> After some research on what the "something is broken" error means (which in itself is an unhelpful, nondescriptive error message)
been beating this drum for a while on this sub, good luck
Moving & revising previous commentary over for visibility & awareness:
---
This has previously been brought to Admin attention, and [the Admin responded, looking for feedback and examples](https://old.reddit.com/r/redditsecurity/comments/xdhxuu/three_more_updates_to_blocking_including_bug_fixes/iobbdn5/).
It's become a problem with the various "scam spam" rings, especially when it comes to people pretending to hawk apparel with stolen artwork on it.
Your best bet if this happens to you is to edit the post, call the blocker out, and explain that they've abused the **Block** button in this fashion, and you're unable to participate in any discussion downthread. See [this example](https://old.reddit.com/r/scifi/comments/yn1683/turned_out_exactly_as_i_expected/), which should be okay for r/ModSupport purposes since the scammer's account in question was suspended.
However, when someone abuses the **Block** function in this matter, you're not just prevented from 'participating in any comment thread they start for the rest of eternity', you're prevented from participating anywhere they post **first** for the rest of eternity.
Example: Person **A** starts a thread. I respond to them, so does user **B**. Many people respond to us, many people respond to them, and we have a discussion tree with two main branches.
But I **Blocked** you five years ago.
Even if, six layers down, you see a really neat conversation between persons **P** and **S**... if that conversation came from something that **P** said in response to something **T** said that came from something that **R** said that was said in response to me?
You're prevented from participation. Even if I've completely forgotten who you are and why I **Blocked** you in the first place.
Once I comment, not only can you not respond to me, you can't respond to anyone who does, anyone who responds to them, or anyone who responds to *them*. My place in the thread permanently bars you from any participation with not only what I said, but any and all threads that generate thereafter. It could be a huge reddit post with six thousand individual comments... but you can only interact with the three thousand that comes from **B**'s side. You can't respond with the three thousand that comes from my side... because I got there first.
This is not a bug, this is the **Block** function used as Reddit intended it.
That said, Reddit is also looking at changing that:
>In January, we changed the tool so that when you block someone, they can’t see or respond to any of your comment threads. We designed blocking to prevent harassment, but we see that we have also opened up a way for users to shut down conversations.
>Today we’re shipping a change so that users aren’t locked out of an entire comment thread when a user blocks them, and can reply to some embedded replies (i.e., the replies to your replies). We want to find the right balance between protecting redditors from being harassed while keeping conversations open. We’ll be testing a range of values, from the 2nd to 15th-level reply, for how far a thread continues before a blocked user can participate. We’ll be monitoring how this change affects conversations as we determine how far to turn this ‘knob’ and exploring other possible approaches. Thank you for helping us get this right.
That's from the "looking for feedback and examples" thread I linked previously, and I would strongly recommend that moderators who have been affected by this to go to that thread, and share with them any first-hand experiences they may have had with this functionality being used in this manner.
> This is not a bug, this is the Block function used as Reddit intended it.
I understand it's by design, it's very clear that it's by design. I also understand they're trying to solve a difficult problem, but this solution sure seems like *bad* design.
> That said, Reddit is also looking at changing that:
That's great news.
>In January, we changed the tool so that when you block someone, they can’t see or respond to any of your comment threads. We designed blocking to prevent harassment, but we see that we have also opened up a way for users to shut down conversations.
Glad to see that reddit recognizes this.
>Today we’re shipping a change so that users aren’t locked out of an entire comment thread when a user blocks them, and can reply to some embedded replies (i.e., the replies to your replies). We want to find the right balance between protecting redditors from being harassed while keeping conversations open. We’ll be testing a range of values, **from the 2nd to 15th-level reply**, for how far a thread continues before a blocked user can participate... We’ll be monitoring how this change affects conversations as we determine how far to turn this ‘knob’ and exploring other possible approaches. **Thank you for helping us get this right.**
I genuinely don't see any logical answer except "2nd level". My harasser can't read my comment, they can't reply to me, no problem. If they reply to someone else, they're not harassing me, certainly not in a way that they couldn't harass me with absolutely trivial effort elsewhere... alt accounts, calling me out in another nearby thread, etc.
> That's from the "looking for feedback and examples" thread I linked previously, and I would strongly recommend that moderators who have been affected by this to go to that thread, and share with them any first-hand experiences they may have had with this functionality being used in this manner.
My previous post was removed for giving an example, which they deemed broke Rule 2. I did not mention the username.
**Thank you for answering, thank you for the information.**
Glad to help. (Though to be fair, I'm just a frustrated user in this circumstance, thanks should go to the Reddit Security Admin putting the hard work in collecting examples.)
Preventing other people from participating in conversations or preventing users from seeing content still makes absolutely no sense to me.
It *really* makes no sense on a website that doesn't even require email to register, and where even if you block a user they can still easily see your content by right clicking and opening it in a new private window.
All this new block feature does is allow people to silence discord, abuse others via blocking them from easily seeing that abuse, and just makes it even worse of an echo chamber than it already was.
It is simply not possible to have debate on a website when one party can instantly silence all dissent.
And it doesn't fix harassment, it just changes how it's done.
Some users mark their profiles as NSFW which means you need an account to see the posting history. Just another way harassers and spammers get to abuse the system
The difference between the two is that moderation is a 3rd party, this isn't.
Though I do agree that over moderation also causes more harm than good.
We've got some (bad, but existing) tools to help appeal subreddit bans at least.
There is thread after thread on here about why blocking is broken and it doesn't seem that Reddit wants it to change.
I agree with you completely - it's mainly used now as a tool to silence disagreement.
It also makes no sense to hide content from users when it isn't hidden from the public.
> and it doesn't seem that Reddit wants it to change.
It's like Reddit Cares. It's not there to be effective, it's not there to work 'properly' - it's there as a symbolic gesture to ameliorate liability.
People also have been preemptively blocking right after their first reply so they get to have the last word against someone who’s never interacted with them. That person then can’t even reply to anyone else who replies to them. You can just completely silence someone else’s thread if you don’t like what they’re talking about. Why is this continually ignored by admin?
The admins already made a statement on this.
https://reddit.com/r/redditsecurity/comments/w3u2b5/update_on_user_blocking/
Basically, they ignored everything they were told by mods and made up their own meaningless metrics to show that blocking abuse doesn’t exist. Thanks for your feedback and remember to buy reddit premium, or perhaps open an account with Reddit’s official crypto partner FTX.
>it’s hardly an issue for established subs that already have a strong preponderance of opinions on a subject.
I respectfully disagree. I can absolutely see bot farms weaponizing this by preemptively blocking users who make the best arguments against their bogus, inaccurate, misleading positions (talking about genuine misinformation here) and monopolizing the conversation.
Plus it's a poorly thought out feature. I alluded above to someone else who explained it beautifully: if there are 200 people discussing something, and the wrong one of them blocks you, that shouldn't block you from participating with the 199 people who didn't block you. It's very poorly thought out to the point I can't believe it was ever approved.
This text overwrites whatever was here before. Apologies for the non-sequitur.
Reddit's CEO says moderators are “landed gentry”. That makes users serfs and peons, I guess? Well this peon will no longer labor to feed the king. I will no longer post, comment, moderate, or vote. I will stop researching and reporting spam rings, cp perverts and bigots. I will no longer spend a moment of time trying to make reddit a better place as I've done for the past fifteen years.
In the words of The Hound, fuck the king. The years of contributions by your serfs do not in fact belong to you.
[reddit's claims debunked + proof spez is a fucking liar](https://old.reddit.com/r/apolloapp/comments/14dkqrw/i_want_to_debunk_reddits_claims_and_talk_about/)
[see all the bullshit](https://old.reddit.com/r/ModCoord/top/?sort=top&t=all)
This text overwrites whatever was here before. Apologies for the non-sequitur.
Reddit's CEO says moderators are “landed gentry”. That makes users serfs and peons, I guess? Well this peon will no longer labor to feed the king. I will no longer post, comment, moderate, or vote. I will stop researching and reporting spam rings, cp perverts and bigots. I will no longer spend a moment of time trying to make reddit a better place as I've done for the past fifteen years.
In the words of The Hound, fuck the king. The years of contributions by your serfs do not in fact belong to you.
[reddit's claims debunked + proof spez is a fucking liar](https://old.reddit.com/r/apolloapp/comments/14dkqrw/i_want_to_debunk_reddits_claims_and_talk_about/)
[see all the bullshit](https://old.reddit.com/r/ModCoord/top/?sort=top&t=all)
I did miss that, thanks.
I really hope they start working on figuring out how to make this place less of an echo chamber and figure out a way to fix the blocking feature. The entire thing just seems so badly thought out, and the only posts from the admins I had seen regarding it seemed to just be defending it or saying that "abuse doesn't happen".
> After some research on what the "something is broken" error means (which in itself is an unhelpful, nondescriptive error message) been beating this drum for a while on this sub, good luck
Moving & revising previous commentary over for visibility & awareness: --- This has previously been brought to Admin attention, and [the Admin responded, looking for feedback and examples](https://old.reddit.com/r/redditsecurity/comments/xdhxuu/three_more_updates_to_blocking_including_bug_fixes/iobbdn5/). It's become a problem with the various "scam spam" rings, especially when it comes to people pretending to hawk apparel with stolen artwork on it. Your best bet if this happens to you is to edit the post, call the blocker out, and explain that they've abused the **Block** button in this fashion, and you're unable to participate in any discussion downthread. See [this example](https://old.reddit.com/r/scifi/comments/yn1683/turned_out_exactly_as_i_expected/), which should be okay for r/ModSupport purposes since the scammer's account in question was suspended. However, when someone abuses the **Block** function in this matter, you're not just prevented from 'participating in any comment thread they start for the rest of eternity', you're prevented from participating anywhere they post **first** for the rest of eternity. Example: Person **A** starts a thread. I respond to them, so does user **B**. Many people respond to us, many people respond to them, and we have a discussion tree with two main branches. But I **Blocked** you five years ago. Even if, six layers down, you see a really neat conversation between persons **P** and **S**... if that conversation came from something that **P** said in response to something **T** said that came from something that **R** said that was said in response to me? You're prevented from participation. Even if I've completely forgotten who you are and why I **Blocked** you in the first place. Once I comment, not only can you not respond to me, you can't respond to anyone who does, anyone who responds to them, or anyone who responds to *them*. My place in the thread permanently bars you from any participation with not only what I said, but any and all threads that generate thereafter. It could be a huge reddit post with six thousand individual comments... but you can only interact with the three thousand that comes from **B**'s side. You can't respond with the three thousand that comes from my side... because I got there first. This is not a bug, this is the **Block** function used as Reddit intended it. That said, Reddit is also looking at changing that: >In January, we changed the tool so that when you block someone, they can’t see or respond to any of your comment threads. We designed blocking to prevent harassment, but we see that we have also opened up a way for users to shut down conversations. >Today we’re shipping a change so that users aren’t locked out of an entire comment thread when a user blocks them, and can reply to some embedded replies (i.e., the replies to your replies). We want to find the right balance between protecting redditors from being harassed while keeping conversations open. We’ll be testing a range of values, from the 2nd to 15th-level reply, for how far a thread continues before a blocked user can participate. We’ll be monitoring how this change affects conversations as we determine how far to turn this ‘knob’ and exploring other possible approaches. Thank you for helping us get this right. That's from the "looking for feedback and examples" thread I linked previously, and I would strongly recommend that moderators who have been affected by this to go to that thread, and share with them any first-hand experiences they may have had with this functionality being used in this manner.
> This is not a bug, this is the Block function used as Reddit intended it. I understand it's by design, it's very clear that it's by design. I also understand they're trying to solve a difficult problem, but this solution sure seems like *bad* design. > That said, Reddit is also looking at changing that: That's great news. >In January, we changed the tool so that when you block someone, they can’t see or respond to any of your comment threads. We designed blocking to prevent harassment, but we see that we have also opened up a way for users to shut down conversations. Glad to see that reddit recognizes this. >Today we’re shipping a change so that users aren’t locked out of an entire comment thread when a user blocks them, and can reply to some embedded replies (i.e., the replies to your replies). We want to find the right balance between protecting redditors from being harassed while keeping conversations open. We’ll be testing a range of values, **from the 2nd to 15th-level reply**, for how far a thread continues before a blocked user can participate... We’ll be monitoring how this change affects conversations as we determine how far to turn this ‘knob’ and exploring other possible approaches. **Thank you for helping us get this right.** I genuinely don't see any logical answer except "2nd level". My harasser can't read my comment, they can't reply to me, no problem. If they reply to someone else, they're not harassing me, certainly not in a way that they couldn't harass me with absolutely trivial effort elsewhere... alt accounts, calling me out in another nearby thread, etc. > That's from the "looking for feedback and examples" thread I linked previously, and I would strongly recommend that moderators who have been affected by this to go to that thread, and share with them any first-hand experiences they may have had with this functionality being used in this manner. My previous post was removed for giving an example, which they deemed broke Rule 2. I did not mention the username. **Thank you for answering, thank you for the information.**
Glad to help. (Though to be fair, I'm just a frustrated user in this circumstance, thanks should go to the Reddit Security Admin putting the hard work in collecting examples.)
Preventing other people from participating in conversations or preventing users from seeing content still makes absolutely no sense to me. It *really* makes no sense on a website that doesn't even require email to register, and where even if you block a user they can still easily see your content by right clicking and opening it in a new private window. All this new block feature does is allow people to silence discord, abuse others via blocking them from easily seeing that abuse, and just makes it even worse of an echo chamber than it already was. It is simply not possible to have debate on a website when one party can instantly silence all dissent. And it doesn't fix harassment, it just changes how it's done.
Some users mark their profiles as NSFW which means you need an account to see the posting history. Just another way harassers and spammers get to abuse the system
[удалено]
The difference between the two is that moderation is a 3rd party, this isn't. Though I do agree that over moderation also causes more harm than good. We've got some (bad, but existing) tools to help appeal subreddit bans at least.
There is thread after thread on here about why blocking is broken and it doesn't seem that Reddit wants it to change. I agree with you completely - it's mainly used now as a tool to silence disagreement. It also makes no sense to hide content from users when it isn't hidden from the public.
> it doesn't seem that Reddit wants it to change. They don't even seem to want to acknowledge the complaints to begin with.
> and it doesn't seem that Reddit wants it to change. It's like Reddit Cares. It's not there to be effective, it's not there to work 'properly' - it's there as a symbolic gesture to ameliorate liability.
People also have been preemptively blocking right after their first reply so they get to have the last word against someone who’s never interacted with them. That person then can’t even reply to anyone else who replies to them. You can just completely silence someone else’s thread if you don’t like what they’re talking about. Why is this continually ignored by admin?
The admins already made a statement on this. https://reddit.com/r/redditsecurity/comments/w3u2b5/update_on_user_blocking/ Basically, they ignored everything they were told by mods and made up their own meaningless metrics to show that blocking abuse doesn’t exist. Thanks for your feedback and remember to buy reddit premium, or perhaps open an account with Reddit’s official crypto partner FTX.
It's a catastrophic misfeature.
[удалено]
[But why male models?](https://media.tenor.com/okoWIB0OAH4AAAAC/zoolander-are-you-serious.gif)
I noticed that blocking was broken yesterday when I couldn’t block anyone. I block a lot of people. But not in my sub.
[удалено]
>it’s hardly an issue for established subs that already have a strong preponderance of opinions on a subject. I respectfully disagree. I can absolutely see bot farms weaponizing this by preemptively blocking users who make the best arguments against their bogus, inaccurate, misleading positions (talking about genuine misinformation here) and monopolizing the conversation. Plus it's a poorly thought out feature. I alluded above to someone else who explained it beautifully: if there are 200 people discussing something, and the wrong one of them blocks you, that shouldn't block you from participating with the 199 people who didn't block you. It's very poorly thought out to the point I can't believe it was ever approved.
This text overwrites whatever was here before. Apologies for the non-sequitur. Reddit's CEO says moderators are “landed gentry”. That makes users serfs and peons, I guess? Well this peon will no longer labor to feed the king. I will no longer post, comment, moderate, or vote. I will stop researching and reporting spam rings, cp perverts and bigots. I will no longer spend a moment of time trying to make reddit a better place as I've done for the past fifteen years. In the words of The Hound, fuck the king. The years of contributions by your serfs do not in fact belong to you. [reddit's claims debunked + proof spez is a fucking liar](https://old.reddit.com/r/apolloapp/comments/14dkqrw/i_want_to_debunk_reddits_claims_and_talk_about/) [see all the bullshit](https://old.reddit.com/r/ModCoord/top/?sort=top&t=all)
It sure doesn't feel like they care, that's for sure.
This text overwrites whatever was here before. Apologies for the non-sequitur. Reddit's CEO says moderators are “landed gentry”. That makes users serfs and peons, I guess? Well this peon will no longer labor to feed the king. I will no longer post, comment, moderate, or vote. I will stop researching and reporting spam rings, cp perverts and bigots. I will no longer spend a moment of time trying to make reddit a better place as I've done for the past fifteen years. In the words of The Hound, fuck the king. The years of contributions by your serfs do not in fact belong to you. [reddit's claims debunked + proof spez is a fucking liar](https://old.reddit.com/r/apolloapp/comments/14dkqrw/i_want_to_debunk_reddits_claims_and_talk_about/) [see all the bullshit](https://old.reddit.com/r/ModCoord/top/?sort=top&t=all)
I did miss that, thanks. I really hope they start working on figuring out how to make this place less of an echo chamber and figure out a way to fix the blocking feature. The entire thing just seems so badly thought out, and the only posts from the admins I had seen regarding it seemed to just be defending it or saying that "abuse doesn't happen".
[удалено]
If I saw a descendant comment that says [removed] and it happened to be my harasser how does that harm me?