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Here’s a neat little trick in case you don’t already know it: If you block someone and then unblock them, you can get them to stop following you.
I call it bucking :)
So, if you want to try and avoid all the drama that comes with blocking and just don’t want someone to keep following you and commenting on your stuff, try bucking before blocking. And if they’re persistent, you can always block and/or report for harassment, etc.
I call it bucking because following someone on the fediverse is not a right you have but a privilege they bestow upon you. It’s them inviting you onto their back to carry you with them on their journey. And if they want you off their back, that’s their right.
(If you try to clamber back on or harass them for it, it shows that you don’t respect consent and you should probably take that as a prompt for self-reflection.)
Free Palestine@aral could you explain further how this works, not sure I follow. Is it as simple as unfolllowing then re following? Thanks in advance 
No, block and then unblock.
@regordane @aral ah! Ok then thanks for that!
@aral you can also remove the unwanted followships in the preferences → follows and followers.
️ 
@aral I do soft-blocking sometimes, but mostly I leave a note on their account, mute a week, maybe tell them why (if I think it won't start too much drama), and if I ever see that note again, I block. One goddamned strike here, people can move accounts if they don't like it.
@aral thankfully I’ve not had to block anyone permanently.
@aral This! This! This! YES!
@aral I find muting more fun as they get no attention and think the OP is reading their garbage opinions whilst giving you more social media reach... win win really, lulz 
Muting means that everyone EXCEPT you can see their garbage replies to you. It pollutes discussion on your timeline, and can be used to invite in trolls. That used to happen a LOT at Twitter. Blocking is a better response to nasty stuff. I reserve muting for the merely boring.
Blocking actually works better on Mastodon than Twitter - it makes your account invisible to the offender. They don't get the satisfaction of seeing "[Username] has blocked you".
@regordane @nando161 @aral but muting provides a valuable public service. While the abuser is howling his bile into the void he’s not using the time to target others.
@aral you can also remove someone from following without needing to do this, there's a hidden feature in your settings where you can manage follows and followings, and you can remove any of the two
@aral On mastodon you can do the same from the settings. If you go to the "followers" tab in the *settings* (not profile) you can select profiles to unfollow and to have unfollow you. That's really useful if you want a whole bunch of accounts gone ^^
Agree it's useful - it's a very very old trick from the other place. Usually called soft-blocking.
@aral This is also termed “blunble” apparently. BLock / UNBlock.
https://gist.github.com/levelsio/de3269da8a170cb0d7ca97093612a96c
But bucking is a great term for English as well. 
Mask up @aral Ah, the old 'soft-block'. I know it well. So useful.
@aral oh yeah, love doing that, especially to accounts that are very obviously mass following people in hope of getting them to follow back.
the Mastodon app I use (Moshidon) has even got a "remove follower" option that does that automatically!
@aral
I call it a soft-block