Launch: New Blocking Features on Bridgy Fed

Bridgy Fed has always had a simple way to block users over the bridge, whether the other user is bridged or not.

If the user is bridged, you can use your native platform’s blocking features. If the user is not bridged, it’s as simple as DMing the Bridgy Fed bot with "block [handle]", and we’ll take care of the rest.

That said, we still have a lot of work to do, and we want to start sharing each step toward a series of projects we have around Bridgy Fed moderation tools for users.

Today, we’re starting to roll out that work with two new features: DM to block multiple users at once and ATProto block list subscriptions.

Let’s dive into what these features do.

Block Multiple Users

We’ve heard from numerous folks that they want it to be easier to block groups of users on the other side of the bridge when they see them replying to or mentioning them, or when they're part of a group they do not trust. To make this easier, we’re improving the existing “block” DM command to allow for multiple users at once. 

To use this feature, you can now DM the Bridgy Fed bot with "block [handle1] [handle2] …" whether you’re on an ActivityPub or ATProto platform. You can reverse this with "unblock [handle1] [handle2] …".

Subscribe to ATProto Block Lists

Sometimes, people don't just want to block users; they also want to block users similar to them as soon as possible. ATProto has a helpful feature called "Block Lists," which a user can subscribe to, doing precisely that. This is a community-based moderation tool that lets you trust a user’s opinion and give them the ability to help you block users that they add to the list.

To use this feature, you can now DM the Bridgy Fed bot using the block command from your ActivityPub account with Block List URLs. Either message with:

• "block [blocklistUrl]"
• "block [blocklistUrl1] [blocklistUrl2] ...".

You can reverse these with:

• "unblock [blocklistUrl]"
• "unblock [blocklistUrl1] [blocklistUrl2] ...".

If you want to test this out, here's an example block list.

What's Next

We wanted to get this in the hands of Bridgy Fed users as soon as possible, which is why we're starting with DM commands. In the coming months, we're hoping to add these and other blocking features to the Bridgy Fed settings page to make them easier to use. If you want to take a stab at adding these features to the settings page yourself, we welcome any and all contributors to our open source codebase!

A special shout-out to Jon Pincus of The Nexus of Privacy for pushing us to prioritize these crucial moderation features for our users. We always appreciate it when our community reaches out for features they know users urgently need.

Like What You See? Support Us!

A New Social is a non-profit focused on building tools like Bridgy Fed and Bounce to help center social media on people, not platforms. We rely on donations to build toward our mission.

If you want to support us, you can join our Patreon starting at $1/month or $0.95/month with an annual subscription. You can also support us by purchasing some of our People, Not Platforms V1 merch!

If you're a developer looking to contribute to the mission, we'd love to work with you. You can contact us at letsbuild@anew.social, and we'll reply as soon as possible.

A huge thank you to those who've already contributed code, ideas, and reviews to us! We're a small team, and we can't do it without our community 🙏🏼