Possibly another approach to my last post, but with wider scope - https://lemmy.blahaj.zone/post/25640154
Is it possible to share a blocklist of communities based on themes? I would find a non English language list very useful, but as I said in the previous post blocking an instance like *.de or *.nl means interrupting comments by users in an English post. Instance level blocking means people who speak multiple languages (and I am one myself) are hidden from me.
But if this were possible it could also be used to block communities for topics I have no interest in, such as sports or all the software I never use announcing update releases. It makes tuning my feed a chore and I think this would improve the experience for everyone’s tastes.
Depending on your preferences, some instances are also worth muting outright
You should already be able to filter non-english posts out based on your settings. I do this then just block communities I see in other languages when they pop up because users use the wrong setting.
I couldn’t see how, I’m using Connect on android. Searching settings for “language” didn’t show any results.
I did find “blocked instances includes comments” though, I’ve toggled it off and will see what happens.
Report that to the app developer as a bug then, because if you go to Lemmy through your instance’s website you should see options for this. Enable English and Unspecified. (A lot of people who have things set up wrong or have apps that ignore it may be posting with Unspecified instead of their actual language.)
Try just using a browser and go to lemmy.blahaj.zone/settings.
Because most people just post as “undetermined” it will likely block almost nothing, or way too much.
I always want to block feddit.org, but there are also some English communities I’m interested in, so that means I have to manually block all German communities. I’m not sure how this could be fixed, except forcing mods/people making communities to use the language selection.
IMO they should trash the ‘undefined’ option and make it hidden and enabled by default. Then any time you make a post, auto fill the language selection to match what you have selected in your account settings. And don’t allow posts to be made without anything in the language selection, in the same way you can’t post without a title.
That won’t fix all of the past posts that are ‘undefined’ (which is why it’s hidden and enabled by default) but at least it would enforce language selection moving forward.
I browse all and block communities I’ll never be interested in on the fly. And a bunch of the mene/repost communities, eg. Pics.
I wish there was a way of reliably blocking by topic/tag. I have a very long block list that would be a lot simpler if it could be reduced to:
- Languages I don’t understand
- Anything sports
- Anything furry
- Anything anime
- Porn
- Generative AI slop
porn
Some instances have porn hidden by default so you have to subscribe to see it.
Languages I don’t understand
there are language choices in your settings, language isn’t always set for posts but we’re getting there lol
Porn
and an option to show/hide NSFW is also in your settings
The problem is that languages are not enforced. Often communities have set the language to undetermined.
Yea this is partly a cultural issue we need to get better at. And previous versions of Lemmy didn’t handle it well, and even still the UX could be better for it. Maybe we need a good PSA post to spread the word to get people to use the language feature.
Sometimes I find myself thinking of putting a language for a post, but when it’s a Youtube video or something I think maybe people who don’t know English could still enjoy it? Like using the auto translated subtitles, or just seeing the video without understanding the speech. Idk it’s tough sometimes lol.
Yes exactly. Even anime or TV shows i enjoy i block for fear of spoilers.
That reminds me I can probably unblock Severance now that I’ve finally watched S2.
Yes so do I, that’s my problem. I want to be able to filter content to my interests by category, not individually. It’s tiresome to block nba, nfl, futebol, even individual teams. A blocklist i could import for “sport” would be a huge experience improvement for me, just as I imagine for a sports fan if they so wished could block all “anime”.
