Not only do I not want to see any of that, I feel a responsibility to my audience not to let them see it either, I've got over 30K followers on here, I don't want them exposed to that kind of content just for interacting with my posts, and yes it happens on here too. So I close down replies.
💜
Bluesky is definitely a better experience on the whole, and safety tools make it so that content is far more effectively hidden, but it's still an issue. But no, I'm not restricting replies because I'm afraid of debate or any such thought-terminating cliche, it's about the threats and harassment.
Using existing moderation tools to moderate ones experience and enforcing ones own boundaries is only normal and more people should do it.
Also, "restricted to accounts that follow her" is like the lowest bar of restriction you can possibly set.
Bluntly though, cis people just don't get it. And I don't mean "don't get it" as in they don't understand, I mean they literally don't get the constant abuse, threats, and harassment we receive, they can't fathom the extent of it because they're not on the receiving end of it.
For real, white it happens les here on bsky, on Twitter I barely had a presence and yet was still bombarded by bored losers with hate and threats any time I replied to a thread that hit the main feed. it sucks.
It's funny, I've had people assume I'm trans and hurl abuse at me for it then change their time when they find out I'm cis. Suddenly I'm someone they can convince is wrong about trans rights somehow rather than just a hatesink. It's like a fucking light switch how fast the abuse gets turned off.
Them: You'll never be a REAL woman! Me with he/him pronouns in bio and a profile pic of me in pretty masc coded clothing and a full beard: No shit.
I get told I'll never be a "real" woman and I'm a cis woman 😭 proving my point that bathroom laws will be used to harrass all women bud
So many cis people, even the well-meaning ones, think the only hardships trans people face are "being misgendered, having dysphoria and then nothing else, ever." And honestly, I wish things were that simple irl
Freedom means getting unrestricted access to everyone at all times
Going through, hiding replies and blocking when a post breaches containment is exhausting too. Got better things to be spending your time on
Irl I'd tell people to fuck off and I'd get tf away from them if they insisted on engaging with me when I didn't want it. Social media should be no different, just because you have a window into someone else's world doesn't mean you have a right to shout through it.
We appreciate it 💜