(Tension) Since I started using Social Media to run experiments in around 2012,

(Tension)
Since I started using Social Media to run experiments in around 2012, I have always tried to answer nearly every comment that wanted or needed one.
The NLI team, however, suggests (often, and strenuously) that I ignore the … undesirables so to speak.
And, every time we increase our reach (which has become nearly impossible since the “Great Silencing” began in the fall of 2020) we attract some new curious, lurkers, and followers – and of course the many raging malcontents that social media gives voice to, who, for some reason, are one-issue ponies so to speak – desperately attempting to communicate their disapproval to those who couldn’t care less other than they disapprove of noticing them.
And I know that responding at all to these people is bad for the algorithm. And our organization’s mission to address the taboo s ubjects whose suppression simply amplifies our conflict, doesn’t help either.
So, I still prefer the block feature. And maybe I’ll try to just block the people of ill will, and ignore more of them. But it’s very difficult to overcome the urge to ‘police’ the informational commons from those who litter it with their presence.