Blocking vs Unfriending Users on Facebook

Why would you Unfriend someone, when it's far more effective to Block them? If someone is stalking, offending, or annoying you on Facebook, you had better BLOCK them and NOT Unfriend them.

I posted on Facebook how I blocked 3 Facebook users last night. Someone then asked me if I unfriended them, or is there something more involved with blocking them.

Blocking someone makes it seem, to them, that you have vanished. It seems like you are no longer on Facebook. As far as they're concerned, you no longer exist as a Facebook user. They are no longer in your Facebook experience and you are no longer in theirs. I like that a lot.

I don't know why anyone would simply unfriend somebody.

That does not go far enough, in my opinion. If someone is posting offensive, irrelevant, or insane things that appear in your News Feed, and you're tired of having to see it all the time, I suggest you BLOCK them.

If you just unfriend them, they can still stalk you, see what you're posting, and contact you, perhaps to bother you with questions as to why you unfriended them. Since they can still read your posts, and view your activities, they can gossip about you, quote you, and know where you're going and what you're doing. That could be a serious problem, especially if you're a woman.

Unfriending someone is like divorcing a spouse, but still hanging around with them as pals. It doesn't make sense. If you need to get away from someone who's abusive, annoying, or even dangerous, you should do it abruptly, completely, and permanently. Half way measures potentially just prolong and complicate the process.

I never simply unfriend anybody, I always block them. I don't block people who disagree with me, or who have views contrary to my own. I only block people who pollute my News Feed, and thereby invade my consciousness, with posts that I can no longer tolerate based on my sense of civility, sanity, or decency.

For example, someone last night posted some sexually explicit images, then said she was tired of people telling her to stop sending them FB game invites, "so I'm going to start spamming the f*** out of all my Facebook friends with game invites".

In short, a nasty person with issues that I no longer care to know about.

This same person was posting a lot of posts with filthy language and I finally decided I'd had enough. There was no value or relevance in their posts. Just rants about what they disliked, sexually explicit images, and seemingly drunk statements.

Proclaiming how you intend to harass people and spam them is also a violation of Facebook terms of service and can get you kicked off Facebook.

According to Facebook's Statement of Rights and Responsibilities, under Safety, items 6 and 7 state:

6. You will not bully, intimidate, or harass any user.
7. You will not post content that: is hate speech, threatening, or pornographic; incites violence; or contains nudity or graphic or gratuitous violence.


You know, there are sociopaths, perverts, criminals, and psychos on Facebook. If you wouldn't invite them into your home, why let them spread their garbage in your News Feed?

You don't need to command them to stop. You don't need to explain why you don't like their attitude. You don't need to clarify to them your own morality and standards. You don't need to try to shame them. You don't need to demand that they explain why they post what they post. Just block them.

When you UNFRIEND someone on Facebook this is what happens:

1. That person does not appear on your Facebook friends list.
2. You can still find each other on Facebook search.
3. You can still message each other.
4. You can read the other person's wall.
5. You can still re-add each other as friends.


Blocking makes you disappear from Facebook, as far as they are concerned. They can't find you and can't contact you.


When you BLOCK someone on Facebook this is what happens:


1. They cannot find you at all on Facebook.
2. Both of you do not appear in each other's search results.
3. It is like you do not exist on Facebook at all.
4. They cannot contact you anymore as there is no way to find you.
5. NOTE: You might still appear on third-party apps like Facebook games. If both of you are playing the same games.


HOW to BLOCK a Facebook user:


Click on the name of the person you want to block. When you're at their Facebook profile, to the right, directly across from their name, you'll see Friends | Message and a gear icon (representing Tools) with a down arrow drop down menu. When you over over Friends, you'll see options to add them to lists and other actions, then Unfriend is at the bottom of the menu.


But to BLOCK someone, you have to go to the gear tool icon, and click the down arrow to activate the drop down menu. You'll see the last two menu options are Unfriend and Report/Block. When you click on Report/Block, you'll see another menu that shows Unsubscribe | Unfriend | Block and Report This Timeline.


Click on Block. If you feel you need to also Report this Facebook user, click on Report This Timeline and you'll see a checklist of options to report.


READ MORE


Facebook Help Center "Blocking People"

Facebook Help Center "Report Abuse or Policy Violations"