To block an user on Bluesky, follow the following steps:
1: clique on the user's avatar that you want to block or in their username, which appears in all of their posts in the network.
This will bring you to the user's profile page.
2: next to the "Follow" button you'll see a three dots button. Click on it to display a dropdown menu.
3: in the dropdown menu, you'll have the option to "Mute Account" or "Block Account." Click on the Block Account button.
A dialog box asking for confirmation will appear.
4: click on the "Block" button to block the account. After blocking an user, their posts won't appear anymore for you.
Things to Know
A blocked user is notified that I blocked them?
No. I tested and I wasn't notified of the block. However, this information is public in the federated social media, and they will know that they've been blocked if they try to view your profile afterwards.
The blocked user can see my profile?
Yes. Your avatar will be shown blurred, and a message that says "User Blocking You" will appear under your name.
The blocked user can see my posts?
It's complicated. Your posts won't appear to the blocked user while they're logged in the blocked account on Bluesky. Instead of your posts, the message "Posts hidden" will appear to them. However, it's possible for the human being whose account was blocked to see your profile using another account, or accessing your profile's URL without being logged in any account (e.g. in an incognito window). In these cases your posts will be shown to them as they are public.
Can other people know who I blocked?
Yes. On Bluesky, whom you block is public record1, while whom you mute is not.
If an user whom I block is following me, will they continue following me?
It's complicated. The way Bluesky works is this: when you follow someone, it's registered in your account that you're following them, and when you block someone, it's registered in your account that you blocked them. When you block someone in your account that doesn't affect the "Follow" record that exists in the blocked user's account2. However, there are some effects according to my tests.
Essentially, if you block them, the system will try to fetch your posts because they're following you, but the posts won't appear because you blocked them. If you unblock them, the posts will appear normally.
For example, if you post "I'll block John," and John is following you, they may see your post before you block them, but after you block them, the post won't appear for them anymore, even though they did see it in their feed before you blocked them.
Another example, if you say "I'll unblock John," John won't see this post while they're blocked, but it will appear on their feed after they're blocked.
References
- https://docs.bsky.app/blog/block-implementation (accessed 2024-09-22) ↩︎
- https://github.com/bluesky-social/social-app/issues/1160#issuecomment-1677642129 (accessed 2024-09-19) ↩︎
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