Ahh I think you’re right, I got it mixed up. Users can block communities, it’s whole instances that they can’t block. Only instance admins can do that, via defederation.

If an instance allows anyone to sign up then I think they need to tolerate those users having different tastes and interests, within reason. Most instances have policies against illegal content, and many don’t allow porn. Defederation is the tool instance admins can use to prevent subscriptions to content they don’t want to host. Other than that, if other users don’t want to see certain content, they can simply not subscribe to it and avoid the All feed. Personally I like browsing All precisely because it shows me things I didn’t know about, and might be interested in.

Currently there’s no way for users or instance admins to block specific communities. I hope that will be made available at some point, so content blocking can be done at a more granular level and defederation can be reserved for more extreme cases. Instance admins would be free to curate their All feed if that’s what they want to do. Users would be free to pick an instance that suits them, possibly one with a heavily curated feed or instead choose one that hosts a broad array of content. A broad array of content is much less likely to be an issue if users can block at the community level so they don’t have to see it.

I’m with Gabe Newell on this one. High piracy rates indicate a service problem.

I can’t find very good data on this, but my suspicion is that PC piracy rates are lower than they were a decade ago. I’m betting piracy of movies and TV shows is far, far higher than it was a decade ago. It’s pretty easy to see why. If you want a PC game, you can usually (EGS timed exclusives aside) buy it from your digital storefront of choice, or add it to your wishlist and wait for a sale. Once it’s in your library it’s effectively there to stay. Game doesn’t work on your PC, or you don’t enjoy it like you thought you would? No problem, you can refund it. Now compare that movies and TV shows. An ever-expanding range of streaming services that all want $15 a month from you, region locking, staggered release dates. Nothing new you want to watch this month? Too bad, your $15 is now our $15 dollars, and we’ll take $15 from you next month too. Movie and TV show piracy provides a more valuable and convenient service, so it wins hands down.