Discussion on IRC led to the following conclusions:
* Most tools on Mastodon for blocking are designed with "user runs their own instance" in mind
* Many of the most vulnerable elements of society can't afford to run their own instances, like trans people
* Tools for end-users are insuffiicent
* Existing silence vs suspend is woefully inadequate esp for "grey" instances where some users might be okay but not others
* Users are unable to really block domains
I have no good answers. 🤷
This is in no way official discussion do not interpret it as such under pain of The Clamps™.
I have no clue what The Clamps™ are but assume it's Bad®.
kɜ:ʳ 
@Elizafox [* Users are unable to really block domains] this is a feature in progress: https://github.com/tootsuite/mastodon/pull/2381
@Elizafox also, services are coming to make it easier to launch instances, i've seen a few calling for beta testers in my feed already
@Elizafox To be blunt, those who are looking for a safe space really should not look to a distributed social network to be it.
It could be used as a launchpad for it, but at the end of the day, it's either distributed or it's whitelisted and clique-controlled.
I *think* your forth bullet point is by design. Intended to encourage instance administrators to clean up their own communities for fear of losing their links to the federation.
NOTE
THIS IS NOT MASTODON IRC
This was personal IRC for Interlinked.