Disruptive Empathy

Disruptive Empathy

The Block Button Is Not a Career Decision

Reputation and risk

Eric Near's avatar
Eric Near
Jul 14, 2026
∙ Paid

I want to talk about the six weeks I didn’t block someone, because I think that interval is more instructive than the block itself.

The situation was not complicated. Someone had been leaving comments on my posts that were designed, with some precision, to make me look like I was out of my depth. Not hostile comments (those are actually easier to deal wi…

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