Last Updated on March 22, 2025
Social media platform BlueSky continues to grow and roll out new features, but I’m still waiting for a ‘delete comment’ button.
As BlueSky welcomes an increasing number of followers, it is also rolling out new features. So why can’t we BlueSky users have a ‘delete comment’ button? What’s so difficult about that?
Their most recent update, BlueSky 1.98, added a few features. Bluesky 1.98. One of those features relates specifically to comments: You can now restrict replies to posts you make to be “followers only.” In theory, I suppose they assume that your actual followers will be less likely to be rude. (If they believe that, they haven’t paid much attention to social media the past few years.) The real advantage for such a setting, I suspect, is that it potentially increases your follower counts. That’s not a bad thing, of course, but it doesn’t do anything to combat trolls. With that setting, all a troll has to do is simply follow you and they can go on being a troll.
The company previously introduced moderation tools. Theirs are better than X’s and are more like Facebook’s. BlueSky gives you a moderation option that allows you to automatically hide responses that contain specific words.
You can also manually hide individual comments that are offensive or abusive.
That’s better than nothing, without a doubt.
But there’s a big difference between hiding and deleting
For many, many years now, I’ve written about deleting comments. In some respects, it’s something bloggers hate to do. It’s hard enough to get commenters to engage to begin with. We hate to have to delete a comment from someone who actually does engage.
But years ago, I saw a YouTube video featuring an elderly man who had some sort of brogue — I think he was Scottish, but I’m not entirely certain. I’ve looked for that clip and it has either been long deleted or it’s just hiding really well.
The point of the video, however, was that when you have a website that invites comments, that’s like having someone in your living room. If people come in with an attitude and trash your living room, you have every right to toss them and their garbage out your door.
For social media, since the posts are so much shorter and it’s usually easier to find a social post than a blog if you’re already on that social platform, I think of it as being more like your front porch.
You put something on your front porch and people who can’t act like they’ve had any home training say something rude or inappropriate. You should be able to delete that from your post. If it was your front porch and someone tossed a bag of garbage there, you should be able to put that garbage in the trash can at the end of the driveway and get your porch clean again.
Using the same analogy with BlueSky’s “hide” option, it’d be like putting a rocking chair in front of that bag of garbage someone left on your porch. Maybe the chair conceals it for people who aren’t looking for it. But unfortunately, BlueSky gives users the option to view the hidden post. I suspect many people wouldn’t take the time to look for hidden posts, much less take the effort to actually unhide them.
But if the option’s there, some will. Some will look behind that rocking chair and see the ugly trash.
If it’s my porch, I should be able to say what does and doesn’t go there.
I don’t make the suggestion lightly
Yes, there are some people who would abuse that privilege. But get ready for a spoiler alert: Those people are already abusing the “hide” feature. They’re likely even wearing out their little “block” button.
It’s important to note that I wouldn’t delete comments that state opposing views. I don’t block people who disagree with me just because they disagree.
But there’s an appropriate way to disagree. Too many these days seem to have forgotten basic manners. It’s the people who are rude and hurtful in their expression of disagreement who deserve to have their comments deleted, not hidden.
Facebook gives you the option to actually delete comments. BlueSky needs to follow suit. Facebook has had that delete option for years. This isn’t new. It can’t be that difficult.
If BlueSky is truly committed to making social media friendlier, it’s past time for them to add what should be a basic option.
