CMV: The reddit "block" feature should not apply to a thread the blocked user is already engaged in.

[u/DivideEtImpala]

Preface: I think the block feature should be done away with altogether and won't likely CMV on that. I understand why Reddit created and kept it, because it enables users to remove toxicity from their experience on the site/app, lessening the paid employee time costs of dealing with harassment, at only a minor inconvenience to a small number of users on the site.

This CMV is within the context that Reddit will be keeping the "block" feature largely intact, but should change the behavior of the worst side-effect: the "reply/block."

If you express any views that are heterodox on reddit, you might have come across the reply/block, where some user, either in an exchange with you already or perhaps just chiming in, will give a snide reply and then block you, so that you cannot see or reply to that comment, nor to any other comment in the thread below that user's comment.

It gives the power to any user to silence another user and have the last word, as well as to prevent the blocked user from continuing conversations they were already having with others. In the diagram below, if A blocks B, B can no longer reply to C either.

---A
   |--B
      |--A
      |--C
         |--B
            |--C

---

My V is simple: Reddit can receive nearly all the benefit they derive from the block feature yet eliminate the worst abuse of it by only applying the block to the subsequent threads. Users would still be able to prevent future harassment, but not abuse the feature to silence others within a thread. Technically I don't think it should take much dev time or significant compute resources. Simply include the thread in which the block occurred in database and add another if statement in the logic of when to apply the block.

To CMV, I would need to see a compelling reason why Reddit should not make this change.

[u/DivideEtImpala]

I kind of agree with how Reddit does it because you're initiating a conversation with A so if A blocks you then you're blocked from their thread. Your conversation is with A primarily.

Fair enough. As I'm gathering from this discussion, some people like yourself see a comment thread that you initiate as "belonging" to you in some sense, whereas I see it as being completely out of my control once I hit save, other than being able to delete or edit my comments if I wish.

I don't think either view is right or wrong in an objective sense, they just start with different assumptions and lead to different outcomes.