll keep arguing until it reaches a dead end or goes in endless circles, just for the sake of anyone reading the comments. Not everyone has to go that far, of course. It’s quite annoying and gives me apoplexy at times.
How often do you think you reach such a point?
So far I’ve blocked six users and I only made my account 25 days ago. Unless there’s an infinite number of trolls like there is on reddit, the block rate should start leveling off once most of them are blocked.
If they’re just an asshole I just tag them with flair, so I can still see if they’re giving someone a hard time and I can come to the person’s defence.
I also block any .ml communities that pop up in my feed, so that probably cuts down on my encounters with tankies. I instance blocked lemmy.ml but that doesn’t stop them from showing up for some reason.
me tolerating the most negative person I’ve met in an online gaming group because they’re friends with someone (and idek how)
yeah I needed to hear that
My user block list on Lemmy is much smaller, and grows at a slower rate, than my list on Reddit.
However, my community block list is growing fast here. Mostly, it’s foreign language comms I can’t read, though. That, and sportsball, cars, drugs, and games I’ll never play.
My block list gains new politics related communities every day
I havent blocked anyone yet, but i have started using the tag feature for “probable prick”. Mostly for people who’ve took 3 or 4 logical leaps to attack me instead of my point. Maybe its just something theyre super passionate about, maybe I didnt make the point well enough and gave the wrong impression.
If I see a “probable prick” going hard at someone for no good reason they’ll be blocked.
how does that work? That an idea I’d like to try.
Im using voyager, it might be different or unavailable in others, but click the user’s name to go to their post history bit, then theres 3 dots at the top-right and you can edit their tag there.
It just comes up with a little bit of text by their name with the tag you put. My first test with this was to put “ball fondler” on a random guy, and now I see him everywhere here.
I’ve blocked a lot of communities out of annoyance. Someone will have an idea for a community, create it, and instantly add around 20 posts.
One or two a day would have been fine, but when my entire page is from one community? Nope.
All you need to do on reddit is block five or so power users and bam 99.999% of annoying fuckshit is gone.
If I like trolling the trolls does that make me part of the problem or part of the solution?
Perhaps both. Does that balance it out?
Your time on this planet is limited. Don’t pass it around on people like mentioned here, ads, big tech-time sinks, influencers (and their inevitable accompanying drama). It is your time, not theirs, not even god’s.
Just fucking don’t.
I try and block all kinds of stuff. The ideal is that if I would be down-voting many things in a community I should just leave them in peace.
Yeah, as I’ve gotten older I no longer harbor right wing politics or talking points. Police apologia? Blocked. Pro capitalist talking points? Go jump in the orphan grinder 5000. Billionaires are smarter, better people? To the salt mines. If you’re still arguing against progressive policies and ideals you’re not of use arguing, you’ve already chosen to disregard any evidence to the contrary.
Amen. Wise words.
Excellent advice.
And it’s often a service for the person you’re blocking too: you’re saving them from having to see your opinions, which might infuriate them pointlessly.
This is putting your fingers in your ears and hoping they go away. That doesn’t work with these fucks.
If someone walks up to you on the street and stabs you, do you engage them in reasonable conversation or do you run away/have them arrested?
This is the internet version of that - there are some people you talk to, and some people you walk away from.
I think most reasonable people would fight back. But I guess that requires some amount of spine that certain people cannot muster.
Did you ever watch Back to The Future? Because I think you could learn a lot from Part III and the “he’s an arsehole” scene at the end. And from the scene with Needles and the rolls-royce.
Real life isn’t a movie.
It’s not? Oh wow. I guess when someone told me I couldn’t simply walk into Mordor so I booked a plane ticket instead, they were not just using an analogy………. wow I feel so dumb.
You’re right, but the opposite extreme has been in effect as well where people on this site (and reddit, what’s left of twitter, etc) take the most niche twitter take or some random ass “Influencer” with a couple thou followers and absolutely blow them up by taking screenshots of their garbage and plastering it everywhere for rage based internet points.
I guess what I’m saying is pick your battles
Thank you, I am so glad I’m not alone thinking this- I can’t help but notice that the people who are most vocal about this blocking/canceling/censoring bullshit are the most obnoxious, self serving, narcissistic, loud mouthed, opinionated fucks of them all. It plays straight into the fascists hands to exclude others from discourse, it literally is what breeds inter-group conflict and stifles constructive dialogue and thought.
Sometimes I engage them for my own entertainment.
I prefer to let them know that I laugh at their pathetic understanding of the world … and then block before getting an equally stupid response. Not only will it notify the 0.5% of the fools who are not either trolls or too stupid to understand things the chance to figure out their world view is wrong, but venting is important to maintain one’s mental health.
This exactly. If they were blind enough to think this stuff in the first place, no amount of debate is going to fix their TBI. Its about ridiculing their positions, socially shaming them, and revealing that they do not have a platform, and all of this is for the benefit of third party observers. I never argue with the fools, i argue for the lurkers of which there are many.
I’m conflicted on this because if you block enough of people opposed to you, you end up lacking any insight into what they are actually doing.
My own personal mental health has taken a hit because I feel a need to bear witness. And its all… a lot
She’s not talking about people with opposing views, she’s talking about drama queens, trolls, and all the other louts.
She’s right.
While i can understand the temptation of creating a bubble where every opinion is aligned with my own and everyone is entertaining, i think it’s a mistake. Ofc, if it’s just a troll, by all means go ahead and block them.
But “bores” are often enough knowledgeable people in some areas, and drama-starters sometimes give an impulse where real discussion can take place. Also, authoritarians of all colors need to be called out, so that the probability of their propaganda taking root is reduced as much as possible.
I have 334 users on my block list.
335 now.
If i may ask, on the small possibility you might see this, what triggered you to do this? I understand that you might disagree, but did i do something wrong?
You’re welcome to add me to the list too, since your threshold seems to be very low - they posted perfectly respectful comment, was it just because you disagreed with them?
couple things.
I have no problems with anarchists, just specifically groups of anarchists. kind of negates the whole “anarchist” thing.
if everyone ignored them, then their influence would stop. There’s no reason to interact with either.
ultimately their ideas only feed the people they are arguing against. this leads me to believe this person is either a troll or a fool. considering they’re a member of an anarchist group I assumed they’re a troll and not an anarchist.
Since our Greenknight doesn’t see it:
I’m on anarchist.nexus because i don’t want to use lemmy and it’s the piefed-sister of dbzer0.com - reason for this is that the Lemmy devs are hardcore tankies. I for myself am more of an socialist.
And I definitely said to block trolls; bores are not worth blocking because if i find a comment boring, that’s hurting noone. drama-queens are often catalysts for good discussions like i said, doesn’t mean i have to reply to them - i’d rather stay informed.
authoritarianism like nazi and tankie propaganda on the other side is like a festering wound and needs to be countered. If you don’t, you get what the USA is currently going through.
This is dumb as shit and sticking your head in the sand and creating an echo chamber because you can’t deal with people having differing opinions from yours. I hate this shit, if its going to stay an open forum for the exchange of ideas we need to hear from everyone, including the dumbfucks and the trolls, else we risk creating these little bubbles where we are never challenged and get extremely susceptible to group think, manipulation, and extremism- exactly the things that breed the idiots you can’t tolerate.
Grow a fucking spine instead of fasttracking the Internet into fucking Black Mirror episode.
The post doesn’t claim you should block people that disagree with you, but insufferable people that bring the conversation down with insult and rage baits.
Like you are doing right now.
Well the post states you should block “fools” and a lot of people will consider people who disagree with them to be fools, which will create the echo chamber
Perhaps people who think that are the fools, and they’re doing the block-ee a favour.
Yeah if the discussion is going to end with “fuck you you’re wrong [this user has blocked you]” its better all around to get to that point as soon as possible.
I think these two things are not mutually exclusive.
There are people who should not (but unfortunately do) engage with harmful ideas online.
The best case scenario is these people shout into the void, and nobody takes them seriously.
More often than not, these people lack the epistemology to engage in civil disagreement.
The worst case scenario is these people vindicate the bigots through weak arguments, meltdowns, and fallacies, which get screenshot / clipped / shared to other bigots.
This isn’t an argument for suggesting people should shut up; I would like for people to be better trained in critical thinking. That’s not always possible though, and some people need to step off the highway.
Thanks for saying this!
There are extremely mentally unstable people all over the internet, here included. I don’t care to include their sentiments because it never goes well. So; you keep doing what you’re doing- but it doesn’t deserve this much ire. It’s not about creating an echo chamber. If I blocked more people maybe I would come on here more often.
This is a good way to create echo-chambers. But hey it is good advice when used with nuance.
“ackshually you have to listen to the miserable fuckwads or you’re in an echo chamber"
well good thing this post just provided some great advice
Actually you DO NEED to engage in a few bouts to assess how miserable they are to decide whether it’s worth it to continue a conversation.
Otherwise you’re just another wannabe despot (*like Trump*) who likes to listen to themselves & thinks the world revolves around them.
It’s difficult to check whether the person you’re arguing is doing it in bad faith or because they’re really engaging in discussion with you.
We all need this philosophy.
That’s just echo-chambering yourself. You might get some weird ideas about reality as a result.
My block list is formative, but what I love is that I can block ENTIRE INSTANCES. Holy shit, I don’t need pawb or blajah, or any of that .ml bullshit.
How do you block a whole instance? I have been blocking on a community by community basis.
If you are on the website, it’s in your settings down at the bottom. If you are using an app, it’s probably in there somewhere. I’m using Voyager and it has options to block whole instances.
I see that but I don’t see a way to change block instances. I just see what was already blocked.
Good list.
I wish there was a stronger form of instance blocking, one that would also block all the commenters from those instances.
Yeah, it would be awesome if you could essentially defederate yourself from certain instances.
Thanks!I see that it is under the user settings. I was looking at the instance link at the bottom of each page.
i dont get this approach at all. i mod some places and i see people block each other over misunderstandings all the time. very foolish and head in the sand sort of behavior imho.
This is way overkill. People can make a mistake. A simple typo can completely change the meaning of some text. Blocking someone forever because of an inadvertent typo, or the like, is just dumb on your part
there are many, many other people out there. you aren’t altering your life in any significant way by blocking one of them prematurely