How do you react to callouts and blocklists? (This isn’t asking for advice, I’m just trying to figure out how different people deal with them.)

copperbadge:

I’m…unaware of them, I suppose, and not 100% sure what they are.  

I know the gist of a callout, of course, but I don’t know if your question refers to direct discussion (ie a reblog on a post), or a post made about someone meant to publicize their bad behavior. Direct discussion I don’t have a problem with; I’ve been approached about bad stuff I’ve said, and usually they’re not wrong. I’ve almost never seen a callout that wasn’t a response, but I maybe just don’t run in circles where it’s common. It comes across as a bit Puritan, very “stocks and pillories”, but not always untoward; after all we don’t have Fandom Jail and can really only resort to public shaming and shunning when someone misbehaves. Consensus on misbehavior varies, so while I would consider it a last resort, I could see how in some fandoms it might be more frequent. 

I am also assuming that “blocklist” is someone posting a list of people that they have blocked and/or think you ought to block, but it’s something I’ve never encountered. Blocking can be healthy; even if a person doesn’t intend to harm, if they still end up being harmful it can be in your best interest to remove them from your reality. But most of the people I’ve blocked have been for personal reasons and I’m not interested in campaigning against them. I can see a use for this, such as a compilation of white supremacist blogs that a lot of people would want to make sure NEVER interacted with them, but I’ve never seen such a thing; granted I don’t have a heavy presence in activist spaces in fandom. 

I also occupy a weird position in fandom and I’m blocked by a bunch of people not because they don’t like me but just because they’re not interested in my content or don’t want me to reblog theirs. When I reblog a post it gets a lot of attention and there are people who don’t want that; also once in a while I reblog a post and it causes UNENDING SHIT for the OP. I try to be judicious, but I don’t always get it right, and blocking me pre-empts that. I’ve also blocked people because I don’t want my content on their blogs, though usually I let them know first (mostly pro-ana blogs that want to use my food posts to express a body-negativity stance). 

And because of all this I don’t take blocking personally; I don’t know why they did it but I don’t need to know. So my attitude towards blocking is different than others’. But I will say that if someone blocks me because my name was on a list, without investigating first, then I probably did not want to interact with that person anyway. 

Uh, so, sorry I’m not a super useful data-point on your survey! I’m an outlier adn should not be counted. 

(Readership if you wish to respond to Anon, please remember to do so in comments or reblogs; I don’t repost asks sent in response to other asks.)