Popular Posts

Thursday, April 15, 2010

To Block or Not to Block, tis a difficult question...

One of the most ingenious aspects of most blog sites is that if someone is annoying you or being rude, you can simply ignore them or even block them. I have blocked my fair share of people, and most of the time I’ve done it without giving it a second thought.

Blocking someone is strange because it’s like erasing him or her from your life. With the click of a button – poof – they are gone. It’s like they never existed. I’ve also experienced being on the other side of a block. When you are the person being blocked, at least for me, it is hurtful. It is the ultimate way that someone can send you a clear message that they want you gone, never to be heard from again.

Being blocked means that person also prevents you from following them; they want you to go away in every way.

In some situations, it is very necessary to block someone if they are being rude or inappropriate because here is our happy place, and we shouldn’t have to deal with that. However, in many cases, I think we get trigger happy with the block button.

 I’ve learned that online relationships and real life relationships are very similar. Just as you would think twice before kicking someone out of your real life, sometimes it might be best to think twice before kicking someone out of your online life also.

10 Reasons Not To Block Someone 

1. Everyone deserves a second chance
Some people will disagree with me here, but I believe this is true. So someone was a jerk to you – if they apologize and are genuine about it, do you think you might be able to give them a second chance to do the right thing?

2. Their wrath was simply the result of having a bad day
We all have bad days every now and then and we all say things that we regret when we aren’t feeling our best. Sometimes we have to just give people a break, even on here

3. Are you making an emotional decision? Can you sleep on it?
Although it’s hard sometimes, I’ve found that it is best to not make decisions when we are emotional. You want to block someone? Would you consider sleeping on it just to be sure you feel the same way in the morning? If you feel the same way when you wake up, then blocking is probably the right thing to do. But chances are, you’ll wake up and think that person is annoying as hell, but you won’t think it is necessary to block him.

4. Alcohol might be involved
C’mon, be for real, you’ve never had too many glasses of wine and then gotten online? You must be an angel. My personal view on this is that if someone gets on after having too much to drink and they make a fool out of themselves, they are going to have to deal with the embarrassment and the tarnished reputation the next day. They don’t need me to rub salt in that already fresh wound by blocking them as well.

5. We may have taken their comments out of context
Online humor is different than ‘in person’ humor because many things do not translate from one to the other. I see it in blog posts all the time, people trying to be funny but it’s just not working out. Can we give them the benefit of the doubt? Maybe we just took that humor out of context, is that possible?

6. Slip of the tongue
Oh… this is a good one. It’s fun to watch . We all have a slip of the tongue every now and then in real life and online. I open my mouth and insert my foot on a regular basis.  It’s pretty easy to forgive and forget on this one, no real reason to block, right?

7. You never know
You never know what is going on at the other end of someone’s life. They could be in a very bad situation and you don’t know about it. Their account could be hijacked by their kids, they could be trying to use Google translator and it’s not working, they could be in a very bad relationship and it’s causing them stress. You just never know. My own personal rule of thumb is that they have to be a jerk on more than one occasion for me to block them because I don’t know what is going on with them in their life at that time.

8. Forgiveness is always a better path to take
Wow, I have learned this lesson the hard way. When you don’t forgive someone it’s like you are allowing a snake to bite you over and over again. If you want to break free of that, you have to forgive. Don’t do it for the other person, but do it for yourself. You will feel lighter and happier.

9. Do you have Friends to spare?
 You know I don’t believe that the numbers matter much; however, do you have friends to throw on the pile and write off forever?

10. Karma
As you know, karma is a mother and just be careful you aren’t blocking someone because you want to hurt them, get their attention, or just to be nasty. If you do that, you know you will attract those same kind of followers to you, and it’s not a pretty sight. I saw this play out on someone’s  page about a month ago, and she was so clueless and still kept throwing out insults and I just wanted to say to her, stop and take a look at what’s happening. However, it’s easy for us all to get caught up in a self righteous moment, I’ve done it myself a million times. Let’s try to remember about karma next time it happens.

5 comments:

  1. If they are a persistent problem erase them, just as you would in real life.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Great post. Some things I would not have thought of, such as kids hacking. I think if I were drunk though, I would go to bed?

    Several lines are saying the same thing, forgiveness and compassion. I f you throw someone out as soon as you don't see eye-to-eye, how will either of you ever learn, evolve? The hard part is admitting that I'm the one that needs to change. :-))

    ReplyDelete
  3. I'm just surfing over from Rose's...Good blog! I've blocked, thought about it, and unblocked (due to some of the reasons you mentioned---bad day, misunderstood etc). But in some instances, I left the ole blockage right where it was!! Not to be mean, but to keep meanness off my page. If someone has blocked me, I am unaware of it. Which is good! Because it means I don't go there anyway!!!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I'm a contact of Rose's as well and wanted to peek in and see what you had to say..you raise some good points. I know when I block it is usually because I either have experienced a bad interaction with someone or have seen something in their interactions with others that signals to me we would not get on very well. I like to enjoy my time online and I don't want to waste it on interactions that go nowhere but nasty. My page is my sanctuary, a place I can share my thoughts, opinions, and ideas without worrying who I am going to offend or tick off..if someone who drops in doesn't like it, they are free to leave. lol

    ReplyDelete