I found that things became much more pleasant on here when I blocked hexbear. I recently blocked lemmy.ml as well, but I may reverse that if I find that I’m missing too much good content.

I’m open to other ideas on how to mostly avoid people who love conflict or argue in bad faith.

  • mlfh@lemmy.ml
    674·
    7 days ago

    I blocked hexbear and lemmygrad to stop the firehose of kremlin/beijing propaganda cluttering up my feed and that made my lemmy experience worlds better. There’s only so many times you can read “special military operation” used unironically…

  • snooggums@midwest.socialEnglish
    469·
    7 days ago

    Lemmy.ml and hexbear were the first two I blocked and have zero regrets.

    I blocked a few others because the content didn’t interest me and my preference is to browse on All instead of Subscribed so I can find content in communities I did not know existed. For example I blocked lemmynsfw because I didn’t want the content to come up while browing in public.

    I wish there was an additional option to block all users of an instance separate from the instance block that applies to communities.

    • Zirconium@lemmy.world
      12·
      7 days ago

      Not to kinkshame/judge (while judging) but lemmynsfw is super weird. There’s like 50 celebrity or more communities all ran by one guy who uploads like one picture or 50 in a row. I just browse by all but the NSFW filter protects me from seeing a celebrity every 10th post.

      • Usually_Lurker@lemmy.worldEnglish
        4·
        6 days ago

        That’s why I run 2 different Lemmy apps. One for work and regular browsing. And a second one for those fun NSFW times.

    • SatyrSack@lemmy.one
      71·
      7 days ago

      I wish there was an additional option to block all users of an instance separate from the instance block that applies to communities.

      I have thought about that and wondered: how would child comments under a blocked user be handled? If I was on Instance_A and able to block Instance_B to no longer see comments from those users, what about the other Instance_A users (who have not blocked Instance_B) who reply to Instance_B comments on an Instance_A thread? Would I still see those Instance_A comments, and the Instance_B comments in the comment chain just appear blank or something? Or would the entire comment chain, starting at the Instance_B comment, just not get displayed to you at all?

    • shottymcb@lemm.ee
      73·
      7 days ago

      I just blocked individual hexbear and lemmygrad users that were annoying (posting pig anuses or dogpiling/gish galloping/whatabouting). Took a lot of blocking, but a few hundred blocks later later, most of the hexbears and tankies left are pretty chill. I don’t want to end up in a bubble and only hear opinions I already agree with. I think I did block one far right instance entirely, cause I don’t value the ideas of bigots and fascists. Can’t remember who it was though.

      • snooggums@midwest.socialEnglish
        612·
        6 days ago

        I don’t want to end up in a bubble and only hear opinions I already agree with. I think I did block one far right instance entirely, cause I don’t value the ideas of bigots and fascists.

        Hmmmmm

        Edit: Apparently tankie bullshit is fine!

        • glitchdx@lemmy.worldEnglish
          54·
          6 days ago

          If you’re on a road trip, and you can’t agree on a destination, then arguing about the route to get there is pointless.

          in this analogy, the “destination” in question is whether or not women/lgbt/blacks/jews/etc deserve rights. No point in discussing healthcare policy with someone who thinks women should be property and gays should be executed.

          • snooggums@midwest.socialEnglish
            72·
            6 days ago

            Yeah, tankie bullshit deserves to be heard because of an open mind, but not fascist bullshit.

            Both are bullshit and should be blocked.

            • glitchdx@lemmy.worldEnglish
              43·
              6 days ago

              well, it’s not the first time I’ve been called a communist for saying that people deserve rights.

    • thisbenzingring@lemmy.sdf.orgEnglish
      53·
      7 days ago

      I wish there was an additional option to block all users of an instance separate from the instance block that applies to communities.

      There is an option for that, its called Defederation

      • snooggums@midwest.socialEnglish
        101·
        7 days ago

        I want to block the users as a group even if the instance at which I am registered does not defederate.

        • huginn@feddit.it
          3·
          7 days ago

          Some apps let you do that. Sync, for example, let’s you block instances (users included) on the client side.

  • Daxtron2@startrek.website
    8·
    6 days ago

    I only block users when they directly harrass me. I don’t really care if we disagree but if you’re following me around to different threads. You’re getting blocked.

  • neidu2@feddit.nl
    13·
    7 days ago

    Communities: Sports, places that are nowhere close to me or of interest, porn that is not for me, and games I don’t have any interest in.

    Instances: Lemmygrad and hexbear

    People: Not many. Spammers and low effort trolls mostly, and the occasional vatnik.

    • Crashumbc@lemmy.worldEnglish
      4·
      6 days ago

      The instance your are on may be blocking it?

      TBH, I spend way way too much time browsing all, and don’t see all that much.

      I will say it does tend to run in spurts, you’ll see like a dozen posts at once then none the rest of the day

      • HubertManne@moist.catsweat.com
        1·
        6 days ago

        I think it might be because I rarely get to the point where im on new all. I think my instance does not block much of anything or at least its statement implied such.

  • Admiral Patrick@dubvee.orgEnglish
    162·
    7 days ago

    I’ve blocked both of those (or rather, my instance doesn’t federate with them at all). At first I missed some of the FOSS communities on .ml but quickly found alternatives elsewhere. There were a few threads in either !fediverse@lemmy.world or maybe !fedigrow@lemm.ee that discussed alternatives to some of those.

    I also block HilariousChaos since it’s a direct successor to Exploding Heads.

    Beyond that, I tend to only block the problematic ones that cater to hate speech/bigotry/etc. I think your home instance (LW) already blocks most of those as well.

  • stoy@lemmy.zip
    8·
    6 days ago

    I was drawn into a discussion with a group of people from hexbear, who decided that since I didn’t agree with them a full 100%, that I then had to be treated as a troll just because I registered my account with lemmy.zip.

    I took a long time to finally get them convinced that I may be one of the good ones, I decided that I didn’t want to have to do that again and blocked the instance.

    I have a huge blocklist of instances and communities, I generally only browse All, so I see it all, unless I block it.

    I mostly block non English or Swedish instances/communities, but I have plenty of blocks of instances/communities that I either find annoying or disagree with.

      • stoy@lemmy.zip
        4·
        5 days ago

        They claimed it is a place for trolls since it is more permissive, I don’t know really what their issue with it was.

    • finitebanjo@lemmy.world
      349·
      7 days ago

      You should block Hexbear because its just a broad daylight CCP advocate forum trying to incite political extremism and violence in English speaking countries.

      Lemmy ml isn’t all bad but they federate and align themselves closely with Hexbear.

      • NineMileTower@lemmy.world
        41·
        7 days ago

        I don’t know how to block a whole instance, but in reality I’ve only seen the communities that I’ve subscribed to and some other lame stuff… I’ve blocked all the shitty specific meme communities and web comics though. Call me a cynic.

        • thisbenzingring@lemmy.sdf.orgEnglish
          8·
          7 days ago

          Blocking an instance is a basic option in the web interface for lemmy in the blocks section of your settings. Its at the top. Blocking an instance does not block its users, it just blocks the communities from showing up in your all searches

          • Admiral Patrick@dubvee.orgEnglish
            3·
            7 days ago

            Yeah, at the API level, instance blocking is really just “block all communities from that instance”.

            I think some 3rd party UIs extend the behavior of instance blocking to also hide posts/comments from users of those instances, but I don’t think the default UI does.

  • tatterdemalion@programming.dev
    4·
    5 days ago

    Not because I’ve had any kind of bad experience with users on this instance, but I don’t care for the posts on lemmy.blahaj.zone. I honestly just got tired of seeing the “Rule” posts; it’s like 90% of their posts!

  • regrub@lemmy.world
    131·
    7 days ago

    I usually only block communities, like NoStupidQuestions. There are actually quite a few stupid questions that can be asked, it turns out.

    The only other instances I’ve blocked are HilariousChaos for all the spammy/unfunny communities they make and most of the foreign language instances.