Block

Overview

Blocking is a feature that cuts off contact with a specific user from your side alone. Social media such as X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, and LINE (a messaging app widely used in Japan) have blocking built in. Messages and reactions to your posts from the blocked person no longer reach you. As a way to protect yourself from harassment and stalking, it's one of the basic features that keeps social media safe.

The difference between blocking and muting

A feature that's easy to confuse with blocking is muting. Muting stops someone's posts from showing on your timeline, but it doesn't cut off their contact with you. The other person doesn't notice they've been muted, so it has less impact on the relationship.

Blocking cuts off the other person's contact with you completely, so it's powerful, but they may notice they've been blocked. Because of this, blocking can sometimes spark new trouble. It's important to choose between blocking and muting depending on the situation.

Why blocking is hard on anonymous question services

On anonymous question services, senders are anonymous, so building a block feature is more complicated than on regular social media. Account-based blocking isn't available, so one possible approach is to estimate whether messages come from the same person based on a hash of their IP address or a sender ID, and hide questions from that person.

However, IP addresses change easily when switching mobile connections or using a VPN, so IP-based blocking isn't perfect. Also, having a system for tracking and excluding specific senders on a service that promises anonymity is, in some ways, at odds with the very idea of anonymity. A realistic way to handle this is to detect harmful posts with content filtering and have the owner delete them manually.

Not relying too much on blocking

Blocking is a last resort, not something to use all the time. When an unpleasant question arrives, the first thing to try is ignoring it (not answering). If you don't answer, the question isn't published, and the sender gets no reaction.

If it still keeps up persistently, defenses include limiting how often someone can post with rate limiting and detecting harmful posts with content filtering. If problems continue even with these measures, then consider a block-like response. Thinking of it as stepping up gradually can help keep the mental burden down.