r/TheoryOfReddit

Hi all, based on some of the feedback from the State of the Subreddit discussion, we're going to try some weekly discussions. Instead of a list of topics to focus on each week, we're revisiting the top posts in 's history. This subreddit has officially entered its teenage years, and it can be quite interesting to look back on the top issues from a decade ago, both to see how Reddit (the site) and Reddit (the community) have changed, as well as how maybe things aren't as different as we'd think.

This week we're starting with by far the most popular post in our history, . The author, , looked at Reddit's new implementation of the block feature and how it could be misused, including a fairly extensive experiment on the matter. Unfortunately, while I'd love to bring in original authors to "check in" years later, that account was created just for this one post, so we're out of luck here.

Two years later, the block feature remains relatively unchanged - users you block are unable to see, engage with, and vote on your content. Has that had Reddit's intended effect of reducing stalking and harassment? Do the second order effects outweigh the supposed benefit? How would you prefer to handle blocking and stalking, if not this system?