Twitter blocking

[JordanA]

So we've all lamented the amount of pandering we now have to do for clicks and how arguably the best place for that is the cesspool that is Twitter, but I'm wondering how many of us here actively do the one thing that guarantees no one sees your links or gives you clicks: block people on Twitter.

I'm a big NASCAR guy and write a column at my local shop. Saturday night during the Sprint Cup race at Kentucky, Brad Keselowski said on his radio he was out of gas with two laps to go, but wound up having enough to win the race. One of the more well-known national scribes tweeted something to the effect of "Keselowski wasn't out of gas. Not sure where people got that." When he was inevitably inundated with tweets saying they got it directly from Keselowski himself, the scribe, who is prone to being a condescending troll on Twitter, immediately went that route at anyone challenging him.

I mention to him that perhaps always being combative wasn't the way to go, and the big shot immediately blocks me. Now, I don't give two flying ****s about that, but I know for a fact I'm not the only one who's gotten that treatment, which leads me to my point: What be the stance of the group here on blocking people on Twitter? I never have, but then, have never had anyone make me want to. But it's interesting to me in that it seems directly counteractive to what most of us are on there to do, which is drum up interest for the product you're peddling.

 

[TheSportsPredictor]

I blocked someone and they went on a message board rant about it.

 

[JC]

Mute them. They never know and they still will see your stuff.

 

[BB Bobcat]

Mute all day baby.

Mute is the best thing ever.

(By the way, mute is not only good for trolls but for people who may be your real life friends but have a beat you don't care about so you don't want to see their stuff in your timeline. Or for people you want to be able to DM but don't want to see their tweets.)

 

[Mr. Sunshine]

I blocked someone and they went on a message board rant about it.

Must. Not. Comment.

 

[TheSportsPredictor]

Must. Not. Comment.

You might wind up blocked.

 

[Earthman]

Jeff Pearlman is a big fan of the block for those that disagree with him politically.
He prefers lemmings for his twitter base.

 

[Ace]

I only block the obvious spam accounts and a handful of really abusive posters.

 

[Big Circus]

I started blocking every promoted tweet I saw. I get REALLY interesting ads now.

 

[SFIND]

I've only blocked a few people, a couple of whom were loudmouths and cussed every other word. Only media person I've blocked is someone who I heard on a podcast advocate for homerism among journalists and then extolled the virtues of blocking people on Twitter in his/her next breath. I was happy to try out the blocking advice. Turns out it works well -- hadn't thought of that person again until writing this post.

 

[MeanGreenATO]

Blocking is so 2014. The mute is where it's at.

 

[Tweener]

Blocking on Twitter is for those who want to feel superior. I'd imagine most frequent Twitter users know about muting, but they still block people to sort of punk them for either not agreeing with them or for pissing them off in some way.

 

[nubyjas_wilborn]

I only blocked when called certain words. Other than that I can mute and filter you. But I'm not going to say let the N-word or other epithets slide.

 

[JC]

Blocking is the same as the people that run to the moderators here. What's the point?

Which leads to a different question, why do people go to mods to complain?

 

[PaperDoll]

My company account has been getting deluged with porn spam. Since we mainly deal with high school kids, I've been reporting and blocking them as quickly as I see them. It probably doesn't make a difference, but I feel like I have to try something.

 

[Southwinds]

Blocking? How thin is your skin?

People we cover deal with a thousand times the vitriol that we get. Deal with it.

 

[TheSportsPredictor]

Blocking? How thin is your skin?

People we cover deal with a thousand times the vitriol that we get. Deal with it.

A thousand times more than Erin Andrews?

 

[mediaguy]

It takes a lot to get me to block someone. Muting is better, but whatever the person was saying to get muted, they're still saying. You just don't have to deal with it. Much easier to toughen up and not care what every follower (or non-follower) thinks of you ...

 

[DSzymborski]

I generally only block for two reasons: one is for particularly egregious behavior. And even then, if I'm going to block, I usually give the @er a second-chance to insult me in a creative fashion.

The other is when I'm blocked. For example, I got blocked by Christine Brennan when I wondered (not specifically at her) whether USA Today actually had an editor after her overwrought quickie editorial about how A-Rod broadcasting was the Worst Thing Ever. So since I appreciate the value of being childish at times, I made sure to block her just in case she ever unblocks me.

 

[linotype]

I don't cover Major League Baseball, but I got blocked by a shortstop I'll only identify as a starter for a National League team, apparently because I pointed out he struck out on in the 9th innings of consecutive games. So, yeah, there are definitely some rabbit-eared people out there.