Block well. Block hard. Block often. ❤️

This is still a hill that I will die on.

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So I'm not the biggest fan of the Fanfiction subreddit... over on Reddit. But one of the good things I have gleaned from it is how its made me much more comfortable with a certain concept I'd shied away from previously: blocking other fans who become problems. Blocking generally seems to be regarded with contempt by many. People believe it's done to silence someone you don't agree with, it's cowardly, exclusionary, etc. But several Reddit posters repeatedly championed blocking for peace of mind in fandom (or anywhere online I guess).

I've been doing it for a while now. It's so pleasant to be able to post something with the knowledge that weirdos aren't going to be able to show up to ruin your day.

So I like to think I'm fairly lenient when it comes to people commenting on my stuff. I mean, fic writers these days (or at least many of the ones on R/Fanfiction do) legit get upset when someone gushes over their fics and say they want to see more. But a comment like that wouldn't make me bat an eye. Neither do I mind having things suggested to me as long as it's nothing whacked out; IE: "My OC needs to come in and start tickling [insert character name here]!"* Mmm, let's not and just say that they did. Heck, I'm fine with one word comments! I just think hearing what people have to say about your work can be really interesting.

However, I will block without comment a person when I encounter the following types of people or behaviors:

-- People being demanding or inappropriate with their comments. This includes fans who freak out about other fics not written by them/or a BNF because they can't tell the difference between headcanons and the actual source material, therefore your fic is wrong in their eyes, fans becoming aggressive over ships, "this didn't happen in canon!", etc. That's not fun to deal with and doesn't help me become a better writer (or artist, in the case of pictures). So meet my dear friend the block button.

-- People with mental/emotional/personality problems and, who, as a result of this, cannot control themselves (or will not seek the appropriate help in order to be able to do so), communicate badly and reactively, state things poorly, are abrasive or creepy, or all the above. As an example of what I mean, some years ago there was this one person on deviantART I was starting to get to know know who lashed out at me twice -- the first time was because I said I like a character she hates. Then, she got into a fight with another user (which she instigated, might I add) and noted me in order to vent/seek sympathy about it. When I wasn't like "aww poor babey" at her (I can't recall exactly what I said, but it wasn't anything antagonistic, I know that much), she flew into a rage. So I finally quit speaking to her. Only later on did I discover that she had a history of harassing people on the site for no real reason and wallowing in victimhood afterwards. Afterwards, she acted like nothing had even happened, left a sappy comment on a pic of mine's, then noted me several times to hawk some discord she had or update me on her life. At first I would delete them without response, but it quickly became clear that she wasn't going to stop contacting me. So I eventually blocked her. 
 
People like that girl and even other people around them expect you to simply tolerate their bad behavior, and in some cases, either enable it, be their "fandom mom", or their emotional punching bags (that girl BTW still gets a ton of people who pour out their sympathies for her and treat her like she's the most misunderstood, marvelous human being in the world. It's really weird). No. That is not my job. I get online for fun, not to play therapist or mommy or whoever. Sorry not sorry if that sounds insensitive, but seriously, I'm not a therapist. I have problems of my own to deal with. I can't help these kinds of people with their issues, and they'd be much better off if they looked for people who actually could. 

-- People who have overly aggressive/pompous/etc profiles, or who leave such reviews and comments on other peoples' work. I will say I actually like these kinds of folks, because they let everyone know right away what kind of people they are.

So as you can see, no one is being blocked for having a differing opinion or anything like that. People are being blocked because they're absolute nightmares to be around however. Let me ask, is it cowardly or childish to block a person who tells you that you deserve to be raped to death simply because you wrote a story about, say, nonexistent magical people they read and didn't like (thankfully that hasn't happened to me, but I have seen and heard about other people being told horrible things like that before)? 

"Why don't you try reasoning with them first?" Because that doesn't work a lot of the time. I wish it did, but instead, you end up getting people who are manipulative and will turn things right back around on you, just plain do not want to listen, will block you because you don't think they're the Second Coming, and so on. You have screwed-up people who enjoy the fact that they've gotten under your skin with their remarks. Remember, don't feed the trolls. Truthfully, these days, I don't even engage with other fans in my fandoms unless they say something to me first. Fandom is often stifling and outright annoying to me.

But anyways, if something or somebody in your fandom makes you uncomfortable, even if that person doesn't speak to you or you don't follow them, block them. Block. Block. Block! It's your internet experience, and you have every single right to tailor it to your tastes.

*In case I get accused of kinkshaming, tickling is one of the milder fetishes, but bringing up any fetish in public without prompting to total strangers who show absolutely no interest in them is just not appropriate behavior, sorry.