Better block behavior
This is an issue I've avoided opening for a while, because blocks always seems to be very controversial, but I'm feeling brave today. So let me start off by saying, that if we can't agree on the best way to go about this, that's okay - I can run a small fork, or maybe we can add some non-default configuration options as a compromise.
At the crux of it is this: You can see posts from users who have blocked you. I think this is not the right behavior. In my view, we already have mutes if we want to stop ourselves from seeing someone else. The point of a block is to stop them from seeing you.
I know we can't guarantee that blocks will federate. I know that some servers drop them. I know some people just don't like blocks. I think these are not good arguments. Servers can publicly expose DMs too, or even ChatMessages, but we don't argue that these activities should be treated as public. We do the best we can. Servers can always choose to defederate from servers who don't have the same policies. The type of users I'm trying to attract to the fediverse expect blocking to work a certain way, and on Mastodon it does work how people expect 98% of the time.
For instance admins who really don't want blocks, I think they should just reject blocks with MRF, and rely on mutes instead. This use-case could be further polished.
So here is what I propose.
When a user has blocked me, I should not be able to:
- Follow them
✔ - See their posts in public timelines
❌ - See their posts in my home timeline when boosted by someone I follow
❌ - See their posts or media on their profile
❌ - Interact with their posts, including replying or reacting
❌
I'm a big ignorant of the history of blocking in Pleroma, and whether the current behavior is intentional or not. If this is actually a mistake, that's good, I will attempt to fix it. If it's intentional, why? And are you open to it being handled differently?
Further context: