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Tech & The Web

Bluesky Moderation Options Give Users More Control

A hand holds a round button with the Bluesky logoDeposit Photos

If you sometimes find yourself the victim of social media trolls, Bluesky moderation allows you to slow their ability to be nasty on your profile.

In my real job, one of my functions is managing social media content. I have to be on multiple social media platforms for this work. Unfortunately, there are social media users who sometimes act as if they had no home training when they were young. That’s why Bluesky moderation options quickly impressed me.

Bluesky gives you the option to “mute” or “block” fellow users.

If you mute someone, you automatically hide their posts from your notifications about new posts. You also automatically place any comments they make to your posts behind a link that your visitors must click to see.

On the other hand, if you block someone, you can’t see each other. They aren’t able to comment on your posts at all and you won’t see their activity.

If you go to your profile’s settings, you’ll find a Moderation option. There, you’ll find four immediate options.

1. Muted Words & Hashtags

You can set comments with word you don’t want to see — profanity, slurs, vulgar words or phrases — be automatically hidden. Your profile visitors will see other comments and then see a section for hidden comments. It specifies that the comment is hidden because of a “muted word.” It doesn’t specify which word is muted, but I suppose it’s fairly easy to narrow that down.

They have the option to view those hidden comments if they wish. But they have to click to see them.

The same applies to hashtags. If there are certain hashtags — let’s say that represent controversial topics — and you don’t want to see those comments, you can mute hashtags, too.

2. Moderation Lists

This option allows you to mute or block groups of people that your friends have added to lists. If you have a connection with many of the same interests who has encountered a few trolls, you can mute the same people they have. By pulling in that list, you can automatically mute those profiles.

I would feel a bit iffy on this one. If I know of a certain troll or two that’s causing problems with a friend’s account, I might or might not mute them on mine. But I’d feel a bit strange muting someone just because someone else did.

I can see the benefit of it, particularly if you routinely deal with hot-button issues that prompt a lot of trolls. But I still think I’d rather mute on a case-by-case basis.

3. Muted Accounts

When you mute accounts, you simply don’t see them. They can still see you and react to what you post. But you don’t receive notifications when they post. Any comments they make to your content are automatically hidden. You (or your other profile visitors) must click a link to see that muted content.

4. Blocked Accounts

If you block an account, you don’t see them and they don’t see you. It’s the best way to rid yourself of their presence, although trolls can usually find a way to be trolls.

The one thing that’s missing in their moderation

Sometimes, people (or bots) show up on your content and leave comments that are clearly spam. They promote themselves, their businesses, or even your competitors.

On Facebook, when that happens, you can hide the comment or delete it altogether. If they come back and see that their comment was deleted and repost it, you also have the option to block them entirely.

I prefer to hide or delete first and hope they’ll get the message. But some people refuse to take hints, especially when they’re trying to be “big and bad” on someone else’s profiles or pages.

At that point, the option Bluesky gives you is blocking the person. But we should be able to delete an offending comment posted to our own profile. There are some comments that are inappropriate not because they disagree but because of the manner in which they disagree. Users should always have the option of deleting spam comments and links to inappropriate sites. It’s hard to imagine that any social media sites wouldn’t understand that, although in fairness, Bluesky is not the only one who doesn’t offer such an option.

Hopefully, that will change.

Would you use Bluesky moderation tools for your account? Why or why not?

the authorPatrick
Patrick is a Christian with more than 30 years experience in professional writing, producing and marketing. His professional background also includes social media, reporting for broadcast television and the web, directing, videography and photography. He enjoys getting to know people over coffee and spending time with his dog.
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