Thread by @textfiles

Why I block, a short essay.

I block people on twitter, a lot. A LOT. 12 times this week alone. Probably 50 or so a month, maybe more, and I'm not stopping anytime soon. There's a bunch of reasons for this situation, but a larger lesson is Working With Computer Tools.

I've been using computer-based tools since roughly 1980, so I'll be hitting that 40 year anniversary any time now. Unfortunately, that means I have a skill with them and I've had to live with them all my life. Rules of thumb have made themselves obvious over time.

One of these rules is that you get what the tool gives - if you don't have access to the source, you have to just use the stupid thing like it works, and maybe hack around further with its output if you have the time and inclination. And the tools have their own ideas.

Twitter was designed by people who have absolutely no idea what they're doing with regards to the true actual function and relevance of their project. Imagine if the makers of a spreadsheet didn't realize it was being used for medical monitoring. There's a whole essay there.

One of the many oversights is that they don't know how people work at all. Twitter still has something like 90-95% of the functionality of "a bunch of guys who are in the office, chatting" except the office is literally the entire earth and the guys are not just guys, etc.

(By the way, the UNIX "talk" and "finger" commands have the same issues, but finger was created in 1977 and talk dates back so far it has 1,000 claimed parents so let's just say "The 60s")

So, of the craptastico options left in the field of "moderation", Twitter currently has "Go Private and Never Be Seen", "Set words or users you don't want to hear from", "Set users you never want to hear from and they can't easily hear you".

In the fantastic user experiences that hundreds have spent decades perfecting, this is like being handed a 4,000 color palette and grabbing red and blue to finger paint with it and indicate dark and light purple are SUPR-IMPORTANT and should be followed to.

So, all things considered, and considering the amount of bandwidth my life currently has, I just block people. Block, block, block. Muting is so unpredictable and I don't trust it, especially for searches. Block is a finality. Block block block.

Obviously, for those times someone indicates they intend me harm or to kill me, I block them. I also block spammers. I don't report these to twitter because twitter support is a 1973 Volkswagen Baja Bug with the steering wheel jammed to the right, screeching in circles.

I also block people where I go "Nothing good is going to come out of interacting with this person." Either they shitpost everything, or they respond wildly and with a huge amount of drama, or they keep pestering with questions or comments and literally never stop. Block.

Very occasionally (seriously, super occasionally) something makes me come into contact with the person again, like they're in some thread and I responded and they responded. I can look at a blocked person. Sometimes I forget why I blocked and I search my name and theirs.

I've yet to go "Oh, yeah, that was unfair." and unblock.

Anyway, I don't expect Twitter to fix the finger paints and I don't expect this site to get less and less traffic, and I do get some things done here, especially communication with folks I need to reach quickly, so I'm sticking around. But the blocks happen, the blocks will flow.

That's all.